How to Develop a Sustainable Blog Content Calendar And Stay on Track
Ever felt like you’re constantly scrambling to come up with blog post ideas at the last minute? I know I have been there on more than one occasion. But fear not, because I have solution for you – a blog content calendar. It has definitely changed my life.
This powerful tool can transform your content creation process from chaotic to organized, helping you stay ahead of the game and crush your blogging goals. A blog content calendar will not only help you be more focused and stay on track, but it will also amplify your creative process and allow you to produce more blog articles covering a wider array of topics.
What is a Blog Content Calendar?
A blog content calendar is an editorial calendar for your site that will help you keep on track and get more done. It can be a simple calendar or a more extensive method that gives you titles, keywords, publish date, and more.
I used to blog when I felt like it. And sometimes, I didn’t feel like it for long stretches of time. I got lazy at times and just skipping blogging altogether.
Like many bloggers, I work at a normal job in addition to writing all of this blog content. And I can get a bit distracted. My work needs me, my cat wants to play, I’m hungry, I am three missions into a good story arc on Grand Theft Auto V (affiliate link). Whatever it is, there is always something.
With a blog content calendar I feel I have a bit more purpose when I blog. I am focused, I know what needs done and when it needs done by. I have something to turn to when I sit at the computer and stare the screen – probably the only time my mind will truly go blank.
A content calendar keeps me on topic. If you look at the last few posts, you’ll see that they’re all connected in some way. Instead of writing a haphazard collection of thoughts (which is how my brain functions), I have a solid blog content strategy that guides me and with my handy editorial calendar tells me exactly what to post and when to post it.
Essential Elements of a Blog Content Calendar
You can build a blog content calendar template on your own or use one from an online source. If you choose to build one yourself (or adapt one your found online), you’ll want to have some basic elements to it – and you may want to add some extra features.
Date and Time of Publication
This is simple enough. You want to plan out your calendar so that it shows you what days and times you want to publish your blog articles. It is important to stick to your schedule and publish them when expected – I use the scheduling feature in WordPress.
Blog Post Title
Including the blog post topics or titles will help you know a) what blog content to write and b) what posts are coming up. This will also help you generate future blog post ideas as you will have a “big picture” view of what’s happening on your blog.
Target Keywords
I like to include the target keywords so I can quickly sort them and see if I’m repeating anything and cannibalizing my own SEO efforts as well as looking for any holes in any content clusters I may have or want to work on.
Content Type
In the past, I didn’t do this, but after someone recommended it to me, it made perfect sense. Adding the content type (how-to, listicle, perhaps a bit of storytelling, etc.) to your blog calendar allows you to see if you’re doing too much of any one type of post (or not enough).
Author Assignment
If you’re working with other people on a site, it is essential to provide author assignments on your content calendar in order to make sure no one is doubling up and writing the same blog posts as someone else.
Status Tracking
Track the stages of your blog posts – idea or concept, keyword research, draft, second draft, scheduled, published, re-checked for links, etc. How you decide to break up your stages is up to you, but you should try and keep track of at least the basics: idea stage, draft, scheduled, and posted.
Tracking the publish date is critical so that you can keep consistent with the frequency of your blog posts.
How to Create Your Blog Content Calendar
Now that you know what goes into your content calendar, it’s time to think about what you want to put into your blog content calendar template and start getting used to using it.
First, you’ll need to choose the right tool to build your content calendar template. Will it be a spreadsheet, specialized project management software, or a bunch of sticky notes (not recommended). We took at 5 of our favorites in our previous article about content planning tools.
Next, think about how often you want to post. It’s recommended that you shoot for 2-3 times a week. Any less and your blog probably won’t get enough traction and any more than that tends to be unmanageable for most people. If you have the time and can post every day, great. But I would suggest breaking up that same volume into 2-3 times a week.
Once you choose a schedule, stick to it.
Sit down and brainstorm. Come up with some blog post ideas – give yourself a list of potential content and even some themes for a series of posts. Do your keyword research and make sure that your plans align with your goals.
Don’t panic. It’s the best thing I ever learned from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (affiliate link) and it has served me well. You’re not always going to write the next big thing. Just stick to your content strategy and chip away at those posts until you have a sizable volume of content. Your traffic will come in time.
Don’t forget to include seasonal topics and events related to your niche on your blog calendar. For example, if you write a blog about coffee and it’s fall, you’re probably going to mention pumpkin spice at some point – use holidays, seasons, and niche specific events for a solid traffic boost during those times.
Tips for Effective Content Planning
New habits are hard to get into. I am the poster child for that thought. But if you play your cards right, build a solid editorial calendar, work to stay on track and write the blog posts you’ve planned, you’ll start to get into the content creation groove and the writing will become easier.
Trust me, I hated the idea of planning ahead and building out a content calendar. Had you told me two years ago I’d be using one, I would have called you crazy.
But I gave it a shot (thanks to Adam Enfroy for making me see the light) and now, I can’t imagine a day going by with our me checking my content calendar to see not only what is on tap for today, but also to give me a glimpse of the next few weeks.
When you’re planning your content, it helps to try and batch your blog posts into workable series and themes. For instance, right now, you are several posts into my series focused on building your content strategy. Grouping relevant content will help you focus on task at hand and also make it easier to interlink upcoming blog posts together (good for search engines and SEO).
Once again, I have to return to my favorite phrase – don’t panic. Don’t panic if you want to veer off for a special post or you get tripped up and behind schedule. Just get back on the plan, look at your editorial calendar, and continue working the calendar and your content strategy. We all make mistakes, don’t dwell on them.
If you have friends in the same niche, get together with them and plan some guest content or cross posting ideas (ie you both write your take on the topic and discuss your thoughts on the other’s opinion about it). Collaboration is never a bad idea in the blogging world. Dedicate one blog post a month to discussing someone else’s blog posts. Make friends. Enjoy. This shouldn’t be a chore.
If you get stuck and don’t have anything for your upcoming content and you’ve been doing this for awhile, go back and pull an old blog post and revamp it. Improve the post or maybe steer the post content in a new direction. Maybe dissect your old thoughts about the topic and show how you’ve learned something new or perhaps even changed your mind entirely about it.
Don’t be afraid of always creating stellar content. It’s not always going to be great. Some blog posts are just going to suck, there’s no nice way to say it. They are not the end of the world, they are simply a new opportunity to improve upon and they are great opportunities to spruce up old blog post content.
Integrating Your Blog Content Calendar with Other Marketing Efforts
As your blog grows, so will your marketing efforts. Merge your marketing calendar into your editorial calendar and make your social media posts part of your content creation process. There are plenty of tools to help you do it as well – particularly for cross-posting from WordPress to social media.
Social media can be particularly useful for refreshing older stale posts. Someone who only recently started following you might not know about that killer blog post you wrote two years ago. Just remember to stick to your content calendar and try not to veer off course – social media can be a time suck if you’re not careful.
Start building your mail list and begin to consider how you can use email marketing as part of your overall content strategy. Tie in your emails to you blog posts and you can make the most of the traffic from your target audience. The goal is growth, so keep feeding the machine and writing more blog posts!
As you begin to monetize your blog, incorporate product launches and promotions as part of your content calendar. Just remember to be authentic and believe in what you attach your name to.
Tools and Resources for Managing Your Blog Content Calendar
We hit on these previously, but it’s always good to refresh and remind ourselves that there are a ton of tools to help us build and maintain our content calendar. I have experimented with several, from Trello and CoSchedule to Miro and Monday.com. Take a look at the tools we discussed in “5 Best Content Planning Tools to Supercharge Your Strategy in 2024” to see if there is something that works for you and your content calendar needs.
Although I am growing more fond of Trello recently, I still use a spreadsheet for more of my blog content planning. I’m still a bit old school, but much like I’m learning too. My content calendar is simple, but I have been adding more to it as I get used to the idea of planning my content, something I didn’t always do.
There are a ton of templates and resources online to get you started on your way to building your own content calendar. I like the simplicity (as a starter) of some of the ones offered by SmartSheet. I am working on building some for download and hope to have them ready in the next few weeks for everyone.
Don’t forget to be flexible and edit your content calendar often. What you thought might work for next week’s posts might not be what you’re thinking now. Go ahead and swap things around and play with the schedule – that’s the beauty of making one, you can actually plan things.
(This is also why I’m starting to grow fond of Trello, because you can simply click and drag cards back and forth to rearrange things. I still haven’t mastered Trello, but it is definitely growing on me.)
Measuring and Optimizing Your Content Calendar Strategy
Like anything in the online world, you need to track your metrics and adjust you editorial calendar when needed. If everything you’re posting right now isn’t working, you may need to rethink and reschedule. Don’t be afraid to adjust your editorial calendar, but also don’t be too quick to throw everything out and start again. SEO takes time and website traffic doesn’t come over night.
As you get feedback based on your analytics, start looking for opportunities – are you getting a lot of traffic from one topic, but nothing on another? Maybe it’s time to repurpose or refresh that lagging content. Or maybe you need to write some more on the hot topic and expand your broader related knowledge to that topic. I love SurferSEO’s Topic Explorer for finding new opportunities like this, but there are plenty of tools out there to try (a whole blog posts worth of tools).
It all comes down to seeing what works and what doesn’t. Even the nerdiest SEO guys I’ve met track everything and then see what happens and adjust from there. One day, a new Google update, might take some of your best content to almost worthless overnight. That just means you need to look at what’s missing and refresh that post.
Some day, blogging may not even be a thing (we’ll all just look at videos and pictures…oh wait, that’s happening right now). When that time comes, I’ll have to adjust and find how I can take my skills and apply them to something new. Until then though, it’s me and you…we’re sticking it out.
Remember, a well-planned content strategy is your secret weapon for blogging success. By implementing a robust content calendar, you’ll say goodbye to last-minute panic and hello to a streamlined, effective blogging process that delivers real results.
Time to get started with building your content calendar.
If you have some success with it, I’d love to hear about it. If you know someone who could benefit from learning about building a content calendar, please share the love by sharing the post.
