Did you know that writing regular blog posts on your website is the #1 way to drive traffic to your site?
There are several reasons:
- Search engines love fresh content and when you post regularly to your blog, they'll return to crawl your site more frequently. This means your content will be indexed more quickly.
- With each new blog post you'll have more content indexed for possible search matches. Think of each post as having an extra raffle ticket.
- Blog posts are by nature usually rich in relevant keywords.
Read on to download our free blog calendar planning worksheets and learn how to use them.
Creating a blog calendar will give you the best chance of actually following through and posting to your blog regularly.
By planning ahead, you'll never have to worry about what you're going to write about, and you'll also be blogging with a strategy rather than the blog equivalent of throwing spaghetti against a wall.
- Monthly Theme - set a theme for each month, along with your goals and targeted keywords. Use one copy of this sheet for each month.
- Evergreen Topics - in the world of blogging, evergreen topics are those that will help drive traffic to your site for years because they don't become obsolete. How to's, lists, and tips tend to be evergreen topics, whereas news and current trends are not. Note that this doesn't mean you can't ever blog about news and trends - you should! - but build most of your blog content around evergreen topics to increase long-term content relevance. Each sheet will hold up to 27 post ideas, and you can use as many sheets as you need.
- For each evergreen topic, try to develop 3 sub-topics, and 3 post ideas for each sub-topic. For example, if you're a realtor the evergreen topic may be home buying advice. Sub-topics may include types of mortgages and insider secrets on what to look for "under the hood." Post ideas for types of mortgages can include VA loans, traditional mortgages, and adjustable rate mortgages. By doing a post for each of these loan types separately rather than combined in one post, you'll have 3 opportunities to match a search rather than just one (raffle tickets, remember?).
- Blog Post planner - with this sheet you'll plan your blog post title, a post summary, targeted visitor personas, tags, and graphics you may need. You can plan 3 posts per sheet, and use as many sheets as you need.
- Monthly Blog Calendar - use one for each month, and write the topic of your planned blog post in the block for that date. This will let you see your plan at a glance, and mark off posts as you make them. It also helps to be able to look back and see how productive you've been! Don't be afraid to change your schedule if you feel it isn't working for you.
The most important thing when you first start blogging is to post regularly, and post topics that you think your targeted visitors will be interested in. Your main goal is to be helpful and interesting - not to sell your product or services.
Decide how often you're going to post; I recommend planning for once per week. Just like getting started with exercising, if you set your goals too high you'll never stick with it and you'll become frustrated and give up. Slow and steady wins the race with blogging.
Don't expect overnight results from blogging but, just like a savings account that you put a little money into each week, you'll find that your search engine results will improve exponentially the longer you blog. Even if you feel no one is reading your blog, don't stop writing! All it takes is that one good search match to help the customer of your dreams find you.
Let us know below if you've found a secret to planning your blog that may help someone else. Or, if you find you need help planning your blog calendar, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Good luck, and here's to a great 2015!