How To Use A Blog Content Calendar — Miranda Barrett

Raise your hand if you love creating new blog content ideas each month.

Hold on -- why aren't you raising your hand?!?!

You already know that creating quality blog content is key to building authority and getting more eyeballs on your biz – but let’s face it, you’ve never been one to sling words onto a page easily. In fact, you dread writing for your business.

After all, you didn’t get into business to write, and you certainly didn’t anticipate having to come up with a content marketing strategy each month to keep your biz moving forward.

But you've heard "content is king" right?

That holds true now, more than ever. Heck, it's more relevant today then it was when Microsoft Founder Bill Gates first said it back in 1996.

So what if I told you, you could plan out an entire year of content in as little as a few hours? Sounds great, doesn’t it? Check out these 5 tips to create a beginner content marketing strategy that ANY business can start doing today.

Take a look at the big picture

Before you start brainstorming blog content ideas, it's important to take an overall look at your biz and determine your goals for creating content. Do you want to increase engagement, get more people onto your email list, raise brand awareness?

Perhaps you see a gap in the industry, and you figure you can fill that with quality content, making you an authority in your industry. GREAT!

Whatever it is, you need to look at your overall business goals and get clear on what you want to achieve with your content.

It's also important to look at key dates -- do you have a big launch or sale coming up? Any special days you want to highlight? Put those in your calendar first, so you can build content around them.

For instance - you're a Naturopath who is launching a new hormone test in the summer. Your content would be based around that launch to raise awareness and increase leads. You want to educate your audience about hormones and hormone testing before you even talk about the new product or service you're promoting.

CONTENT MARKETING TIP: Freely giving quality content is key to attracting more leads and turning them into future customers.

Plan Each Blog Content Calendar Month Around a Theme

Next, you'll want to choose a theme each month based on hot topics in your business.

This could be a mix of hot topics within your industry or specific to your biz -- think about what makes you unique.

If you're a chiropractor, for instance, you may want to plan an entire month around back pain and have each blog post geared toward that theme.

To make it easy, take a look at what problems your clients most often deal with within your industry and choose one each month.

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But don't think you have to come up with 12 different themes each year. You can definitely repeat them, especially if they are a reoccurring problem you often see in your practice.

Determine Blog Content Subtopics + Frequency of Posts

Once you determine what your clients are talking about, choose 2-4 subtopics. Subtopics will be based on the selected theme for the month. Again dig into your client's pain points to narrow down this list.

A great way to brainstorm ideas is to jot down some of the most commonly asked questions you get both in the office and on social media platforms.

CONTENT MARKETING TIP: Aim to create consistent blog content at least twice per month -- working up to 4 times per month.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Now that you have all your themes and subtopics determined, it's time to get to the fun part -- the writing!

One of the biggest time-saving tips I can give you is to batch your blog posts.

Content batching is a great way to streamline your content marketing strategy while pumping out a month's worth of content in one sitting. This means creating your blog posts, related social media content, videos and graphics all in one day.

It may sound a little overwhelming, but once you get in the groove of things, you will be thankful it's off your plate until next month.

That means instead of sitting down at your computer each week and staring at a blinking cursor, you'll write all your content in one sitting {or two if you are just getting started}.

BONUS CONTENT MARKETING TIP: Focus on your expertise. Write about stuff you know about – not content you have to take a ton of time to research. You are the expert, after all.

Mix Up Your Content To Keep Your Audience Entertained

We already talked about creating content that your audience wants -- by digging into their pain points, but it's also important to mix up the type of content you create.

This could be a combo of how-to guides, case studies, interviews, opinion articles, interviews, listicles, product reviews, videos or podcasts. Basically, anything that is going to nurture your audience and help grow their know, like and trust}.

Mixing it up is also a fun way to keep your audience interested long term - and stop you from getting bored.

The Final Run Down -- 5 Steps to Creating a Content Marketing Calendar

Coming up with a year’s worth of content isn’t that hard after all, is it? Let’s review:

Look at the big picture - jot down special dates, sales, launches, basically anything that is going to impact your business.
Choose 1 theme per month (feel free to repeat themes that are popular pain points with clients)
Pick 2-4 subtopics each month that directly relates to the overall theme.
Batch research + write your blog content, related social media content, graphics, videos {basically anything related to the blog post)
Schedule them on your website and associated platforms ahead of time! (extra time saver)

Ready to plan out your blog content calendar for the year? Let me know in the comments which tips you found most helpful.