Editorial Calendars: a Blogger`s Best Friend - How to Build an Editorial Calendar
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An editorial calendar can be as simple or as complicated as you need it to be; use whatever works to keep you motivated and posting consistently. You should probably start with some kind of calendaring software; an Excel spreadsheet can do the trick, or try Google Calendar. You might not even need to get anything new at all; plenty of calendar creators simply use a word processing document.
Start by deciding how many days you won't post. That may sound counter-intuitive, but for the really hardcore it can help to build that in from the beginning. It's strangely easy to forget. You'll also want to allow time for research. Finally, figure out how many days per week you'll post. Those of you who maintain multiple blogs or otherwise post more than once a day on a regular basis (mazel tov!) face a more difficult juggling act, but the basic idea is the same.
The next step involves brainstorming. That can go a number of ways. At the simplest level, you come up with categories or formats for each day of the week you'll be posting, and write to those formats. For example, suppose you write a blog aimed at people trying to get and stay organized. You've decided you're going to post five days a week, Monday through Friday. Your schedule might look something like this:
- Monday: Getting and keeping your office organized.
- Tuesday: Helping your kids get and stay organized.
- Wednesday: Housework - keeping your house clean and everything in its place. (Could include an occasional special focus on the kitchen).
- Thursday: Organizing your hobby supplies.
- Friday: Great web services to help you get organized (I.e. Google Calendar) alternating with reader tips.
With all of the categories laid out neatly for you like this, you can get a number of articles done in advance, giving you some serious peace of mind. You won't have to worry so much about not being able to blog on a particular day because you're sick or your system is down, leading to a lack of new content!
If you feel that using topics is too confining, you can always focus on formats. For example, you might have a day when you do lists (top ten of this, top five of that), interviews, reviews (books, articles, web sites, whatever is appropriate for your blog), business profiles, detailed how-to instructions...the list is endless.
Next: Advanced Editorial Calendar Ideas >>
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