A whatzit?? Editorial Calendar?
Yes, my friends! Big magazines use editorial calendars, because they need to plan out their content months in advance. They may be planning for Christmas in July, just given their printing schedule.
Bloggers can benefit from a similar plan, although you may not need to plan that far in advance. A month or 6 weeks of advance planning, however, can really help you to:
- Get greater traffic by posting on “hot topics” or taking advantage of the seasons (ie: Christmas, summer vacation)
- Feel less at a loss as to what to post, because you’ve already planned out your posts in advance
- Be able to pitch to businesses for sponsorship well in advance, because you’ve planned out your posts
- Gain a loyal following because you are producing content on a schedule.
It’s up to you to decide what your calendar looks like. Here are some things to ask yourself:
- How often per week do I want to post?
- What day(s) will I be posting?
- If you are posting on multiple days per week, will those days have a theme, for example every monday you post a “meatless monday” recipe.
Your next step is to build an editorial calendar. You have a bunch of different options, including:
- Hard copy (blackboard or white board) on your wall
- Hard copy on a printed calendar
- Online calendar (like a Google doc)
- Excel Spreadsheet
Map out your dates, and then start filling them in with post ideas! You can use colour-coding if you like, images, stickers, whatever strikes your fancy!
Here are some additional resources, which include downloadable templates:
Free Yearly Editorial Calendar for any Blogger
How to Rock SEO with a Blogging Editorial Calendar
How to Create an Editorial Calendar