It took me around eight months after I started blogging last year to create an editorial calendar and actually start using it to plan what I wanted to share. Before I started using one, I posted mostly sporadically, shared many different topics that didn’t all totally relate to one another. Like many other bloggers, I started out writing about and sharing things that I was inspired by, which I still do, but I also want to inspire you all as well! So, that’s where an editorial calendar comes into play!
So, I’m sure you’ve heard tons of times that editorial calendars are super helpful; however, if you don’t have one it’s got to be one of two reasons: 1) you just started blogging, and you’re not entirely sure what you want to write about or 2) you know what you want to talk about, and you don’t see how having a calendar can help.
Here, I’ll say it, no matter what you think: you need an editorial calendar.
one: It will help you shape your content, newbie blogger or not. One thing I noticed when I started blogging was that I had at least a little bit of interest in a lot of different topics. The importance of shaping your content for your niche is incredibly important. An editorial calendar is going to help you plan out your different topics so that you’re not talking about the same thing for weeks at a time.
two: It will help you begin (or continue) to integrate contributors. Similarly, it’s good to spread out your contributors’ posts. On my blog, I love having my friends write posts for you guys! On other blogs, I enjoy reading contributor’s posts, but I don’t particularly care to read them everyday or every week necessarily. Having an editorial calendar will help you space the posts out enough so that you’re not overwhelming your readers with others’ posts.
three: It will help you plan posts for holidays. It was around Thanksgiving last year that I started writing posts geared towards specific holidays. Not only does it help boost page views, but posts relating to close holidays will help you explore how your niche relates to life. For example, if you’re a DIY-er, you better have at least 5 posts (I would say starting in October) inspiring me to start preparing for Thanksgiving!
These are just three reasons why you undoubtedly need an editorial calendar. If you use one, I’d love to hear your experience with it and any reasons that you think people should be using one. Also, I wanted to share a free calendar printable that you can use for every single month for your blog! I left out Saturday and Sunday from the calendar since most of us are posting only Monday-Friday! If you use it, take a picture and tag me on Twitter or Instagram!
