How To Create An Editorial Calendar For Your Blog

One of the biggest struggles people encounter when starting a blog is remaining consistent. I can understand and totally relate, I myself have struggled in the past! There's no worse feeling than logging onto your blog and realising that you haven't posted in four weeks. Let's face it, it's really easy to let the days roll by and not realise that you've accidentally abandoned your blog.

So what is the solution?

An editorial calendar! 

Hang on though, what even is an editorial calendar?

Well, it's not as scary or "official" as it sounds. An editorial calendar is simply a diary, or a place, where you list what blog posts you're going to publish, and when. Most of the time, it's got some kind of structure to it, and a purpose. It can be in a physical diary, on a wall calendar, on your computers calendar, or on a more complex application built specifically for blog editorial calendars. 

How do you set one up? 

The first step is to decide on how many times a week you want to blog. I'd recommend starting small, and building on that. It's easy when you start out to think you can blog 5 times a week, because blogging is currently new and exciting. But let's be honest, sometimes things can become a bit overwhelming, and after three weeks of blogging 5 days a week, you'll probably realise that you've put a bit too much pressure on yourself. Start with once, or twice a week, and then if you've still got plenty more to say, continue to add one post a week until you reach your happy place. 

Once you've decided on how many times a week you're going to blog, decide on which categories you're going to focus on. For example, if you're a wedding dress designer, you might have 4 categories on your blog: Answering client questions, featuring photoshoots your dresses have been featured in, a more lifestyle focus category (ie. what you get up to in life), and lastly, a category sharing knowledge for other aspiring wedding dress designers. 

Then the last thing left to do is come up with the ideas for blog posts you want to write, and pop them into your calendar on the date you want them to go live! Hey presto, you've got an editorial calendar you can work towards! I recommend looking at the categories you've got for your blog, and trying to create a bit of balance between them all. Don't post nothing but business advice for weeks, and then randomly post a lifestyle post... cause your audience will get very confused. If you've only got one niche for your blog though, by all means, just post that niche! 

I hope that this post has been helpful, and if you have any further questions about blogging, etc, then please let me know and I'll be sure to answer them as best as I can!