Schedules, deadlines, restrictions. Eww. As a writer, setting up a publishing schedule can be both daunting and painful. Kind of like doing your taxes actually. But did you know that it isn’t all about goals and deadlines? It’s also just as much about organising your ideas so that you can deliver the best content for your audience. It’s inspiring to see all your ideas mapped out, and working out the best ways to deliver them is beneficial to both you and your reader. Below are some tips and a template you can use for your own blog.
Whether you’re starting as a blogger or planning your next batch of content, you will need to decide what to write about. Sometimes this will come easily to you and other times you may develop a serious case of The Blanks. You might even have too many ideas - yes, it happens.
When you’re deciding what to write about you should find the balance between what your audience wants and what you know. Chris Garrett illustrated this point well:
Source: Problogger
If you are having trouble thinking clearly about this ask yourself the following questions (make sure you have paper and pen or a doc open to jot down your ideas!):
Bonus tip: If you’re not sure what your readers want, ask them. You could ask a simple question on social media or set up a poll (you can find some handy poll tools in Travis Bernard's article about Social Media Strategy). You might also like to browse forums that relate to your topics and see what people are talking about - Reddit is a good place to start.
Look at all those ideas swimming around in your head. It’s a beautiful thing. Creating a content pool is helpful for a number of reasons - it helps you record, sort and determine which ideas are actually worth writing about.
Feel free to make a copy and tailor this schedule to your blog by adding and removing columns to best suit you.
When it comes to choosing which social media platforms you will use for your blog or brand, all that glitters is not gold. It can be tempting to sign up to all the big social media platforms because they are popular and therefore will theoretically benefit your blog. But before you go on a sign up spree, ask yourself the simple question ‘does it actually suit my blog?’.
For example, if you don’t have images or video to share, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube aren’t going to be much help to you. It would make more sense for you to focus on other social channels like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Linkedin. Below is a breakdown of popular social platforms you might like to consider:
Need help creating goals for your social platforms and blog? Below is an example of a calendar you could easily create yourself:
As well as giving you focus and helping you create better content, a schedule also helps you measure progress. Track how many goals you have hit each week/month and don't be afraid to change it up to suit you. After a week or two you might like to:
Whether you’re a blogger, a business or both, create content you can be proud of with a schedule that works for you. Next week I’ll be looking at how to stick to editorial goals while enjoying your writing and avoiding stress.
What are your best tips for creating a publishing schedule that works?
Schedules, deadlines, restrictions. Eww. As a writer, setting up a publishing schedule can be both daunting and painful. Kind of like doing your taxes actually. But did you know that it isn’t all about goals and deadlines? It’s also just as much about organising your ideas so that you can deliver the best content for your audience. It’s inspiring to see all your ideas mapped out, and working out the best ways to deliver them is beneficial to both you and your reader. Below are some tips and a template you can use for your own blog.
Whether you’re starting as a blogger or planning your next batch of content, you will need to decide what to write about. Sometimes this will come easily to you and other times you may develop a serious case of The Blanks. You might even have too many ideas - yes, it happens.
When you’re deciding what to write about you should find the balance between what your audience wants and what you know. Chris Garrett illustrated this point well:
Source: Problogger
If you are having trouble thinking clearly about this ask yourself the following questions (make sure you have paper and pen or a doc open to jot down your ideas!):
Bonus tip: If you’re not sure what your readers want, ask them. You could ask a simple question on social media or set up a poll (you can find some handy poll tools in Travis Bernard's article about Social Media Strategy). You might also like to browse forums that relate to your topics and see what people are talking about - Reddit is a good place to start.
Look at all those ideas swimming around in your head. It’s a beautiful thing. Creating a content pool is helpful for a number of reasons - it helps you record, sort and determine which ideas are actually worth writing about.
Feel free to make a copy and tailor this schedule to your blog by adding and removing columns to best suit you.
When it comes to choosing which social media platforms you will use for your blog or brand, all that glitters is not gold. It can be tempting to sign up to all the big social media platforms because they are popular and therefore will theoretically benefit your blog. But before you go on a sign up spree, ask yourself the simple question ‘does it actually suit my blog?’.
For example, if you don’t have images or video to share, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube aren’t going to be much help to you. It would make more sense for you to focus on other social channels like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Linkedin. Below is a breakdown of popular social platforms you might like to consider:
Need help creating goals for your social platforms and blog? Below is an example of a calendar you could easily create yourself:
As well as giving you focus and helping you create better content, a schedule also helps you measure progress. Track how many goals you have hit each week/month and don't be afraid to change it up to suit you. After a week or two you might like to:
Whether you’re a blogger, a business or both, create content you can be proud of with a schedule that works for you. Next week I’ll be looking at how to stick to editorial goals while enjoying your writing and avoiding stress.
What are your best tips for creating a publishing schedule that works?
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