If I have learned one thing in life it is this, the highly successful are extremely organized – nearly to the point of being robotic. A key component in this is efficient communication processes. Sure, you get it, you know your schedule, you know the comings and goings of your business but what about your customers and all of the people who help with this process and/or need to be in the know? For all of us digital baby monsters, a calendar is the key to success PLUS a no stress WordPress solution to incorporate our personal digital calendars into our existing communication structures (website and social media).
I have been trying out different scheduling and calendar plugins for Hazel & Friends Daycare and I feel these options fall short. Initially, me theme came with scheduling capabilities but I do recall there were gliches and back-end fixes that I really did not want to dive into. It also pigeon holed calendar capabilities to merely attendance. For my own daycare purposes and thus eliminating the confusion of several calendars displayed on my website, I have come up with a new solution.
While I am typically all about bells, whistles and pretty graphics, sometimes, very rarely, I will surprise you with a (mostly) purely efficient digital solution, so here goes…
Step 1. Login to your Gmail. Click the dots to the left of your picture. Select Calendar. Select the GEAR icon > Click Settings.
Step 2. Select Add Calendar > Select Create New Calendar > Fill in the required fields pictured below > Click Create Calendar
Step 3. Populate your business calendar. First, make sure that this and only this calendar is selected with a check-mark appearing to the left of your newly created calendar. > Select the + Create. > Add your schedule and/or anything you wish to display on your Public webpage. > Update as needed.
Step 4. Manually add your Google Calendar to your WordPress website. > Click the three buttons to the right of your calendar. > Select Settings and sharing. > Scroll down to Access permissions and make sure the check mark for Make available to public is selected. > Scroll down further to Integrate calendar. > Copy the Public URL to this Calendar and paste it into your WordPress Page, Post, Button, Widget, etc.
For my own purposes, I inserted a new Page > a calendar icon that matched my theme > the URL to my Public Google Calendar as there are minimal changes that one can make to the aesthetics of the output calendar which may be viewed below.