From draft to your site in one click

Calls to action are yours to write: up to 5 per site, shared out across your posts, with links tagged for Google Analytics if you want. They're your own words, so Blog AI doesn't fact-check them. See adding calls to action.

You can change any of these before publishing in the editor's “SEO & details” panel, which also shows a preview of how the post will look in Google on desktop and mobile.

When something can't be sent (Yoast without the connector plugin, an SEO title longer than your Strapi field allows, a field your Strapi schema doesn't have), the post still publishes and Blog AI tells you exactly what was left out.

You connect WordPress once, from the Sites page. It takes a few minutes:

• •In WordPress, go to Users, then Profile, then Application Passwords, and create a new one called "Blog AI".
• •In Blog AI, add your site's address (the exact address visitors end up on, over HTTPS), your WordPress username and the application password.
• •Blog AI tests the connection straight away, and checks that the account is allowed to publish posts.
• •If you use Yoast SEO, download the Blog AI Connector plugin from the same screen, then in WordPress choose Plugins, Add New, Upload Plugin, and Activate.

The connector plugin exists because WordPress doesn't let outside tools read or write Yoast's SEO fields. It lets users who can edit a post read and write those fields, and hides them from everyone else. It also tells IndexNow (Bing and others) about new posts from your own site, which you can turn off, and never contacts Blog AI.

Full setup notes are on the WordPress integration page.

For Strapi, you give Blog AI your Strapi address, an API token, the collection your posts live in (articles, by default) and the pattern of your public post addresses, such as your-site.com/blog/[slug]. A custom token limited to posts, categories, tags and uploads is enough.

Not every Strapi site has the same fields. If yours doesn't have, say, an SEO description field, Blog AI leaves that field out, publishes the rest and tells you what it skipped. Title, slug and body are the only fields it must have. Details are on the Strapi integration page.

Every finished post has two buttons: publish now, or pick a date and time. Scheduled posts go out within a few minutes of the time you pick, and Blog AI emails you when a scheduled post is published, or if it fails, with the reason.

The content calendar

The calendar shows scheduled, published and failed posts by month or week, with a tray of approved drafts waiting for a slot. Drag a post to a new day to reschedule it (or use the Move button, which works with a keyboard or on touch screens). On a phone, the calendar becomes a simple agenda list.

No double posts

Publishing claims the post before it sends anything, so a double click, a retry and the scheduler can't send the same post twice. If a post already exists on your site (a WordPress scheduled post, for example), Blog AI updates that post rather than creating a second one.

Generate a wide 16:9 featured image or square images for inside the post. Describe the scene you want, or leave the description blank and Blog AI suggests one from the post. Generated images are clean photos or illustrations with no text, labels, charts or logos in them, because image models still garble words. Each generated image costs 1 credit. Or upload your own photos and graphics for free.

The first featured image you generate for a post becomes its featured image straight away; you can switch to another at any time. Images are stored in your Blog AI account, so their links don't expire, and they're uploaded to your site's media library with alt text when you publish. If you add or change the featured image after a post is live, “Update live post” sends the new one; otherwise the same image is re-attached rather than uploaded again.

Update a live post

Edit the post in Blog AI and choose “Update live post”. Blog AI sends the new title, body and excerpt, the SEO fields if you changed them, and the featured image if you added or changed it. The slug, categories and tags stay as your site has them, and the post's address never changes.

Import what you already have

“Import posts and pages” on the Sites page brings in your existing published posts (for voice learning, internal links and the audit) and your pages, such as services or pricing. Pages are read-only: Blog AI uses them for the content audit and never writes them back.

Every published post is then measured: see performance tracking.

Publishing costs nothing. You pay for writing and images, not for getting them onto your site.

If your plan changes and a site becomes read-only (more sites than the plan allows), its posts stay visible but can't be published or scheduled until you move up a plan. See pricing.

• •It publishes to WordPress and Strapi only today. Shopify is coming soon; other platforms and social networks are for later.
• •It doesn't publish to your social media accounts or email list.
• •It won't publish a post with unresolved fact-check flags. That's deliberate.
• •It never changes a live post's web address, and never deletes or unpublishes posts on your site by itself.
• •It doesn't manage your WordPress theme, plugins or pages. Pages are imported read-only, for the content audit.
• •It can't publish through a site address that redirects. Use your site's final address (for example, with or without www) when you connect.