If you installed Beamer in your WordPress powered site you might be wondering: Do I have to publish all my content twice? Thanks to the new Beamer API you can automatically publish your WordPress posts on your Beamer account. By using the Beamer WordPress Plugin combined with our API you’ll be able to connect your WP site directly to your Beamer account.
In this tutorial we’ll guide you through installation, account connection and your first automatic post.
How to send automatic WordPress posts to Beamer?
What does it do?
The API feature in the Beamer WordPress Plugin connects your site to your Beamer Account. Each time you publish a new post in your site, Beamer will transform it into a shorter excerpt and publish it also in your Beamer feed.
Install Beamer in your WordPress site
Install the Beamer Plugin as any other plugin and then complete the process by going to Settings > Beamer Settings in your WordPress dashboard. You can follow our tutorial here.
Once you have installed and configured your plugin you’ll be ready to connect your accounts.
Connecting your plugin to the Beamer API
- First go Settings > API in your Beamer Dashboard
- Copy the code provided
- Go to Settings > Beamer Settings in your WordPress Dashboard
- Scroll down to Beamer API beta
- Paste the code in the API Key field to confirm you own the account
- To activate just mark the checkbox labeled Connect to API and save your changes
- You’re ready to roll
- (Optional) In this section of your Beamer Settings you can also change the default text that will appear as the link in your Beamer posts in the Default “Read More” text field (you’ll be also able to change it each time you publish), and the length of the excerpt that Beamer will create for each of your posts with the Default excerpt length field (Default is 160 characters).
Publish content using the Beamer API and the WordPress plugin
You don’t need anything else. Just create a post, publish, and it will be transformed into a nice excerpt that will automatically be published in your Beamer feed. If you want to have even more control check out the following section.
Optional: Customize your Beamer posts published with WordPress
When you create or edit a post, you’ll see a new metabox at the top-right called Beamer Options. In that box you’ll find some settings to control what and how you publish from WordPress to Beamer.
How to ignore a post and not publish it in Beamer?
In your post editing screen, just click on the switch labeled Publish on Beamer. It will turn red. That means that this post will not be published to Beamer and will only be published in your WordPress site.
How to change the Category of a Beamer post?
In your post editing screen pick a Category in the dropdown menu labeled Category. You’ll find a list of the default Beamer categories (New, Improvement, Fix, Coming Soon, Announcement) and all your current WordPress Categories (marked as Custom). You can expand this list by creating new categories in your WordPress. Remember to save your changes.
How to change the link text in a Beamer post?
In your post editing screen, go to the Beamer Options metabox and click on Advanced options. Add any call to action phrase you prefer in the field labeled Link text. This text will show as the link text in this Beamer post.
How to enable or disable feedback and reactions in a Beamer post?
Feedback and reactions are enabled by default (only for Beamer plans that include those features). If you want to disable it, just go to the Beamer Options metabox in your post editing screen and click on Advanced options. Click on the switches to enable or disable the features (if available) in that specific post.
How to change the excerpt created by Beamer for the post?
Beamer will take your full post and transform it into a shorter excerpt (the default length is 160 characters but you can change it in Settings > Beamer Settings > Beamer API). If you use a “read more tag” in the WordPress editor, Beamer will ignore the default character limit and will use all the text provided before the tag as an excerpt. If you add an excerpt manually in the WordPress editor, Beamer will ignore all other options and use that text instead.
Which images from my WordPress post will Beamer publish?
Beamer will take the Featured Image of a WordPress post and use it as the image in the Beamer post. If a post doesn’t have a Featured Image, no image will be published.
How to edit a Beamer post?
To edit a Beamer post from your WordPress, just edit the WordPress post. Beamer will update automatically.
How to schedule a Beamer post for a future date?
To schedule a Beamer post for a future date, just schedule the WordPress post as you would regularly do. Once the post is published, Beamer will update automatically.
How to delete a Beamer post?
To delete a Beamer post from your WordPress, just delete the WordPress post. Beamer will update automatically. You may also change the status of your post from published to draft and Beamer will delete it. Don’t worry if you change it back to published, Beamer will publish it again.
