How to Use Your WordPress Dashboard to be Wickedly Productive

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Are You Using Your WordPress Dashboard Effectively?

Keeping all of your blog ideas and posts can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. At first, I was using small bits of paper and scattered notes in a binder to quickly jot down any ideas I would have for a post, only to not be able to find it later when I was ready to write. 

One day, after logging into WordPress, I actually looked at my dashboard. I had literally seen it hundreds of times by that point, but I will be honest here. I didn’t even really look at it. 

There were tiles of information to read. Some came with the WordPress download like updates and tutorials. Others came with themes or plugins which increased their functionality.

Using your WordPress dashboard can help you stay organized and increase your productivity. Here’s how!

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Arrange your tiles to quickly view stats and information

You can rearrange your tiles (all the stuff on your WordPress Dashboard) to put the stuff that’s important to you at the top so that you can see the things you need to quickly when you log on.

To rearrange, you just need to click on the top header bar of each tile and drag it where you want it to be. Easy peasy!

Use Quick Draft to jot down ideas

One thing that I do often to make sure that I have a never-ending supply of content is to use Quick Draft in both my WordPress Dashboard and the app on my phone to note any ideas that come to me.

I currently have around 50 draft posts available to use at any time. 

If I’m really busy (or just plain lazy), I will even just talk to text. It makes creating a supply of draft posts so easy!

PRO TIP: Be careful in the app as it is not set to draft automatically. You have to change it in the settings by clicking the three little dots on the top right corner and switching it to draft.

Download the WordPress Editorial Calendar for Better Productivity

This has literally been a lifesaver and the main component to helping me stay organized. 

When I started out, I had so many ideas for posts and would add them constantly. Then I would go back to sit down and write and there would be so many drafts (like pages) that I would have to sift through page by page to find what I wanted to write about.

I had seen something about using the WordPress Editorial Calendar and thought I would give it a shot. The plugin added a Calendar to my Posts section in the sidebar. When I click on it, a calendar will come up with any published posts and a list of all my drafts in the right sidebar.

This also makes finding my posts for editing simple as well. If you aren’t scheduling your post (instead of leaving it as a draft), WordPress doesn’t organize them so they are easy to find. This way, they are quick to find in the calendar and I am off and running in no time.

Use the Post Calendar to Arrange Your Post Ideas Into a Theme

When I am ready to start writing new content, the first thing I do is go into my WordPress Editorial Calendar. Like I shared earlier, from here, I can see what has been published and what drafts I have created already.

Now, all I need to do when I’m ready to write a series of related posts is to search for the topics I want to include and drag and drop them right into the dates I am hoping to publish them.

Because I publish most of my content on Mondays, I will drag and drop any drafts that fit my theme in the order I want them. Sometimes I will find drafts here that are very similar and so I can combine any of the information that I have for both or delete ones that are no longer relevant.

Choosing to write content in themes is really great for a few reasons. 

• Google likes it for SEO – Research has shown that blogs that provide related content on a regular basis can rank higher in Google searches.
• Easy to build information for readers to come back for more – If your readers know that you are going to be posting more information on a particular topic, they will be more inclined to revisit for the new content.
• Provides a way to insert links to other relevant content within my blog – Sometimes I have difficulty thinking of the best, relevant posts to link back to within my blog. When I do theme content creation, there is always something to link to.
• Frees up time to focus on other blog business like marketing and networking – Having a steady supply of posts already pre-scheduled out means you have more time to focus on other parts of building your business. 

Some of the important things I put at the top of my dashboard are:

Site Stats

These are inlcluded with my Jetpack and provide a quick overview of my visitors and views along with my top posts.

Quick Draft

This one came with my WordPress download. It lets me quickly add in a draft title and a few key points on the go. (Similar to the app on my phone only this will only put it as a draft).

WordPress guides and tutorials (there’s some great stuff in there!!)

Another one that came with the WP download. I actually kinda feel dumb for not noticing this one earlier. There are some great tutorials and guides in this section that help with a myriad of WordPress issues and are frequently updated.

Broken Link Checker

No one wants broken links. They are just the pits. Having this one at the top of your dashboard allows you to check to make sure all is smooth in link-land.

Pretty Links

I use Pretty Links for all kinds of things so it’s great to have it easily accessible. It’s great for affiliate links to make them easy to find and landing pages so that the links are both memorable and look good. 

Pretty Links will create a link so it looks like it’s coming from your site. For example, your landing page link might be something like thisisalandingpage.landingpage and Pretty Links can make it yourwebsite.landingpage or whatever you want it to be.

These are some of the ways that I use my WordPress Dashboard to help me stay organized, focus and increase my productivity.

Using the tiles, adding plug ins and organizing your information can help you too! Do you have any other tools that you use in WordPress to help keep you on track? I’d love to hear about it below!

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