So, you have decided to create a new blog for yourself or your business. An editorial calendar can help you maintain a consistent and interesting year-round blog. It will also help you avoid wasting valuable time deciding what to write.
The experts say you should blog daily (or weekly at a minimum) in order to get and maintain readers. Consistent blogging might seem doable during slow months, but what happens during busier times of year? You don’t want a stop-and-go blog that gains momentum and drops off just as you are gathering readers and interest.
Editorial calendars help you find time to blog.
Think of blogging as a marketing tool. Everyone should make time to market themselves or their business. Sit down with a calendar and create time to blog.
- Schedule daily blogging time. If you put aside 15-30 minutes each workday it won’t seem so overwhelming.
- Schedule your blogging time during your most productive time of the day. You develop better content when your creative juices are flowing.
- Anticipate busy times of year and formulate a plan. This will enable you to write more during the slow weeks to prepare for the busier weeks.
- Find guest bloggers for the busy times of year. Looking ahead will help you to find experts for various topics.
Editorial calendars improve the effectiveness of blogging time.
Create a plan for your assigned time to help you avoid writer’s block.
- Read other relevant blogs and comment when you feel inspired.
- Create a list of topics you want to cover.
- Work on your editorial calendar.
- And … of course … write!
Editorial calendars help create interesting content.
Convert your list of topics to a series of blog posts. Assign the different topics to days on your calendar. Consider the following:
- Space out different subjects throughout the year to maintain interest.
- Vary the style of your posts: lists, question and answer, interviews, case studies, opinion-based posts, fact-based posts and guest posts.
- Order your topics in a sensible way. For example, create a series of blog posts that build on each other.
- Leave room for spontaneity. Replace scheduled blog posts with breaking news and developments in your industry when necessary.
Continue to keep a list of ideas and links for blogs after your calendar is complete. This can help you create a consistent blogging plan that will keep you going year-round.
Blog Post Written by Spencer Powell
Spencer is the Inbound Marketing Director at TMR Direct. Spencer specializes in helping clients create and execute effective inbound marketing campaigns.