Are you a blogger or an aspiring one? If you answered yes then I’ve got something for you. Something you need but you may not know that you need. Something that will make your life so much easier. It will elevate your content and take it from a C to an A+.
And if you are still new to this blogging business and you haven’t even found your niche then hold your horses! First head over to my Youtube channel to watch a video I put together just for YOU that’ll help you become clearer on the steps you need to identify and map out to go forward on this journey. GO ON! Link is here.
Okay, first of all, happy new month! Wherever you are in the world, we’re going through the same thing so I can safely say, may this month of May be better than last month. May it be the season finale of Corona (I saw that somewhere on social media, I thought it was funny and very relatable).
But before I deviate and go completely off-topic, let’s get back to blogging, shall we?
As I was saying, as a blogger/content creator, one of the biggest struggles can be coming up with CONTENT. Am I right? Personally, I don’t have that problem. I’m not even trying to be conceited, it’s the truth. My execution might need some work, my creativity some spice and my relatability may be questionable but ideas are mostly always overflowing in my head like the river Nile. But whether you have a plethora of content ideas or you have none, there is one thing that will make your life one million per cent better and that is …
a CONTENT CALENDAR!
An editorial content calendar will totally change your life. I’m not going to lie, I used to plan my content off the cuff. I’ll have ideas in my head and only in my head. Some I’ll forget about, some I’ll implement in a rush which meant there was no consistency with my blog posts.
I am paying about R3000 a year for this space, www.thediscerningstylist.com and all of that feels like it’s for nothing when I’m not even posting once a month.
But since I started using a content calendar, my consistency has improved.
Here are 5 reasons you need a content calendar
1. To help you stay organised
There’s something about planning that makes you feel in-charge and in control of your life. When you plan your content, it becomes easier to avoid that dreadful feeling of not knowing what to write about. Everything is reviewable and not just some idea floating around in your head. You can look at your planned content, see if it’s feasible, brainstorm ideas and even research other articles of the same topic. This will be of tremendous help when writing your blog post so you know how to differentiate your content from previously existing content.
2. It helps you stay topical
If you know that Mother’s day is on May 10 then you can plan your content to speak to mothers on that day if they are your audience. If you just write at whim then your content just seems arbitrary and won’t resonate with the intended audience.
3. Easy to delegate
Not all bloggers are ‘solopreneurs’. Some work in a team. I work in PR, I know. Part of what we do is to plan the client’s blog posts. This then means the client can review and approve content and if a team member falls ill someone else can take over without any hiccups. Also if you fall ill, with a planned content calendar, you can delegate and keep the wheels turning.
4. It helps to stay consistent
You’re more likely to follow through with posting when your content is planned. And let’s say god forbid, you forgot to or didn’t have time to draft the content for your post and the day has come for you to post, you can use another source. You already know what you want to post about and there’s nothing wrong with using someone else’s content, so long as you credit the source. If you don’t that’s plagiarism and unethical, a criminal offence too.
5. If 1 to 4 aren’t good enough reasons then I don’t know what to tell you other than that it will change your life.
Since I started planning my content, I feel more at ease and more like a “serious blogger”. Sure, I change things around and I don’t even always post what I plan to. But that’s the beauty of a content calendar. You can swop things around. It also helps your content make sense. For instance, as a style and beauty blogger, there have been times I’ve just only posted about beauty, nothing on style for a month. But you can pick that up with a content calendar and decide to space out the content in equal amounts – 50% beauty, 50% style. Or however you wish.
There are so many different types of content calendars out there, most of which just seem unnecessarily complex to me. So I created my own which I’m excited to share with you.
It has the following
- Days & dates of the month
- 3 notable events in May
- Ideas column for brainstorming and putting article links
It’s in a word document and so editable. You can use it as a template for the next month and just change the dates around.
And just because I can, I also created a month’s worth of Instagram content calendar. Your blog can help you drive traffic to your Instagram page and vice-versa.
There are 16 content ideas because you only need to post on 3 to 4 times a week on Instagram. More than that and it can be seen as spammy.
I really hope this was useful to you. Please let me know by leaving a comment if it has been and how you get on with the free downloads. You can also tag me on Instagram.
Love and light to you and yours.
You may also like this:
https://thediscerningstylist.com/brand-collaborations-everything-you-need-to-know-to-make-it-happen/