Windows Live Writer is an excellent blogging tool. Here are three hints that any fledgling user should enable.
Working through the raw blogging platform can be a struggle. Windows Live Writer makes blogging as easy as using a word processor.
Automatically Ping Servers
Windows Live Writer can be configured to automatically ping servers, such as Ping-o-Matic, each time you publish a new post to your blog. This updates the selected server(s) about the updated blog content so that it can be added to the desired search engine or service.
1. Open Windows Live Writer.
2. Click Tools and select Preferences.
3. Select Ping Servers from the left pane.
4. Check the Send pings to the URLs below checkbox. Input the URLs of the servers that you want notified of the new content, one per line.
5. Click OK.
Enable Automatic Spell Checking
You can make Windows Live Writer automatically spell check your posting before publishing it to your blog. This can save you from some rather embarrassing moments brought on by the keyboard not cooperating with your fingers.
1. Open Windows Live Writer.
2. Click Tools and select Options.
3. Select Spelling from the left pane.
4. Under Spelling form options, check the Check spelling before publishing checkbox.
5. Click OK.
Enable Category and Tag Reminders
If you are like me, you get so focused on the content of your blog posting, that you forget to add the categories and tags for it. I usually have to go back and add this afterwards, each time thinking that I’ll do better with the next posting. Windows Live Writer can be set to remind you to add categories and/or tags before publishing, here’s how to enable this helpful functionality:
1. Open Windows Live Writer.
2. Click Tools and select Options.
3. Select Preferences from the left pane.
4. Under Publishing, check the Remind me to add categories before publishing and/or the Remind me to add tags before publishing checkboxes.
5. Click OK.
