Connect WordPress to Hynca Media Desk. Five steps, then drafts.

To connect WordPress to Hynca Media Desk, you add your site on the Desk, create an API key, paste it into the free plugin, then choose categories, authors and how the Desk learns your voice. Before you start, you need two things: a WordPress site where you can install plugins, and a Desk account. The account comes with a 14-day free trial.

This piece follows the Desk's own set-up guide, which has five steps and puts the whole job at ten minutes in its title. One step needs care. When the Desk makes your API key, it shows it only once, so copy it straight away. Everything else is a short sequence of choices you make yourself, and it ends with drafts waiting in WordPress.

What you need before you start

There are two requirements. The first is a WordPress site where you can install plugins. The second is a Hynca Media Desk account, which comes with a 14-day free trial.

The plugin requirement is the one that can catch people out. If you can't install plugins on the site, you'll need whoever can to help. On a client site, that might be the agency that built it. On a member organisation's site, it might be a supplier or the person who looks after the website. Arrange this before you begin. Otherwise you could end up halfway through, with a key copied and no way to paste it.

Choose a time to do the set-up and start the trial then. The 14 days are better spent watching drafts arrive and judging them against your own standards.

It also helps to have two browser tabs open: the Desk in one and your WordPress admin area in the other. You move between them during the set-up, and having both ready keeps the sequence short.

How to make the connection

The first three steps link the Desk and your site. They run in this order:

1. On the Desk, go to Sites, add your site and choose "A WordPress website".
2. Press "Connect to WordPress". This makes an API key. Copy it.
3. In WordPress, install the free Hynca Media Desk plugin. Open Hynca Media Desk in the admin menu, paste the key and press Connect.

An API key is a long code that lets the plugin and the Desk recognise each other. You don't need to understand how it works or remember it. You only need to get it from one tab to the other.

The common mistake happens at step 2. The key appears on screen, you move on to install the plugin, and only when WordPress asks for the key do you realise you never copied it. The Desk shows the key only once. So copy it the moment it appears, before you click anything else, and go straight to WordPress to paste it.

If you look after more than one site, as many agencies do, finish one connection before starting the next. Keep the Desk tab and the matching WordPress tab side by side. That way each key goes into the right site, and you don't have several keys in progress at the same time.

Which choices you make at step 4

Step 4 decides where drafts land and what the Desk can see. You make two sets of choices.

First, you choose the category and the author that drafts arrive under. This sounds small, but it shapes your routine afterwards. Say you run the website for a local trade association. You might choose a category called News, which your site already uses for member updates, and an author account for the person who handles your communications. Every draft from the Desk then sits in the News category under a name your team recognises. When someone opens the drafts list in WordPress, it's clear which pieces came from the Desk and where they belong.

Second, under "What the Desk reads", you tick which content types the Desk may link to and learn your voice from. Look at each one and ask two questions. Is this content I'm happy for new pieces to link to? Does it sound like us? Tick the content types that pass both tests. If part of your site is out of date, or written in a style you've since moved away from, leaving it unticked keeps it out of what the Desk reads.

For agencies, step 4 is the step to agree with the client before you start. The client should know which category and author their drafts will use, and which parts of their site the Desk will read.

How the Desk gets to know your site

Step 5 takes you back to the Desk. You have two ways to give it your writing. You can scan the site, or you can let the plugin send samples of your writing. Use whichever suits your site.

Then you work through three more actions on the Desk:

• apply the proposed set-up;
• approve the voice;
• add news feeds.

Approving the voice is your decision. Read it as you would read a description of your organisation written by someone new to the team. Does it sound like you? Would your members or customers recognise it? Only approve it if the answer is yes.

News feeds decide where stories come from, so choose them with your readers in mind. A trade body might add feeds that cover its sector. A local business might add feeds that cover its area and its trade. Fewer, well-chosen feeds will suit your readers better than a long list added because they were there.

What arrives in WordPress after set-up

Once set-up is complete, the plugin checks the Desk for approved pieces every 15 minutes. When it finds one, it saves it in WordPress as a draft. Each draft comes with:

• a header image;
• tags;
• an SEO title and description.

If your site uses Yoast, Rank Math or SEOPress, the plugin fills in that plugin's SEO fields for you. You don't need to copy the title and description across by hand.

In practice, the plugin checks on a regular cycle, so a piece approved just after one check is picked up at the next. The longest you'll wait for it to reach WordPress is 15 minutes. You'll find it in your drafts, in the category and under the author you chose at step 4.

Each draft waits for you in WordPress. You can open it, read it and edit it there, just like any other draft on your site.

What the plugin doesn't do, and how to pause it

The plugin makes no AI calls and needs no AI keys. There's nothing extra to set up on that side, and no separate AI account to pay for. The only key involved is the API key from step 2.

You can also pause automatic writing from the plugin's screen in WordPress. This is useful whenever new drafts would get in the way. For example, if a site is being rebuilt, you may not want drafts arriving in a category that's about to change. If you're reorganising your categories, the same applies. Pause automatic writing while the work is done, then pick up again once the site is ready.

The best way to judge the set-up is to see real drafts on your own site, in your own categories, under your own author. Try it on your site during the 14-day free trial.