How to Use Posterous

If you've always wanted to set up a blog, but aren't particularly web savvy or don't want to invest a lot of time in blogging, you may want to consider using Posterous. Posterous (pronounced "PO-ster-us") makes it easy to set up a blog and share your thoughts, photos, videos and favorite links with others on the web via email. This guide on how to use Posterous will walk you through the steps of setting up a Posterous blog, and will help you get started with using this easy and free blogging service.

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to blog, even while you're out and about, Posterous may be the site for you. Posterous allows you to send new posts to your free Posterous blog via email, so if you have a web-enabled mobile device, you can update your blog from virtually anywhere. In addition, Posterous can be easily linked with your other blogs and online profiles on networking sites such as Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

When you send or create a new post on Posterous, you have the option of sending this same post to all of your other linked sites without even having to visit them. You can share links, videos, music and photos from other sites via Posterous easily, as Posterous will automatically convert these files into the appropriate format and, when possible, embed photos and videos directly onto your blog.Posterous.com: FAQ

(Creative Commons photo by Kalane2)

To set up a Posterous blog, all you have to do is send an email to post@posterous.com.Posterous.com: Homepage This can be done one of two ways:

From Your Email Account

1. Open up your email server
2. In the "to" field, enter post@posterous.com
3. In the "subject" field, enter the title of your first post
4. In the body of your email, type in the text of your first post. You can also add a URL if you want to include a link, video or music.

Directly From Posterous

1. Go to Posterous.com
2. Click on the icon that corresponds to your online email server (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.), or if you use an external email server such as Outlook Express or Windows Mail, click on the yellow text that says "Email post@posterous.com"
3. This will automatically open up create a new message in your email server
4. Follow the instructions in the email to get started.

1. Within a few minutes, Posterous will send you an email to the same account you used to set up your Posterous blog. The site will use the name from your email address as the title for your Posterous blog. For example, if the email is sent from John@hotmail.com, the title of the accompanying Posterous blog will be John's Posterous. If you are not happy with your Posterous blog title, you can change it later—instructions on how to do so can be found in the Setting up a Password and Opening an Account section below.ES Developed: Post to WordPress by Email (January 16, 2009)

2. Open your email and click on the email from Posterous: The subject line will read Posterous | Re: and then the title of the post as you entered it in the email

3. Click on the "Your new post" link to be taken directly to your new Posterous blog

4. If you want to alter or delete your post, click on the "Click here to edit or remove" link

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   (Creative Commons photo by Ben30)

2. Now that your Posterous account has been set up, you can send a new blog post to Posterous via email at any time. Posterous has linked your email account to your Posterous blog, so any emails sent to post@posterous.com will appear on your Posterous blog.TechCrunch: Posterous Beats Tumblr In Simplicity (June 28, 2008)

3. Any time you want to create a new post, simply send an email to post@posterous.com

4. Create your new posts exactly as your initial email, so the email's subject line will become your post title and any text, links, video, etc. in the body of the email will appear in the body of the Posterous post

5. Like with your first entry, shortly after you have sent an email post, you will receive an email response from Posterous with a link to your new post, along with an "edit or remove" link

1. Now that you have set up a Posterous blog, you can further customize your account by assigning it a password and opening up a free Posterous account. This will allow you to change your Posterous subdomain, create a profile and upload a profile picture, comment on and subscribe to other Posterous blogs and link your Posterous account to your other online accounts on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, and other sites.

2. To open your free Posterous account:

3. Open up one of the emails you have received from Posterous

4. Click on the "Click here to set a password for this site" link, which can be found near the bottom of the email, inside the shaded box

5. This will take you to the "Set a password" page

6. In the "Choose a name" field, enter your desired subdomain name, or leave it as is if you're happy with the one you have

7. Enter your desired password in the password field

8. Click on the sign up button

9. This will take you to the "Manage" screen, from which you can edit your profile, attach additional email addresses to your Posterous account, subscribe to other Posterous blogs, link your Posterous account to other online accounts, and create new posts without going through emailES Developed: Post to WordPress by Email (January 16, 2009)

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   (Creative Commons photo by crd!)

2. By linking your other online accounts to Posterous, you can share your posts on several sites at once, rather than having to visit several sites and create a different post for each.

3. Go to the "Manage" screen on your Posterous account

4. Click on the "Autopost to Everywhere" link on the right-hand side of the page

5. This will take you to a new page that lists all the other websites you can connect with your Posterous blog

6. Click on the "Add a Service" button

7. On the next page, select and click on the site you wish to link to your Posterous account

8. Follow the instructions—for most services, you will simply have to enter the login information you use to enter that site. For example, after you've clicked on the "Twitter" link, you will be asked to provide your Twitter user name and password

9. Repeat the above procedure as necessary to link your Posterous account to as many of your other online profiles as you'd likeES Developed: Post to WordPress by Email (January 16, 2009)

1. Once you have linked your Posterous account to your other online profiles, you can post to as many of these sites as you wish every time you send an email to posterous.com.The Official Posterous Posterous: Autopost to everywhere, even your existing blogs (July 29, 2008)

2. To send a Posterous post to all your linked sites, simply send an email to post@posterous.com

3. To send a Posterous post only to your Posterous blog, send the email to posterous@posterous.comThe Official Posterous Posterous: New: More control over autopost (November 4, 2008)

4. To send a Posterous post to just one of your linked sites, send an email to the sitename@posterous.com. For example, if you want to send your Posterous post to your Facebook profile, send the email to facebook@posterous.com. This post will appear on your Facebook profile and your Posterous blog

5. To send a Posterous post to some, but not all of your linked sites, use + to separate the names of the sites you want to send it to. For example, if you want a post to go to your Flickr and Tumblr account, send the email to flickr+tumblr@posterous.com

The Posterous bookmarklet makes it even easier to post videos, photos and other content from the web to your Posterous blog by allowing you to quickly grab content from the web page you're visiting.The Official Posterous Posterous: The New Posterous bookmarklet... (February 4, 2009)

(Creative Commons photo by Kalane2)

1. Sign in to Posterous

2. Go to The Posterous Bookmarklet

3. Find the "Share on Posterous" button in the green box on the right-hand side of the page, directly under the words "Get started"

4. Drag and drop the "Share on Posterous" button to the desired space in your bookmark bar

1. To share text using the bookmarklet, highlight the block of text you want to share, then click on the bookmarklet in your bookmark barThe Official Posterous Posterous: The New Posterous bookmarklet... (February 4, 2009)

2. A window will pop up, showing the block of text in the body of the post

3. You can then edit the title of the post above the body and add your own comments in the "Your Comment" box below the body

4. If you want to autopost the post to all your Posterous-linked profiles, click on "Advanced Settings" link at the bottom right-hand corner of the window and check the box beside "Autopost everywhere"

5. If you only want to post the text on your Posterous blog or a select few of your linked sites, click on the "Post" button in the bottom left-hand corner of the window

6. Once your post has been sent to your Posterous blog, a new window will pop up. Click on the "View your post now" button to be taken directly to your Posterous blog

7. If you want to send this post to a select few of your Posterous-linked profiles, click on the "post to elsewhere" link on the right-hand side of the page and select which sites you want to send to

8. To share videos or photos from a website using the bookmarklet, click the Posterous bookmarklet in your bookmark bar

9. A window will pop up, containing all the photos and videos on the page in the body of the postThe Official Posterous Posterous: The New Posterous bookmarklet... (February 4, 2009)

10. Scroll through the images until you find the photo or video you want to share, then follow steps 3-7 above

As Mahalo's guide demonstrates, setting up and posting to your Posterous blog is as easy as sending an email. By linking your other online profiles to your Posterous blog, you can post to several sites at once without having to visit the sites or retype the information. Posterous' bookmarklet tool makes sharing your favorite web content as easy as clicking a button. For those who enjoy blogging, but have limited time to do so or are always on the go, Posterous offers a great alternative to other more time-consuming blogging services.

• Introduction
• Step 1: Creating Your Posterous Account
  • From Your Email Account
  • Directly From Posterous
• Step 2: Visit Your New Posterous Blog
• Step 3: Posting Via Email
• Step 4: Setting up a Password and Opening an Account
• Step 5: Linking Other Accounts to Posterous
• Step 6: Autoposting to Other Sites
• Step 7: The Posterous Bookmarklet
  • Installing the Posterous Bookmarklet
  • Using the Posterous Bookmarklet
• Conclusion
• References