Okay, you’ve set up your blog, named and designed it, set up killer social media profiles and started networking, and you have so many amazing ideas for posts, now what? Enter your editorial calendar.
What is an editorial calendar?
An editorial calendar is the backbone for your blog, it’s your content strategy and should serve as the road map for the time period you set it for! Everyone has their own methods for keeping an editorial calendar but ask most serious bloggers if they have one and the answer will be yes!
Not only does it outline what posts you plan to write throughout the month, it also serves as a great brainstorming tool and checklist so you know exactly what prep work is required for each post!
Why do you need one?
It can be hard to generate post ideas, especially when life gets in the way and you don’t start writing until 10:00 the night before a post needs to be scheduled (we’ve all been there, I may or may not be there right now…). An editorial calendar is meant to help you avoid those moments of panic when you have nothing to write and no new ideas.
It also will be hugely helpful in planning your time, when you have everything written down it is so much easier to keep track of what you need to do for each post and be able to cross off those things. Who doesn’t love crossing something off a to-do list?! I went a long time without an editorial calendar, it made time management impossible and left a lot of days without a new post.
How do you make one?
Editorial calendars are so easy, they are basically just a planner for your blog. Some people have separate planners, some use Excel or Google Calendar, some use sticky notes that they can swap around. It’s individual to everyone, whatever works for you!
Step 1. decide how far out you want to plan your posts, I usually do 2 weeks because I’m organized but not that organized and let’s be real.
Step 2. Go through your calendar and write in any themes you want to write, do you have a weekly series like link love? Or are there any holidays you want to dedicate a post to? Write down the overarching themes.
Step 3. Once you have your themes, brainstorm some post ideas, these don’t have to be concrete, if you feel inspired and want to switch things up that’s okay.
Step 4. Make a to-do list for each post. Do you need to schedule a photoshoot? Create a graphic? Buy some props? What do you need to do for your social media profiles for each post?
Step 5. Start writing! A lot of times as I’m working on my editorial calendar I open up a draft in WordPress and start jotting down notes, bullet points or even start writing.
