7 Reasons Every Blogger Needs an Editorial Calendar

Chris Brogan says you should write a blog post almost every day. And Chris Brogan should know. But what if you don’t have time, or can’t figure out what to write about? That’s what happened to the Queen of QuickBooks.

The Queen had a website listing her classes and seminars, services offered, and case studies. She had plenty of QuickBooks expertise. But she also had a business to run, classes to teach, a staff to supervise. She knew that blogging regularly would help bring readers to her website, but making it happen wasn’t so easy … until we developed her editorial calendar.

An editorial calendar is simply a list of the topics you intend to blog about, tied to a calendar.

It will help you in these seven ways:

1. A realistic schedule: Maybe right now you can only blog once a week. That’s fine. The important thing is to get started. Your editorial calendar will help you set and stick to a reasonable blogging schedule.
2. Comprehensive coverage: When you look at your list of topics, you’ll see any gaps in content, and can make adjustments to ensure that you provide your readers with a variety of information. (More on how to structure a blog post.)
3. Reduced overlap: Similarly, you’ll notice any recurring topics on your list, and can make adjustments to avoid unwanted duplication of content.
4. Appropriate timing: Maybe you want to write about back-to-school specials in August, or gifts in December. Your calendar provides an easy way to ensure that you post about a particular topic at the optimal time.
5. Happier readers: Fresh, relevant, time-sensitive content makes for engaged readers, and engaged readers make for …
6. More visits to your website: Your current readers will be more likely to come back for more, and search engines will respond to frequent, regular posts by sending more searches your way. (More on traffic versus conversion.)
7. No more overwhelm: Organizing your work lets you focus on writing the one post that’s “due” now, rather than stressing out about all the posts you have to write some time in the future.

The Queen of QuickBooks decided to write a post with a topical case history once a month. During baseball season, she wrote about the importance of assembling a financial team. In August, she wrote about how organizing his bookkeeping helped one client relax and take some time off. Near Halloween, she wrote about an Accounting Horror Story.

Having an editorial calendar helped The Queen focus on the appropriate topic at the appropriate time, and got her on track for posting once a month. Develop your own editorial calendar and you, too, will be on your way to organized, consistent posting. And that makes for less stress … better content … happier readers … and more traffic to your website.

Visit Laurie’s site for more online marketing strategies.