A content calendar helps you plan and organize your blog posts ahead of time, ensuring that you always have fresh and engaging content to publish regularly. It’s an excellent way to stay organised as a blogger and prevent burnout or writer’s block. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a content calendar for your blog:

1. Determine your goals and target audience

Before you start creating your content calendar, you need to determine your blog’s goals and target audience. Who are you writing for? What topics are they interested in? What type of content do they engage with the most? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you create a content calendar that resonates with your audience and supports your blog’s goals.

2. Choose a content calendar tool

There are many content calendar tools available, ranging from free to paid options. Choose a tool that suits your needs and budget. Some popular options include Trello, Asana, Google Sheets, and CoSchedule. You might even prepare to use a paper planner (which, when combined with sticky notes, is an excellent way to see your posts and reschedule if necessary)

3. Brainstorm content ideas

Research popular topics in your niche, then brainstorm ideas that align with your blog’s goals and target audience. You can also look at your competitors’ blogs (i.e other blogs who write on the same topics as you do) for inspiration.

4. Create a content schedule

Once you have a list of content ideas, it’s time to create a content schedule. Decide how often you want to publish blog posts, and then create a schedule that fits with your blogging frequency. For example, if you want to publish two blog posts per week, you’ll need to create a schedule that outlines which blog post will be published on which day and work in time for other tasks like design and social media.

5. Assign tasks

Assign tasks to yourself or your team members for each blog post. This includes writing the post, creating graphics, optimizing for SEO, and promoting on social media. If you’re the only blogger, you might want to consider batching tasks to help with your productivity.

6. Track your progress

It’s essential to track your progress to ensure that you’re meeting your blogging goals. Track each blog post’s progress, including the date it was published, the number of views, and engagement metrics.

7. Update and adjust your content calendar as needed

Your content calendar is a living document that should be updated and adjusted as needed. If you find that certain topics aren’t performing well, adjust your content to focus on more successful topics. If you have an unexpected event or breaking news, be flexible enough to adjust your content calendar accordingly. When I started as a blogger (in uni) I would often take time off for exams or tough uni projects.

Do you have a content calendar or do you just wing it? Let me know below!

I absolutely LOVE lead magnets. However I am yet to figure out if I like them because they are valuable or because they are free.

So what is a lead magnet? It is a piece of content designed to help expand your email list. You provide something of value to your audience in exchange for their email address.

This is an excellent way for you to expand your email database. However remember that whatever you are offering needs to be valuable and needs to be something that people will be interested in.

It is also a good tip to keep the sign-up process as simple as possible. You do not want people starting to sign up for your lead magnet only to leave halfway because you are requesting too much information.

Here are 5 ideas for lead magnets:

1. A Guide: Search through all your blog posts for a theme or posts that relate to each other. You can use this to create a guide. For example, I could use my blog posts to create a guide on blogging (or a very outdated guide to uni).
2. Printables: Printables are also another favorite of mine. These are just items that are helpful that you can print such as a checklist, to-do list, motivational quotes or even a planner.
3. Free stock images: If your audience is the type to appreciate free stock images then go for it! Personally I am always on the look-out for free stock images.
4. Workbooks: Have I ever used a workbook? No. Have I ever given my email address away in exchange for a free workbook? Every single time. Put in the effort to create a valuable workbook tailored to your audience and you are sure to get a great response when this lead magnet goes live.
5. A resource library: Once you have a few lead magnet options, you can compile them all in an exclusive “Members Only” library that can only be accessed by those who have given your their email address. Resource libraries are full of valuable information and so this is an excellent bargain for your audience. Speaking of which, you can join our resource library for access to some great blogging freebies. Just fill out the form below.

Have you ever tried using a lead magnet before? What are your favourite type of digital freebies? Let me know!