The Great Organization Pursuit has led me to scheduling apps and plugins that would work hand-in-hand with my blogging experience. I’m one of these techies that does not want to pick up a pen. I tried, I really did. I printed my schedule, I filled it out and then I pushed it to the side. I want to open my computer, fill out spreadsheets – and automate everything.
TONS of web ads & promotional tweet led me to a plugin called CoSchedule.
I mean there are positive reviews about this plugin everywhere. It is probably because if you write a review about the plugin you get it for 50% off for a year. That is a very seductive pull to write a positive review. I wonder if you still get the 50% off if you write a negative review?
A quick Screenr of the CoSchedule plugin if you are interested:
On the surface, the CoSchedule plugin is a great addition to my blogging experience. Some handy features include:
- Schedule reviews in a handy calendar
- See at a glance posting
- Schedule Social posting within our posts
- Drag and Drop posts to different days
- Add multiple blogs (this is a huge plus for users that blog on many different blogs)
- Comment and create tasks on other bloggers posts
It is a great plugin – and it can get you organized, especially if you are a multi-author blog. But, it is a little advanced. Some of my writers expressed that the plugin was a little complex. I didn’t feel this way, but I quickly digest technical doo-hickeys. In fact I thought it was a great plugin. It has wonderful potential. But there is a downside to this plugin. A $10 a month downside.
CoSchedule Costs $10 a Month
I would have gladly paid a one-time payment, probably $25 – $40, which is what I am willing to pay for a great plugin. But, I’m scared of the idea of another monthly payment for my blog. Why oh why?! But pushing that price up as the top con – and the fact that you can get Free plugins that do similar, if not, as good of a job…but they are free, makes this an “iffy” purchase. I know, I’m cheap!
I might even have considered this plugin if it had even more features then what you can get with other free plugins, like Event Flow, Editorial Calendar and Google Calendar. Features like:
- Task/Commenting outside of a blog post (like designating weeks and months with special labeling)
- Color Coding by Categories (wouldn’t it be amazing if you designated a Blog Tour, Giveaway, Review, or Misc — and it came up as a different color)
Overall though, it is a great plugin and worth a looksie, and I will maybe give this a go for 1 month, but like I said, I’m loathe to add another monthly bill to my blogging regime. I’m currently up to a few subscriptions….
Thank you for the review and feedback! We are certainly wiling to offer the discount even if the review is negative. We actually ask our users for “an honest review” and that frequently includes suggestions and ideas that might help us make the product better.
Reviews are helpful because they help us promote the product, sure, but they also provide us with excellent insight into what our users like or dislike about the plugin. We have made many improvements to the tool based on comments from our various reviews. We are a relatively new tool, so we rely heavily on user feedback to improve how to do things.
Thank you for the time spent reviewing the plugin and sharing your thoughts!
Garrett Moon
– CoSchedule Co-Founder
It sounds like an interesting plugin, but like you, I don’t want to pay every month. A one-time fee is much more comfortable to handle.
Hi Sarah, thank you for the comments. We would love to have released a tool that offers a one time fee, but it just doesn’t work for a plugin like CoSchedule.
CoSchedule works as third-party tool that continually sends out your social messages behind the scenes without effecting the performance of your blog. This makes our social sharing service extremely reliable and accurate. For example, our goal it is send messages within 2-7 seconds of their scheduled time. This is much faster than most of the services currently available.
In addition, we also offer outstanding support, and regular features improvements – key benefits made possible due to our basic pricing structure.
Of course, we also have an excellent referral program available if you would like to save some money on a monthly subscription.
I hope that helps. Thank you for the feedback!
Garrett Moon
– CoSchedule Co-Founder
I tried this out a couple of months ago but deleted it because $10/month for social & blog scheduling is just ludicrous. They also stalked me to death in automated emails asking me for reviews and feedback. I think I got an email every single day.
I might have paid $35-50 for this as a premium plugin, but not a monthly fee.
Yeah, I think I’m the same way. It’s a good plugin, but I don’t believe it’s worth a monthly fee.
Sorry to hear that Jennifer, we do our best to improve the process as we can and will keep our email load in mind for future users. Thanks again!