Stop staring at your computer screen and wondering why your business is not growing. An editorial calendar can help keep you focused, on schedule and building your business instead of distracted and unsure of what to do.
An editorial calendar is commonly used by bloggers, publishers, and other businesses. This helps with planning content not only for their website but also for promotion across all social media.
You can track your own posts, guest posts, and events such as holidays, speaking engagements and launch dates for your newest program.
Your editorial calendar should include various key components:
- Topic/Title – Consider the overall topic and create a title. Make certain that your title will have good SEO (Search Engine Optimization). A very simple way to do this is to search your title on Google and see what pulls up.
- Content Ideas – Create a list of the key ideas that you want to highlight in the post.
- Keywords/Hashtags – Your content ideas will be a driving force for your keywords. In turn, this information can be used as hashtags on all social media.
- Corresponding Offer and/or Call to Action – What are you going to ask your audience to do? What is your call to action? Make certain that as you are writing you keep this Call to Action in mind. However, be careful not to make every post one in which you are trying to sell something. This will be a surefire way to make sure that your readers never return.
- Social Media Posting – As you post, tweet and pin your new blog posting keep a list so that you know you have completed your social media marketing. You have worked hard on your post, make sure that it is seen.
Editorial Calendar Options
WordPress:
Edit Flow – allows you to keep track of your content budget
Editorial Calendar – easy creation and management of drafts
CoSchedule – strong at scheduling social media posts
If you do not work with WordPress or you just do not want to add yet another plugin (each one slows down your load time and you want a quick load time) then you can turn to Google Docs.
Editorial calendars created here can be accessed anytime. You can even invite people to view if you wish to. I have created a FREE sample for you which can be customized to your needs. Please request access to the template by registering for my newsletter (top, right-hand side of this page) and requesting access here.
Most people will only need one editorial calendar but I am actually a regular contributor to several magazines and various websites. I have a completely separate editorial plan for each of these situations but they all exist on the same calendar. This is the ONLY way to remain on task, on time and effective.
How do you stay on task, on time and effective? What issues do you have that prevent this?
50 thoughts on “Editorial Calendar for Blogging Success”
Hi ELISE I Like This Post
Hi Elise,
Good article. Having a schedule helps you in being organised. It helps you in sorting your work.
I completely agree.
Hi Elise,
Very good post here. Having a schedule keeps one organised and dedicated which is really very important for a blogs success. Thanks for the great tips.
You are very welcome. Without organization we would be all over the place.
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Hi Elise,
My goodness, you do have a lot on your hands. Not only blogging, but being a contributor to other magazines. Of course you need to have super-organizational skills in order to get things accomplished.
I do have my calendar and stick to my plan of action. If I didn’t I don’t know where I would be, probably still floundering around.
When it came to production with my product I hired a coach that took that whip out. I learned very quickly how important keeping schedules are.
Thanks for these great tips!
-Donna
Hi Donna,
You too area very busy woman. Schedules are extremely important as are coaches who can keep you to it. 🙂 We know a few of those. 🙂
That’s exactly what I need. An editorial calendar.
They are wonderful to have.
I have seen this topic of editorial calendar come up a lot lately, so I appreciate your post on key components to include because up til now I have felt overwhelmed by the idea. It really is a good method to use so I feel more motivated to get started putting mine together!
I am thrilled to hear that this post is so timely for you. I look forward to seeing the beauty that comes out of it.
Awesome info, Elise. Thanks so much for sharing. Great way to keep everything together! A few of these I was familiar with but most is new to me. I know this will help me A LOT!
Thank you so much! Blessings!
Renee-Ann <
Renee Ann, I am very pleased that you have found useful tips here. I love having you be a part of Business & Blogging Success, Naturally Yours. That group is an amazing mastermind.
I have to be inspired. Luckily that happens a few times a week naturally
I love it!
Hi Elise,
It was very nice to meet you last night on the Focus Group Hangout. I will check into the Google Calendar. I have tried using my Outlook calendar but I have too much personal info there that I need to remember but very flexible. I’m trying to be better organized, so maybe using a separate calendar will help.
Have a great afternoon. Monna
Thank you so much for coming for a visit. I loved meeting you too. I think that we will have much fun together.
I would be so lost without an editorial calendar. I have three blogs and a newsletter so without something to keep me organized I get completely overwhelmed.
Elise, have you used Co-Schedule? I’ve been looking at it and wondering how well it actually works.
Helena, I have been playing with it but have not 100% made up my mind yet. I will blog about it once I do.
Thanks Elise. I will wait for you to finish being the guinea pig, and look forward to hearing your thoughts on it. 🙂
Indeed. 🙂
This was a great post! Blogging is easy, but it gets even easier with a schedule for ideating, creating, and sharing the content. This is how you really get a 5-6 work week down! Thanks for the post!
Thanks so much for the great comment. I find that schedules make all of the difference.
Great post, Elise. Thanks for sharing this information. One of my challenges is consistency. I can get so busy that I neglect my social media and blog. I think an Editorial Calendar would be a very useful tool for me.
Sharon, I completely understand where you are coming from. I find that organization tools make a huge difference in my productivity. Please let me know how these tips work for you.
Hi Elise,
Lovely blog you have here! I am old fashioned. I use pen, paper, and a printout of a calendar. I print out 12 months so I can see what’s happening, planning for, etc. And I keep a note book. I am getting better at staying on task and focused. I also use a timer to keep me focused too which works really well for me… I look forward to visiting you often 🙂
I love your tips. There is nothing wrong with “old fashioned.” It is just important that we find what works for us and we stick to it.
I keep myself organized by using different pages, sections and notebooks in MS One Note. Everything in one place. I use a pop up alarm program for reminders.
I do like the look of the social sharing features in CoSchedule and can see how useful Edit Flow would be for team work. Thanks Elise, I hadn’t heard of these plugins.
Sue, thank you for the insight on what helps to keep you organized. I am glad that you were able to learn something new.
Elise,
It is important to blog regularly, and tie key niche words into your posts. An editorial calendar can help people stay on track and streamline related tasks.
I do not use a plugin for my editorial calendar. But I know many people do use them, and you’ve listed 3 good options above.
WordPress is just so user-friendly and SEO friendly, are there really people that do not blog with WordPress?? hehe 😀
~Keri
Keri,
Thank you for your comments. I have always been with WordPress even before I really knew what I was doing. 🙂
Hey Elise
Thanks for your tips. I just started my blog a few months ago and so far things are going well, but I know I need to develop a more solid strategy for promotion,etc…that I engage in on a consistent basis. This was very helpful for me personally.
Kelli, it makes me very happy to hear that you have found this to be useful. Being a new blogger you can make sure to have everything moving and grooving right from the get go. Congratulations on entering the wonderful world of blogging. Please let me know if you have any questions. The answers will often show up in a new blog post. 🙂
This is a good information, I have a problem when it comes in managing time at work. This is very helpful
Imelda, I will be adding many posts regarding time management but specifically you may like to check out Accomplish Your Goals & Thrive.
Good tips Elise! Running a tight blogging sked keeps me on point. Thanks!
Ryan, thank you very much. I love having the schedule, it cuts out so much wasted time.
Elise – good post and great advice. I use the Editorial Calendar plug in on my WordPress website and really like it. It’s helping me get back into blogging again!
Thank you so much for the feedback including regarding your plug in. I can’t wait to see who else is using it or will be trying it out.
I enjoyed reading this blog. Great points thanks for sharing
Thank you for visiting. I hope to see you again, soon.
I am ready to work with an editorial calendar. This is a very important statement from me. Why? Because as a jewelry designer I have resisted organizing myself this way. However I see from your post and others I’ve read that I must be more than an artisan- I must be a marketer and with that comes blogging and with that I’m led to working with an editorial calendar. I’ve managed without for a year but the time is now, so I’ll refer to your points and get one going very soon. Thanks for the indirect push.
I love a good indirect push. You are welcome.
Thanks for the great tips. I feel like I should do some research into SEO’s. I could really benefits from many of these steps.
This is wonderful news to my ears. Please feel free to share your specific questions regarding SEO so I can make sure to answer them in my upcoming post.
Well, my biggest question is about the SEO section on my wordpress blog. I always leave it blank because I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with it. Not sure what to write.
Thank you for this feedback.
Hi Elise,
I love this post. So much value! I was unaware of the three wordpress calendar options. Which one do you use or do you use google docs? I requested access to your google docs.
I totally agree that an editorial calendar can help you stay focused. This is something I have been wanting to accomplish. I post everyday but I have had the desire to have a calendar so I can see all of my scheduled posts on one document. Thank you for sharing.
Nathaniel, thank you. I am very pleased to hear that you have found value in this post. I use Google docs for all websites that I work on for clients so that they can easily see what is happening without worrying about actually getting into the website. I have been exploring the other plug ins for my own website. I saw your request for the document and will take care of that this morning. Thank you for your interest.