Getting Started with BD Auto Blog

What Is BD Auto Blog?

BD Auto Blog is an AI-powered auto-blogging plugin for WordPress that uses the Claude API to generate high-quality, SEO-optimized blog posts on autopilot. The plugin handles the entire content pipeline: generating topic ideas, writing expert-level articles with proper structure, adding featured images, setting SEO metadata, and publishing on a schedule you control.

Every article BD Auto Blog creates includes a table of contents, FAQ section with schema markup, internal and outbound links, social media snippets, and JSON-LD structured data — all designed to meet Google’s E-E-A-T quality standards.

System Requirements

• WordPress 5.6 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher
• A valid BD Auto Blog license key (Starter, Professional, or Agency tier)
• An Anthropic Claude API key (obtain one from console.anthropic.com)

Step 1: Install the Plugin

BD Auto Blog is distributed as a standard WordPress plugin ZIP file. To install it:

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Click Choose File and select the bd-auto-blog.zip file you downloaded from your BDShield account.
4. Click Install Now, then click Activate Plugin.

After activation, the plugin automatically redirects you to the BD Auto Blog dashboard. You can also access it at any time from the BD Auto Blog menu item in your WordPress admin sidebar (using the page-edit icon at position 81 in the menu).

Step 2: Activate Your License Key

A valid license key is required before BD Auto Blog can generate topics or write articles. All core operations — topic generation, article writing, and scheduled publishing — check for an active license before proceeding.

1. In the BD Auto Blog dashboard, click the License tab.
2. Enter your license key in the format BDAB-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
3. Click Activate License.

The plugin contacts the BDShield License Server at getbdshield.com/wp-json/bdls/v1/validate to validate your key and register your site. On success, your license tier (Starter, Professional, or Agency) is displayed, and the tier’s feature set is cached locally for 24 hours to minimize API calls.

License Tiers at a Glance

If the license server is temporarily unreachable, the plugin falls back to the last known tier stored in the bdab_last_known_tier option, so a brief API outage will not interrupt your publishing schedule.

Deactivating a License

To move your license to a different site, go to the License tab and click Deactivate License. This frees up the site activation slot so you can activate on another domain. After deactivation, the plugin reverts to Starter-tier limits until a new key is activated.

Step 3: Enter Your Claude API Key

BD Auto Blog uses the Anthropic Claude API to generate both topics and articles. You need your own API key:

1. Go to console.anthropic.com and create an account or log in.
2. Navigate to API Keys and generate a new key.
3. Copy the key (it starts with sk-ant-).
4. In the BD Auto Blog dashboard, go to the Settings tab.
5. Paste your API key into the Claude API Key field.
6. Click Validate to confirm the key works. The plugin sends a test request to the Claude API to verify the key is valid.
7. Click Save Settings.

Your API key is encrypted using AES-256-CBC before being stored in the database. The encryption key is derived from your site’s AUTH_SALT constant, so the key is never stored in plain text. In the settings UI, only a masked version is displayed (e.g., sk-ant-...Ab1c).

Choosing an AI Model

The Model dropdown lets you select which Claude model to use for content generation. The default is claude-sonnet-4-6, which provides an excellent balance of quality and cost. If you have access to other models like Claude Opus, you can select them here. The plugin automatically normalizes dated model IDs (e.g., claude-sonnet-4-6-20250827 is corrected to claude-sonnet-4-6) to prevent compatibility issues.

Step 4: Configure Your Blog Profile

Before generating content, tell BD Auto Blog about your site. Under the Settings tab, fill in these blog profile fields:

• Blog Niche — Your site’s primary topic area (e.g., “cybersecurity”, “personal finance”, “WordPress development”). This is a required field — topic generation will not work without it.
• Target Audience — Who your readers are (e.g., “small business owners”, “IT professionals”). Defaults to “professionals and decision-makers” if left blank.
• Writing Tone — Choose from: informative (default), conversational, professional, casual, authoritative, or friendly.
• Custom Instructions — Any additional guidance for the AI, such as “Always mention our product X in the conclusion” or “Avoid discussing competitor Y.” These instructions are appended to both topic generation and article writing prompts.

Step 5: Generate Your First Topics

With your license activated and API key configured, you are ready to start:

1. Go to the Topics tab in the BD Auto Blog dashboard.
2. Click Generate Topics and choose how many topics to create (1 to 20 at a time, default is 7).
3. The plugin calls the Claude API with your niche, audience, and tone settings to produce unique, SEO-friendly blog post ideas.
4. Generated topics appear in the queue with status Queued, ready for article generation.

You can also write an article immediately by clicking the Write Now button next to any queued topic — or let the automated scheduler handle everything.

Step 6: Enable Automated Publishing

Once topics are in your queue, BD Auto Blog can generate and publish articles automatically:

1. In the Settings tab, set your Publish Time (the time each day when article generation begins, e.g., 09:00).
2. Set Posts Per Day (capped by your license tier: 1 for Starter, 3 for Professional, 10 for Agency).
3. Choose the Publish Mode: Draft (articles are created as drafts for manual review) or Publish (articles go live immediately).
4. Click Save Settings.

The scheduler uses WordPress cron with self-rescheduling single events. Each day at your configured time, it generates the first article, then chains subsequent articles with 5-minute delays between them to avoid server timeouts. If an article fails, it retries after 60 seconds rather than 5 minutes, ensuring the day’s remaining quota is not wasted.

Understanding the Dashboard

The BD Auto Blog dashboard is organized into tabs:

• Dashboard — Overview statistics: total articles published, total API cost, average word count, queue depth, articles generated today, and scheduling status (next generation time, next queue refill time, pause/resume toggle).
• Topics — View, filter, edit, skip, or delete topics in the queue. Generate new topics or write articles on demand.
• Logs — Activity log showing every generation attempt with status, model used, token counts, API cost, word count, generation time, and links to the created posts.
• Settings — All configuration options for API, blog profile, publishing, content quality, featured images, SEO, CTA, YouTube embedding, queue management, notifications, and stealth mode.
• License — License activation/deactivation and current tier information.

Auto-Updates

BD Auto Blog includes a built-in auto-updater that checks the BDShield License Server for new versions. When an update is available, it appears in your WordPress Dashboard → Updates page just like any other plugin update. The updater hooks into pre_set_site_transient_update_plugins and plugins_api to provide seamless, one-click updates. A valid license key is required to receive updates.

Next Steps

Now that BD Auto Blog is installed and configured, proceed to the Configuration & Content Settings guide to fine-tune word counts, SEO levels, featured images, CTA blocks, YouTube embedding, and notification preferences.