By: Eden Hensley Top Photo by: Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit
Publish or perish does not just apply to academics. In today’s content-driven media landscape this adage applies to bloggers and creatives as well.
How do you keep generating idea after idea and producing quality content consistently? Planning and scheduling. And that’s where an editorial calendar comes in. The simplest editorial calendar shows what days content will go live and what topics you will cover. For example, if you cover three subjects and only publish three days a week, your calendar may be vegetarian cuisine on Mondays at noon, wine on Wednesdays in the mid-afternoon, and family activities on Fridays.
Editorial calendars serve a few purposes:
- Help you stay motivated.
- Maintain a variety of subject matter.
- Allow you to plan ahead for seasonal content that captures search traffic.
- Set expectations with readers as to when new content will be available.
Chris of Curbly and Manmade DIY swears by editorial calendars and believes they are the best investment you can make for your blog. If you’re not ready to plan a year at a time, he offers tips for how to plan by the week. Interested in how you can use an editorial calendar to make money? Chris shares how you can organize your media kit or sponsorship packet around it and how to use it to determine what brands to reach out to.
Curious how other bloggers are using (or not using) editorial calendars? Watch Monica of Smart Creative Women interview Chelsea of Frolic! about how to find the perfect editorial calendar for you and your blog and Kelly of Design Crush about balancing planning with flexibility.
Do you keep an editorial calendar?
