It’s day eight of the yeah write community following ProBlogger’s 31 days to build a better blog. We’re powering through each day of July including weekends, and the summer series is running alongside our weekly writing challenges. In the past week, we have:
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- installed a stats tracker on our blog
- written or rewritten our blog’s elevator pitch
- created a list post
- promoted a blog post
- postponed a 31dbbb activity because life got in the way, and that’s okay
- emailed a blog reader
- made our blog mobile-friendly
- come up with 10 post ideas
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Today’s topic and activity is to develop an editorial calendar for your blog.
Planning ahead is not just for the professionals or the lonely
So okay, let’s be honest. How many yeah writers actually plan out their entries well ahead of time? There are some—the clever bloggers who have been cooking up well-planned and beautiful nuggets polished by a so what. But if the majority are anything like me, they “work best” under pressure. They “need” that last minute thrill of typing against the clock to bring out their very best. Do you fool yourself into thinking that, too?
Here’s a surprise: Most professional bloggers—and those who want to maintain their sanity—use an editorial calendar to plan out their posting schedule. It can work for you even if you fancy yourself a free spirited, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pantser.
How to get started planning your posts ahead of time
Yesterday’s mind-mapping ten blog post ideas leads directly to creating your calendar. Be realistic while challenging yourself. Plan to blog everyday? Once a week? Once a month? Consistency is key, whichever one you choose.
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- Decide how many times a week you can post. Trying to maintain a regular readership? Let your readers know how often to expect your posts
- Review your elevator pitch. Stick as closely as you can to what your blog is about
- Create a spreadsheet or blank calendar for tracking and recording your planned posts
- Pull out your mind mapping worksheet. Insert a few of those post ideas into your spreadsheet or calendar
- In the spreadsheet or calendar, make notes, add links to relevant information, add photos
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Weekly themes are our friends
If creating and following editorial calendars is against your religion, try setting weekly themes for your regular content. Mondays can be for photo posts, Tuesdays for childhood memories, Wednesdays for movie reviews and so on. As with everything else, building a readership will depend on your consistency. First time visitors should be able to navigate without vertigo and returning visitors should come to know what to expect. Allergic to set expectations? Do whatever you want. These are suggestions for a better blog and better blogging experience. If you’re already good, we’re good with it, too.
Editorial calendar software recommendations
A quick Google search brings up these results:
- WordPress (self-hosted) plugin editorial calendar (also recommended by the ProBlogger workbook)
- HubSpot’s blog editorial calendar template, an Excel spreadsheet that can be used for any platform
We won’t need a 31dbbb grid today. You can leave your editorial yeas or nays in comments. Do you use one? Have you always planned to try one? Are you against planning of any kind, so editorial calendars can suck it? Start a discussion and let us know your thoughts or experience.
Catch up on last week’s 31dbbb
This is also a good time to start with the 31dbbb kickoff post and fill in the blanks with any workbook activities you may have missed in the past seven days. We’re sure your editorial calender will fill with ideas just from reviewing the past few days.
Think this has definitely been the most useful task so far, has stopped me posting for the sake of it and have just sat and planned my posts for the next 2 weeks. Thinking ahead means I now have a range of posts and can plan what I need to do for them. It won’t stop me doing spur of the moment posts but I feel less pressured and am enjoying the process more.
Finally got round to completing this task, so that’s me all up to date now.
http://cheerfulreasoning.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/blog-changes.html
argh. I had a saturday photo that I ran on…well, Saturdays but then…i stopped. That’s the curse of being one’s own boss, i guess: if you take yourself to task, it’s just you talking crazy to yourself in the car, right? And b/c god knows I don’t make any money blogging, it’s not like some sort of revenue stream is being compromised.
BUT.
A person should really get her ass in gear, if a person thinks that she wants to be serious about this writing thing.
Must.Be.Consistent.
I aim for 2-4 x weekly but of late it’s been 1 or 2 and that ain’t enough. Thanks for the reminder/gentle kick in the pants.
Like the idea of this, at the moment blogging is very up and down and because I am rushing to get something posted, it’s not always the best. Think a definite schedule and maybe loose themes might help refine things.
I am going to take a stab at this…thanks for this post, Kristin!
I have a 2-3 times a week rule, and I follow a loose calendar (which could stand to be solidified, if I’m honest). Sunday or Monday I try to write either funny or thoughtful. Monday or Tuesday I write a story piece for Yeah Write. Thursday/Friday I write something either funny/thoughtful/artistic, sometimes fitting the theme for a blog hop in here and there. So it’s basically post for me, a challenge post, then another post for me, posted depending on how stressful work has been.
Now reading this, I’m seeing I might want to overhaul this system a bit…hmm, time for some reflections and a re-read of yesterday’s challenge, which I missed.
I am lucky because I have 3 weekly events… I co-host a link party on Tuesdays, I have a blogging series, that unfortunately, also posts on Tuesdays, and I do Friday Fiction. That only leaves 3 days each week to try and fill, and they fill up quickly! I used a blog planner that I downloaded for free and it has really helped me to look at my week and my month and plan it out. When you sit down and do it that way, it really is amazing how quickly you fill up your slots!
So far, the only way I’ve managed to force myself to blog regularly is by joining blogging challenges (and it doesn’t always work). That’s a nice suggestion – to use the results of our mind mapping to fill up our editorial calendars. I will certainly try that. It will certainly be a challenge to stick to an editorial calendar.
It’s a challenge, but I think of it as reaching for the moon and getting the stars (which makes not sense outside of the metaphor since the moon is closer than the stars, but you see what I mean). Do your best, and it will still be better than not trying at all!
I usually put in reminders on a Google calendar when I want to publish a post on a certain day, but other than that I just tend to publish things as I write them. I try to publish at least once a week, which is a requirement for having BlogHer ads on my site. Sometimes I publish more frequently and sometimes I go through dry spells, though, so a more planned-out calendar would help. I tried to get a feature going where I would publish a reader’s postcard every Monday (about going out of their comfort zones), but I haven’t been able to get it off the ground. I would like some sort of weekly feature that would be more automated than waiting for inspiration to strike, which is how I blog sometimes. I have just installed the WordPress plugin and will give that a try.
I have a “Glad I Saw It” series, but it has no schedule. I would definitely be more regular if I stuck to a schedule.
Since I began my blog with the thought that it would be daily (ha!), I used a calendar from the start. I HAVE to use a calendar when it comes to challenges like NaBloPoMo or the April A to Z challenge. Of course by “calendar” I mean a word document with the list of dates that I write in myself. I like having all the open space at the bottom of the space for brainstorming and my “someday” ideas.
That being said, for those people afraid that being organized will stifle creativity, don’t be scared! Just because you schedule something for one day doesn’t mean you can’t postpone a planned post when something topical or i-have-to-write-about-this-right-now pops up.
Thanks for this post, Kristin!
Totally agree! Structure often makes creativity shine.
I use a paper calendar – I write in posts I plan to publish, and note link ups I want to participate in. I’ve tried a calendar plug-in, but I prefer the low tech kind – easier for me to make notes and see what I have coming up.
I am a big paper calendar person as well. I like post-its and lists on scraps of paper. But sometimes I lose them. Basically, I need this post more than anyone else.
Thanks Kristin. I just installed that WP calendar on my blog. For those techno-novices like me I recommend the video on that link. Looks like it a great tool if one has a lot of created content. It could help you keep track of older posts you want to bring back? Hmm. Makes me want to get organized.
It’s so helpful! I’m going to install it as well. Just to try it out. People I know have great success with different clients and tools. I’m just to lazy (and scared) to really commit.