In our last blog post, we talked about the key points to consider before starting a business blog. Now that you’ve thought about why you are blogging and who you are blogging for, it is time to create an editorial calendar that will help you reach your goals and audience.

You likely have lots to say about your business, products and services, and you are one of the best spokespeople for them. But how do you organize your thoughts in a way that enables to write about them consistently, coherently and creatively? An editorial calendar is the key to blogging for businesses.

Editorial Calendars: The Foundation for Blogging for Businesses

Creating and using an editorial calendar makes content development easier by taking a bit of the pressure off to come up with new ideas continuously while allowing you the freedom to shuffle articles a bit according to your schedule or recent industry developments.

You can go the old-fashioned route with a pen and paper, or you can create an Excel or Google Docs spreadsheet for your editorial calendar, whichever you prefer.

The first column of your calendar will list the week, starting with Week One and going to at least Week Twelve. This plan will give you three months of blog ideas at a time if you post one blog article per week.

Underneath each week, create a space for the author if you have more than one blogger, the article due date, and a publishing date. Creating deadlines will keep you on task and ensure your blog is always newly updated.

The next column is for the post’s topic or title. Often, the title of a blog post will come as you write it, so don’t worry too much about making a compelling one now. A simple line summarizing the topic will do.

You’ll hash out your ideas more in the next column, headed “Content/Details.” Create a flow of the main points you want to get across, then use this guide as you fill in the details later.

The next column will include keywords you want to use as you write your blog post, including those targeted for your specific location (“online marketing strategies Cleveland” vs. just “online marketing strategies.”

Finally, the last column will detail your call to action for the blog post. This is where you direct the reader to take another action – like leaving a comment, opting into a newsletter or scheduling a consultation. Mapping them out now is a good way to ensure you include them in each blog post.

Once you have your editorial calendar planned, all that is left to do is actually write your blog posts. With this organization, your creativity will flow and you will soon be crafting interesting, relevant and compelling blogs for your readers!

If the world of blogging is new for you, our team of content developers can help you navigate it. To learn more about our blogging for businesses services, contact the team at Vision Fillers today!