Crafting a detailed and well researched blog schedule doesn’t take the spontaneity out of blogging, so don’t panic. What it does, however, is help you plan a bespoke content agenda that houses everything from product launches and promotions, to useful ‘How to’ guides and ‘What’s on’ recommendations; all of which will not only reinforce your voice of authority, but also ensure fresh, engaging and pertinent content is constantly being fed into your blog. Do all the hard work now, and see your blog (and business) flourish from your efforts in the future.
Time management
OK, so where do you begin when you’re creating your blog schedule? Well, not just any blog schedule will do. You will need to invest and apportion sufficient time initially, and then over subsequent months, in order to prioritise your blogging. Your goal is to create a blogging schedule that works for you. It is very easy for bloggers to create their schedule, to then allow a host of distractions interfere with the fluidity and consistency of their submissions. Treat blogging as serious work please!
Resource
Well, the good news is that you know your business and target audience (hopefully) which means, if you haven’t done so already, you will have plenty of ideas circulating around in your head that now need to be put to paper. However, consider internal support with blogging ideas as content contribution from your staff will diversify the themes, topics, and more specifically, means the pressure is off you slightly when providing fresh content in the future. Look into establishing either a Netvibes or iGoogle page which will dispense up-to-the-minute news feeds, book marks and commentary.
Put your blogging cap on
Think instinctively what you would want to read on the blog, and then inject these informative, newsworthy and riveting posts with some of your personality. There are also lots of online tools which help you to explore what else is being read already online (try reddit and delicious). These tools can help you to find out what is popular within your sector – your blog posts may be responses to these posts or similar topics. It is good to follow the trends as it helps you to predict what is going to be popular in the future.
There’s nothing worse than a blog that lacks identity, or even worse, brags about itself! The key is to strike a balance. Like I mentioned earlier, incorporate a mixed base of ideas and have a minimum of four distinct and regular categories. For example, “The history of…” or “This Season’s must haves”; the aim is to produce a healthy bank of ideas that are now ready to introduce to your monthly schedule.
What should my schedule look like?
The layout of your schedule is of course your choice; however, I recommend that you keep it as simple as possible. Introduce headed columns within your spreadsheet or document, for example ‘Month’, ‘Title’ and ‘Expansion of title’ – within the latter it’s important to define and elaborate on it as much as possible. Again by doing all the hard work now you will save innumerable hours trying to come up with ideas on the spot in the future, and in your absence, your colleagues can refer to the schedule and maintain the blog to your detailed requirements.
Need help creating your schedule?
We have created well-researched and imaginative blog schedules for a fair few clients. Often clients do not have the time to produce one, or they just require a little guidance to get one started. A well executed blog schedule will help you realise why blogging is both beneficial to your business, and a fun part to your working month.
What next?
Sit down with your creative team, or agency, deliberate your ideas, get your coloured felt tip pens out, and think long and hard about what you want from your blog. We appreciate that defining your blog and creating a tailored schedule can be a laborious task, so our Content team would be more than happy to share their advice and insight.