How to Create an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog

If you have been on the Internet for any length of time, you have probably heard about an editorial calendar.

What is an editorial calendar? It is essentially deciding what days you want to post your content.

I am sure it is one of those things that has sat on your “to do” list for months now. Like I have said before, if I start feeling like I “should”/”have to”/”need to” do something, I always take a step back and explore my intention before proceeding.

If you discover you do in fact want to create content to share with the world, this article will help you.

Most of the people I coach get stuck in perfectionist energy. What does an editorial calendar have to do with perfectionist energy? Well, I can almost guarantee you have been putting off creating an editorial calendar because you want it to be perfect. 

Creating content for your business is like giving life to your business. Content can help potential clients find you and fall in love with you and your work giving you a greater chance to monetize your brand.

What to write about

The most common thing I hear is, “I don’t know what to write about.” This will happen in the beginning stages, but as you dig deeper into your business, your path will become clear and articles will come to you. Some people call this your “flow”, I like to call it aligning with your truth.

Some ideas to explore are:

• What has been your experience in your industry?

• What stories in your personal life can your clients and customers relate to?

• What are the most common questions your clients and customers ask you?

• What were your initial struggles and how did you overcome them?

• What would you tell someone who was new to your industry?

Almost any idea that comes to mind can be turned into a piece of content.

I would invite you to get creative and use different ways to express each of these ideas. Make videos, articles, podcasts, manifestos, workbooks, books, or anything else you can think of.

Action plan

Deciding on your calendar can be as simple as blocking out an hour or two every Tuesday to write your content. Some people have complicated editorial calendars with every little detail, blog post, and social media post.

What days can you fit in an hour to generate a blog post? Schedule those hours now on whatever calendar system works best for you.

Come up with fifty different blog post titles and schedule them in the hours you have made available on your calendar. Having a general outline is better than having nothing at all.

Starting small can be the best step to take. There is nothing worse than creating a huge, complicated list only to not follow through on it and feel like you are letting yourself down. If it helps you, find someone else to hold you accountable for your creating time. Perhaps you both meet for coffee at the same time every week to create content.

Adjusting as you go

Along your content creation path, you will adjust your course. Some content can be extremely popular and you may want to explore it deeper. New ideas will be coming to you as you stick to your schedule.

In closing, only make an editorial calendar if you feel it is something that aligns with your intention. Your project will feel more painful than spiritual if you don’t truly want to share your knowledge. The way I overcame this myself was to see blogging as a greater service to others. I can be a guiding light that others may need on their journey.

Updated 3 June 2018