How to Use an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog

If you’ve never heard of an editorial calendar before, luckily for you the concept isn’t difficult to figure out. It’s simply a calendar that helps you plan and track blog posts.

I’ve managed my blog two different ways. Without an editorial calendar and with an editorial calendar. When I didn’t plan ahead or brainstorm for upcoming blog posts, my posts were short, scattered, and lacked proper execution. I would sit down at my computer ten minutes before bedtime and just post pictures or type something random. And there were many days that I didn’t even bother posting because I just had no inspiration.

Then I started to use an editorial calendar. And it’s turned my blog and the way that I feel about it around in a full 360.

Are you unsure of how to start using an editorial calendar? It’s really simple to get started and it will help you to feel much more motivated and organized in no time.

Step 1: Get a calendar.

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. I simply use the monthly calendar page in my Target planner to plan out my posts. If you already have a planner, just use that. If not, you can get a plain one for less than $10 at Target or Office Depot. (Or if you prefer to go all out, I love how The Day Designer looks and I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about it.) I work better by writing my ideas down by hand, but for those of you who prefer to use the computer, Google Calendar or any other calendar app will also work just fine.

Step 2: Think about the type of content you want your blog to be known for.

What do you write about? Obviously my blog is all about social media. Maybe you write a parenting blog. Focus on the various types of blog posts that come with that–monthly updates of babies, activities for kids, how to get your kids to behave perfectly all of the time (if you ever find the answer, please send it on over here!). Or maybe you write a travel blog about venues to visit, great hotel deals, and things like that. Whatever it is, focus on your one niche and plan posts only for that niche. This way your blog isn’t all over the place and your readers will always find what they want from you.

Step 3: Categorize the focus of your blog into keywords or groups.

For example, I aim the focus of my blog towards bloggers/small biz owners who want to do their own social media marketing. Therefore, I post about things such as social media analytics, content calendars, and more. I categorize my posts by social media platform as well as some extras for biz and other online marketing routes. Use your keywords/categories to help you plan out your post topics.

Step 4: Brainstorm blog post ideas.

After you’ve come up with your categories, now you simply need to think about what you know in these categories and go off of that. Blog Elevated suggests looking at one of your highest ranking posts and gathering ideas from that. Check out this post to see their example. Regardless of how you go about it, actually coming up with your blog post topics is the most important part, so choose wisely.

Step 5: Schedule your posts.

Simply write down in your calendar what post you’re going to write on each day. This step is the most fun! You can randomize it however you want or organize your week by topic.

Creating an editorial calendar for your blog helps in more ways that just becoming organized–although that in itself is nothing to overlook. However, it also helps you to maintain the focus of your blog. The last thing anyone wants is to lose readers because their post topics have started to become random and off-topic. Additionally, using this method makes it easy for you to offer categories on your homepage for readers to choose from. This way new visitors to your blog will be able to easily see what you offer and find exactly what they’re looking for.