Step 9 — Publish (Beginner-Friendly)

What “Publish” means in simple words

Publishing is the moment your content appears on your website for everyone to read. In this step you are not changing the teaching inside the content. You are making sure the content is displayed correctly and safely. You will give the page a clean web address, place the content into the website editor without broken styles, and turn on a few helpful settings. You will also decide whether to publish now or schedule for later. After that, you will check the live page once to be sure the main action still works.

How Step 9 connects to Steps 1–8

Roadmap (small flow)

If you keep this simple order, publishing stays short and calm.

Step 9A — Set the page shell (title, author, date, category, tags)

Start by creating the page in your website editor. Set the title exactly as you approved earlier. Add the author name if your website shows it. Choose the publish date and time (or the schedule time). Pick the most accurate category and add one to three tags that match the topic in simple words. Do not add many tags because that can clutter the website.

Step 9B — Create a clean web address (URL slug)

Set the web address (also called the slug) to short, lowercase words separated by hyphens. Avoid numbers that mean nothing. Avoid special symbols. Do not change the slug after publishing unless you must. If you have to change it later, set a redirect from the old slug to the new one so that old links still work.

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/7-day-planning-for-beginners">

Step 9C — Paste the content with clean formatting

When you paste from a text editor or a design tool, extra styles can come along and break the page. To avoid this, paste as plain text and then apply headings and lists using the website editor. Keep the same order you approved. Replace any “double spacing” with normal paragraphs. Use simple tables where needed. Keep code blocks for code only.

Step 9D — Place images with alt text, size, and captions

Add your images near the teaching point they support. Set the width in the editor so images do not overflow on phones. Add short alt text that explains the point of the image. Add a short caption if it helps the reader. Keep file names simple with hyphens. Turn on “lazy loading” for images that are not at the very top of the page.

<figure>
  <img src="/img/7-day-plan-table.png" alt="A 7‑day table with one short task per day." loading="lazy" width="840" height="420">
  <figcaption>Example weekly plan.</figcaption>
</figure>

Step 9E — Set meta fields and social share fields

Meta fields are small labels that help search engines and social sites show your page correctly. You will set the page title, the description, and the social image fields. Use the same short, clear words you prepared in Step 7. Keep the description friendly and focused on the result. For social sites, pick one clean image that looks good in a rectangle.

Step 9F — Check links and buttons (live and in preview)

Click every link and button once in preview. If a link should jump to a section on the page, make sure the section ID exists. If a link goes to a file, make sure the file opens. If a link goes to another page, make sure the address is correct. Fix any broken link before you publish.

Step 9G — Preview on phone and desktop

Switch to the phone preview inside your website editor if it has one. If not, open the preview link on your phone. Check that headings wrap nicely and that buttons are big enough to tap. Scroll slowly. If a table is very wide, split it into two smaller tables or turn it into a list.

Step 9H — Choose “Publish now” or “Schedule” (and set timezone)

If you want the content to go live immediately, choose “Publish now.” If you want it to go live at a future time, choose “Schedule.” Make sure your website editor shows the correct timezone so that the page does not go live at the wrong hour. Pick a time when your readers are likely to be free and when someone on your team can check the live page.

Swimlane — who does what during publish

Mini funnel — Draft to Live

If the “Preview checked” bar is tiny, slow down and fix the preview first.

Step 9I — Confirm the live URL

After you publish or after the schedule time passes, open the live URL. Read the first paragraph and a random section in the middle. Click the main action once. If something is wrong, unpublish or fix and republish if your website allows it. Keep the live URL in your notes for Step 10 when you share the page.

Step 9J — Tiny analytics check (one minute)

Open the page and trigger the main action once. If you use a basic analytics panel, you should see at least one page view for the page. If you set an event for the main action, you should see one event. Do not worry about full reports now. This is just a smoke test to confirm the setup works.

<a id="dl-checklist" href="/weekly-planning-checklist.pdf">Download the weekly planning checklist</a>
<script>
  document.getElementById('dl-checklist').addEventListener('click', function(){
    // Replace with your analytics function
    console.log('event: checklist_downloaded');
  });
</script>

Sticky notes — common gotchas at publish time

Radial timeline — from schedule to share

Right after the live check, you can safely move to Step 10 and share the page.

Everything in one view (summary table)

Post‑publish light KPI table

These are not deep reports. They are simple signs that the page is live and healthy. You will track more later in Step 11.

Practice lab — publish a short demo page

Try this with a simple draft. Create a page, set the slug, paste one short section, add an image with alt text, and set the title and description. Schedule it for a few minutes from now. After it goes live, open the URL and click one link. Write what you saw in one sentence.

Common problems and simple fixes

Issue board (post‑publish tiny fixes)

Your next step

Your page is live and healthy. You have a clean web address, simple meta fields, working links and images, and a quick live check. Keep the live URL ready. In Step 10 you will share the page in a few places and turn this work into helpful posts and a small email note. Because you set everything correctly here in Step 9, sharing will be easy and calm.