How and why I created a blog schedule
My ‘before’ schedule
When the mood struck me, I’d pull out a piece of paper and
jot down some random ideas, which I would transfer to my laptop, where they
would sit until I had time or actually remembered that I really should write
one of them for the blog.
My new schedule
When the mood strikes me, I write down several blog ideas,
which I transfer onto a monthly spreadsheet entitled ‘Blog Schedule’. The
schedule is dated, and colour coded by category, and I ensure that I visit it regularly
and actually write and publish the posts on the allocated days.
Yes, my old system was pretty pathetic. My blog readership
was almost none existent, and it was evident that I needed to take action if
that was ever going to change.
I read a lot of blogs. Blogs about marketing, blogs about
freelancing, blogs about writing, style, food, mummy-blogs… If it’s something I’m
interested in, I’ll find a blogger that writes about it. And one thing that
ensures that I visit some blogs time and time again is frequency and fresh
content. I have some blogs that I’ll visit at least once a week, and that are
saved in my favourites, or even subscribed to. But there have been many that
never get updated, and haven’t stayed with me. I didn’t want to be one of those
bloggers. So I decided to do something about it.
I can’t remember where I found the idea for the blog
schedule that I use – it wasn’t mine, I took the idea from someone else, and
tweaked it to make it my own. If you recognise it as yours, let me know, I’ll thank
you, for you have made the world of difference to me!
How I did it
The example I found was very similar to the one I use, save
a few changes. It’s set up in MS Excel, using a sheet for each month. Here is
this month's:
 |
| Current blog schedule |
It took me less than half an hour to create the original
layout. If you are interested in replicating it, I can give you the cell/column
sizes, just ask.
The schedule is working great for me. I now have a plan for
all my blog posts, I can see at a glance what categories I’m writing about so
that I don’t repeat my subjects, and I’m reminded how often I need to post.
I’m thinking of creating something similar for my social
media posts, although I’m not sure how to make that work as yet. Ideas on a postcard,
please!
As part of my marketing and social media plan, the frequency
of posts seems to be paying off. As in, I’m getting more website hits. It’s
early days, of course, but I feel better about it. I have something to aim for
now.
I’d love to hear how you schedule your blog posts/social
media posts. Do you have a tried and trusted plan?
