How to connect a WordPress Blog

To publish content to your WordPress blog/website, you need to integrate it with the ContentStudio platform.

We have enabled three different ways to integrate your website into ContentStudio.

Method 1: Using the Official WordPress Plugin (Preferred)
Method 2: Wordpress API
Method 3: Using XML-RPC

Follow these step-by-step processes and choose any method from those instructed below.

Before proceeding ahead, have a look at the following points to avoid any issues.

Avoid Issues with Featured Image:

CPanel Users: Make sure you have the correct permissions for the wp-content folder. It should be the same as your web server. e.g (www-data for apache and Nginx)
Self Hosted or Managed Hosting: If you are using a self-hosted or managed WordPress, you need to make sure you have the correct permission for your web server.

By setting the correct permission, your features images will be uploaded to your blog without any problems.
WordPress Version: Your WordPress version should be 4.4 or above
IMPORTANT: Security Plugin Conflicts; if you are using security plugins such as Wordfence, Jetpack, Sucuri Security, you need to whitelist IP addresses or disable those plugins. Please follow this link.

Method 1Using the Official WordPress Plugin (Preferred)

Follow this link to connect to WordPress using the official WordPress plugin if you already have the previous plugin (ContentStudio WordPress plugin downloadable) installed.

Note

Follow this link to connect to WordPress using the official WordPress plugin if you already have the previous plugin (ContentStudio WordPress plugin downloadable) installed.

If you are a new user please continue reading.

Activate the ContentStudio Plugin in WordPress

Now it’s time to set up a new connection

On the top, next to Plugin, click on Add New.

Please search for ContentStudio in the search bar on the right. Please refresh your page if it says 'Update Now' in the top right corner of the CS plugin tab.

Click on Activate.

The page will refresh and ask you for an API key.

Connect WordPress in ContentStudio

In another tab, copy the URL link of your blog from the top. (e.g. https://blog.contentstudio.io/)

Go back to ContentStudio’s Blogs/Websites Settings page

Under the WordPress section, select Connect a New WordPress blog /website.

In the text box under the website URL, paste the previously copied URL. ( https://blog.contentstudio.io/)

Enter your mentioned blog credentials in the relevant fields

Then, under Choose Method for Content Submission, make sure you select the Official WordPress Plugin (Preferred) which is the new method

Click Save.

Once these credentials are verified and the connection has been established ContentStudio will notify you in the top right corner with a message saying, Your Blog/Website Has Been Successfully Added.

API Key

Now, click on key icon under actions on the right side of your connected blog.

This is the API key which you will copy.

Head back to the WordPress Admin page where you will paste it.

Click Connect with API Key

Once the connection of your blog has successfully been made to ContentStudio, you will be notified at the top of the page.

The page will self-refresh and say that Your website is connected with ContentStudio, as shown below.

Whitelisting IPs

Now it’s time to whitelist IPs. If you have a security plugin installed, you need to whitelist ContentStudio’s IP to give it access to your blog.

Head over to this article: https://docs.contentstudio.io/article/391-ip-whitelisting. You can see the list of plugins that exist here

Then go back to the WordPress admin tab.

Note that different plugins have different settings titles - for iThemes and WordFence.

In the left column, hover the mouse over Jetpack which is the plugin we have used and go to Settings.

Scroll down and under Brute Force Attack Protection, which is the settings title for Jetpack, click the downward arrow on the right.

Please paste the IP address and click Save.

The IP address for whitelisting: 116.203.138.107
Here's how to whitelist IP for WordFence.

You will be informed of the update, and that's it! Your connection has been made and the relevant permissions have been given.

Verifying the Connection

If you want to check whether a successful connection has been made, go to the ContentStudio app.

Head over to the Composer and Create a Blog Post.

Under Distribute, select WordPress as your primary channel.

From the dropdown, select your blog.

If you are able to select your blog and the page asks you for the author and category, it means that your connection was valid and successful!

Method 2Wordpress API

The steps to follow for the second method are given below.

Before integrating your website in ContentStudio with this method, you have to install this plugin in your WordPress.

WordPress Rest API (Direct Download Link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/contentstudio/)

When the next page opens, click on the Upload Plugin button.

On the next page, you will be able to upload both the plugins one by one in the zip format. Click on Choose File to select the plugin file you downloaded earlier.

Once you have the first plugin file selected, click on the Install Now button to start the installation process.

Install both the plugins in the same way. Once you have both the plugins successfully installed, it's time to move onto the ContentStudio platform.

On ContentStudio.io dashboard, navigate to the top right corner, Go to Settings > Blogs & Websites from the menu on the top right corner.

On the next screen, click on the Connect new WordPress blog/website, This will make a pop-up appear on your screen.

Once the pop-up appears on your screen. Fill in the required details.

Enter the URL of your WordPress website in the first input box. Please follow the required pattern given and make sure to start it with http:// or https://. If your WordPress is installed in an inner directory, you will need to specify the exact homepage URL of your website. (For e.g, it can be like this: 'http://example.com/wp' for websites where WordPress is not installed in the root directory)
In the second field, give your WordPress Username.
Provide Password in the third input field.
In the 'Choose Method for Content Submission', you have to select WordPress API
Next, click on the Save button.

If you have entered everything correctly, your blog will be successfully connected and showing up in the list underneath, as shown in the below image.

Method 3 Using XML-RPC

The steps to follow for the third method are given below.

Before using this method, make sure XML-RPC is enabled on your WordPress website. Some web hosting companies have disabled XML-RPC by default.

To confirm if XML-RPC is enabled on your website, you will see a message "XML-RPC server accepts POST requests only." as shown below.

If you see some other message, contact your host to get your XML-RPC enabled.

For this method to integrate your website, you do not need to install any plugins. But XML-RPC is known to cause connection problems so that is why it's not a preferred way.

Next, move onto the ContentStudio Platform and follow the same steps from #3 to #5 as given in Method 2 .

The only difference is that in step #5, you have to select XML-RPC from the drop-down while choosing a method for content submission.

Happy publishing!