Guest Post
Many people begin their blogging journey with excitement and zeal. Their creative juices are flowing and they manage to maintain their sites for a good 30 days to six months with full commitment. Then life happens and they are struck with blogger’s block. They are either stumped by a lack of ideas or a lack of time.
So, what is the best way to keep your blogging flow when life and blocker’s block kick rear their ugly heads? An editorial calendar.
This single tool can help you in three ways. First, you can develop a consistent posting schedule. Second, you can choose your topics in advance. Lastly, you can efficiently manage multiple sites.
Develop a Consistent Posting Schedule
In order to keep blogging when you are already busy, you have to develop a consistent posting schedule which includes when you are going to write and when you are going to post. Be very realistic about how much time you have to commit to writing because this will ultimately determine when you can post.
Posting schedules can be one day a week; once every other week; or even once a month. Just be sure to post on the same day(s) each month. Also, be sure to notify your readers of any changes to your blogging schedule so they’ll stay with you.
You can actually schedule the topics for your blog in advance on an editorial calendar. There are two ways to do this.
Select Topics in Advance
- Center your topics around a theme for the month.
This means that all of your topics for that month would revolve around a single topic in some way. They may not be directly related; but they are all relevant.
For example, your theme for September is back to school. You may decide to discuss back to school sales on clothes and shoes; tips to prepare your child for returning to school; how to say good-bye and not cry on the first day for parents; and how to partner with your child’s teacher.
As you can see, all of these topics are relevant to that one topic.
2. Write the same topic on different days each month.
Assume you’re the owner of a cooking site and you post weekly. Your schedule may look as follows:
| Week 1 | Your new dish | Week 3 | Cook show review |
| Week 2 | A recipe | Week 4 | Cooking event |
Keep in mind that even though you follow this schedule every month, you can be super creative with the different ways you share your information.
Manage Multiple Sites
When you manage more than one site, an editorial calendar comes in very handy. For the weeks you know you won’t be able to blog, you can schedule your posts in advanced and still serve your audience.
I own five sites, four of which are updated every week. Having a schedule keeps me on point and focused. Check out my editorial schedule below.
| Marcie Writes | Once a week | Tuesday |
| The Write Design Company | Once a week | Wednesday |
| Overcoming Blogger’s Block | Once a week | Wednesday |
| Real Skate Stories | Twice a monthly | Thursday |
| Shorty: Your Chicago South Side Resource | 3 days a week | This varies but there is always a post on Monday |
When you fall behind on your blogging because life happens or blogger’s block strikes, create an editorial calendar. It will help you develop a consistent posting schedule; choose topics for your site; and manage multiple sites efficiently.
Marcie Hill, M.S., is a passionate writer, speaker and author who encourages people to write history with their stories. Although she has not yet written her story, her forthcoming book, 62 Blog Posts to Overcome Blogger’s Block, provides tips, tools and resources to help content creators of all types to produce compelling stories which will keep their audience returning. The accompanying companion guide will help them brainstorm which will ultimately generate great story ideas. Visit Overcoming Blogger’s Block to order the book and workbook today!
I did not mention the Wordpress Editorial Calendar plug-in, which is quite handy. If you blog on other platforms, see if they have calendars. Otherwise, you can use Outlook, Yahoo or Google calendars, or your mobile scheduler. If you are old school, a traditional calendar will work, too.
Thanks for sharing, Melinda!