How do I set up a WordPress integration?

Modified on Wed, 01 Mar 2023 at 10:59 AM

Note:  You need to be an org admin in Contently in order to complete these steps.

 

If you are looking to push content from the Contently platform to your WordPress, please read here. 

 

There are two components to setting up your WordPress integration:

  1. Generating an API key on the Contently platform

  2. Installing the Contently plugin and entering the API key within your WordPress

1. Generating an API key on the Contently platform

1. Log into Contently and navigate to the Integrations page in your Publication settings.

 

2. To view all of the integrations for your organization, click the "All publications" option in the publication drop down.

 


3. Click the "Add Integration" dropdown to add a new WordPress integration.

 

4. Enter a name for your integration.  This name will be used to distinguish your integrations from each other.

 

5. Choose which publications should be able to push to this WordPress account. You can share this integration across multiple publications. Click "Save."

 

6. The next step is to continue the installation by logging into WordPress. After you click "Save," we will show you a copy of the instructions that you’ll need to continue the installation. We’ll also email the instructions to you so that you—or someone else on your team—can continue the installation on WordPress later. These instructions will include your API key.  

 

Note 1: Your new integration will now appear in the list on your Integrations Page in Contently. Visit this page to edit your integration or test the status. You can always access your install guide and API key from this page.

 

Note 2: A "Push to CMS" button will now appear on your completed stories.  Use this button to push completed content from Contently to WordPress.

 


 

2. Installing the Contently plugin and entering the API key within your WordPress

Once you have added a WordPress integration to Contently, the next step is to continue the installation on WordPress. Below are the instructions you or someone on your team will need to continue the installation.

 

API Key 

You should have received your API key by email. This API key is also available in your publication settings in Contently. If you did not receive an API key, please make sure you followed the instructions above to create a WordPress integration.

 

This API key is unique to the integration you created and can only be used with one instance of WordPress. If you need to publish to multiple WordPress instances, you will need to create a second WordPress integration to receive a second API key from Contently.

 

Install the Contently plugin on WordPress 

Note: To follow the steps in this section, you will need admin privileges in WordPress. If you do not see the 'Plugins' menu in your left hand panel when you log into WordPress, please reach out to your IT team for help.

 

1. Download the Contently plugin from here.

 

2. Log into WordPress and navigate to the "Plugins" menu in your left hand panel. Click the "Add New" button and then the "Upload Plugin" button on the following page.

 

3. Upload the zip folder that you downloaded in step 1 and click the "Install Now" button.

 

4. After the plugin is installed, click the "Activate Plugin" link to turn on the Contently integration. 

 

5. To connect WordPress to Contently, navigate to the new "Contently" menu on your left hand panel. Click "Open integration" next to the integration place holder. Enter your API key and click "Update". 

 

6. After you click "Update," the integration name will update to match the integration name you entered into Contently. That will be your indication that you have successfully connected WordPress to Contently.

 

Note: To find the API key for your integration in the future, log into Contently and navigate to the Integrations page in Publication Settings. Expand the details for your WordPress integration to view the API key. 

 

Customize Your Publishing Settings

Note: The steps in this section should be completed by someone who is familiar with your content publishing preferences. You will also need admin privileges in WordPress. If you don't see the "Contently" menu in your left hand panel when you log into WordPress after the plugin has been installed, please reach out to your IT team for admin access.

 

1. To configure your publishing settings, navigate to the new "Contently" menu in your left hand panel and click "Open integration". Click the "Publishing settings" tab to customize your settings. When customizing your settings, we recommend that you push all content to WordPress as a draft so that you can view your content on WordPress before publishing it live.

 

2. After you customize your settings, make sure to click the 'Update' button at the bottom of the page.

 

Customize Your Mapping Configuration

Note: The steps in this section should be completed by someone who is familiar with your post formats in WordPress and your fields in Contently. You will also need admin privileges in WordPress. If you do not see the "Contently" menu in your left hand panel when you log into WordPress after the plugin has been installed, please reach out to your IT team for admin access. Please keep in mind that the mappings you create in this section will apply to all of the Contently publications that share this integration. More information is available at the bottom of this section.

 

When you push content from Contently to WordPress, Contently will automatically insert the right details into your WordPress post. Configure your mapping so that Contently knows which fields from Contently match to each field in your WordPress post.

 

1. If you have just completed the steps above to customize your publishing settings, simply click the "Post Type Mapping" tab to customize your mappings.

 

2. WordPress has a variety of different post types to choose from. Choose whether you want to map all of your Contently story types to one specific WordPress post type or if you want to set up a mapping for each of your different post types in WordPress. If you want to create the same post type every time you push content from Contently to WordPress, choose the first option (and continue to step 3 below). If you want to push content from Contently to more than one of your post types in WordPress, choose the second option (and continue to step 6 below).

 

3. Select which post type you want to use. WordPress will create this post type every time you push content from Contently to WordPress. 

 

4. If you use post templates in WordPress, use the second drop down to choose which post template you want to configure a mapping for. You will be able to configure a mapping for more than one template in the list; select one for now. Click the "Update" button at the bottom.

 

Note: If you do not use post templates—or if you only want to configure a mapping for your Default Template—you can skip this step.  

 

5. Click "Configure mapping"  (continue to step 7). 

 

6. If you are mapping Contently content to a variety of different post types in WordPress, select which Contently story format to map to each WordPress post type in the list and click "Configure mapping" next to the first one you'd like to customize.

 

Note: This option does not currently offer support for post templates. If you want to create mappings for specific post templates, please return to Step 3 above. You will only be able to create one post type each time you push content from Contently to WordPress. You will, however, be able to create different mapping rules for each of your post templates tied to the post type you choose.

 

7. Configure your mapping by choosing which Contently field should map to each WordPress field in the list. Please note that WordPress does not have support for video fields.  

 

8. Click "Save" at the bottom of the form to save the mapping.

 

If you followed step 4 above: If you want to configure a mapping for another post template, repeat Steps 4, 5, 7, and 8. (You must click "Update" before you click the "Configure mapping" link.) The mapping you already created will be saved. You can repeat these steps to create unique mapping rules for each post template in the list. 

 

If you followed step 6 above: Make sure to click "Configure mapping" for each WordPress post type in the list that you want to push Contently content to.

 

IMPORTANT: If you configured a mapping for a post template, you have to indicate which post template to use when you push a piece of content from Contently to WordPress. For details, visit the instructions for using the WordPress plugin.

 

NOTE ABOUT MULTIPLE PUBLICATIONS:  The mapping(s) you created above are tied to your integration / API Key. If you share your integration across multiple Contently publications, each publication will use the same mappings when you push content to Wordpress. This works well if your publications typically use the same tags and custom fields. If you need a separate mapping for one of your publications, you will need to create a new WordPress integration in Contently for that publication. This new integration will have its own API key.

 


 

ACF and SEO Yoast Plugins

Contently provides limited support for two common WordPress plugins: Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) and SEO Yoast. The Contently plugin will automatically detect if either of these plugins is activated so that you can include these fields in your mapping. Both the free and paid versions of these plugins are supported.

Please understand that some features of these plugins might not be supported. We cannot guarantee support for future updates to these two plugins.

 

1. To set up your ACF mapping, the new mapping dialogue will automatically list your Advanced Custom Fields. Map each custom field to a Contently field using the drop downs. If you are using ACF Flexible Content Field Types or if you defined any of your fields in your code instead of in the database using the WordPress interface, you will need to use the "Advanced" section at the bottom to set up your mapping for each of these fields.

 

2. To set up your SEO Yoast mapping, the new mapping dialogue will automatically list your SEO Yoast fields. Map each SEO Yoast field to a Contently field using the drop downs.

 

Plugin Updates

The Contently WordPress plugin will check periodically for updated versions. When an update is available, a notification will appear in the "Plugins" menu in WordPress. Click "Update Now" to complete the upgrade.

 

You can also check for updates by clicking "Check for updates" next to the Contently entry on the Plugins tab in WordPress.

 

IP Allowlist + Webhook Instructions

If your CMS runs on your closed network—or if you use a Web Application Firewall to restrict POST requests to your CMS—you will need to allowlist four IP addresses so that Contently's API can access your CMS. Here are the IP addresses your IT team will need:

52.20.250.136
52.71.91.52
34.198.64.198
34.198.174.116

To check which URL Contently is pushing to in your network, visit the Integrations page in your Publication settings in Contently. Expand the details for your integration in the list. The webhook URL your integration is pushing to will be listed at the bottom of the details section. The WordPress plugin sets this webhook for you automatically.

 

If for some reason your IT team needs to edit this webhook URL, click the edit button next to your integration. Do not forget to click "Save" on the edit form once you have changed your webhook URL. We only suggest editing this URL in specific circumstances. One example is if your IT team needs to add credentials to the webhook or change the URL to point to a production environment after testing in staging. Please do not change this webhook URL unless necessary.

 

 

Testing Your Integration

If you ever need to test the connection between Contently and WordPress, you can log into Contently and navigate to the Integrations page in your Publication settings. Expand the details for your integration and click the "Test" button. If you haven't used this button before, your status will say "Unverified". 

 

If your status changes to "Connected" then you're all set. When you view your posts in WordPress, you will notice a new draft post called 'CMS Test Story' by Jane Doe. Feel free to delete this story. Each time you push the 'Test' button in Contently, we will either update the existing post if it still exists in WordPress or create a new one in order to test the connection between the two platforms.

 

If your status changes to "Disconnected" please make sure you entered the correct API key into WordPress. If you have more than one WordPress integration, make sure you are viewing the correct integration in Contently. The integration name in Contently should match the integration name listed on your Contently Settings page in WordPress. If your status changes to 'Disconnected', you will receive an email with more information to help your IT team diagnose the issue.

 

Note:   If the status says "Installation Required" that means your API key has not been entered into WordPress yet. The 'Test' button will be disabled. Please make sure to follow the installation instructions at the top of this page.

 

WordPress Multisite

If you're using a multisite setup to manage multiple websites in WordPress, you can still use Contently's WordPress plugin. Follow Steps 1 through 4 at the top of this install guide to install the plugin on your Network Admin. Once installed, you can choose "Network Activate" to enable the integration on all of your child sites or you can enable the plugin on each site individually.

 

Whether you network activate the plugin or you enable it for certain websites in your multisite configuration, you will still need to configure settings for the Contently plugin separately for each site, starting with Step 5 at the top of this install guide. Make sure to follow these instructions for each of your sites that will use the Contently plugin. Please make sure to use a different API key for each site.

 

Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select atleast one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article