To top that, updating previous posts and properly distributing content isn’t something to put on the backburner.
This, however, is only the primer. There’s a lot more that goes into planning blog content.
To make things easy for you, we’ve put together a list of 16 don’t-miss best practices for blog planning.
Without further delay, let’s dig in.
First things first, set SMART goals. These goals are:
Take the time to write down how you will achieve your goals. In the example above, you see that the SMART goal was anchored by the action of 'creating downloadable assets'.
Since planning for the entire year can be overwhelming, create quarterly to-do lists. Then, chop each quarterly to-do list into monthly to-do lists, e.g., quarterly downloadable ebooks that would help boost email subscribers.
Create a list of tools that you need for optimizing your content production.
Need a new plugin or keyword research tool, for example? Add it to your resource list. Will you need to outsource content production to meet your content goals for the year? Add ‘find new freelancers’ to your list.
You’ll also want to add a blog content planner to this list—or, invest in a content operations platform such as GatherContent. This tool can double-down as your blog post planner while providing you a place to:
💡 Learn more: Document collaboration tools: Features to look for and our top 5 recommendations
It's pointless to plan high-ranking content that simply regurgitates what’s already out there. It’s also a surefire way to provide more value to your readers.
Ask yourself: how can we take a unique angle? Some ways to do so include:
Ensure your blog plan includes a healthy mix of content types, including:
Refresh your buyer persona and customer journey map
Never stick with one source for your content ideas. Diversify your search for winning ideas.
Try the following:
Not all the ideas in your blog content plan are going to be home runs—every writer and content manager can agree with this. So, how do you spot the needles in your haystack of ideas?
For each idea, ask yourself two questions:
A good content topic idea aligns with both your readers’ and brand’s interests. (This is another reason why it's wise to collaborate with your customer-facing teams—so you can ensure the content you create is relevant to prospects and customers.)
💡Learn more: Planning contextual content for users
As you source ideas and sift through your ideas list, make sure you’re finalizing content ideas for all funnel stages.
This way, your content marketing plan will be able to:
If you don’t already have a plan for publishing content, create one. Decide on:
Creating this schedule will help you identify gaps in your blog planning as well as opportunities to repurpose content for content distribution and promotion.
If you already don’t have these essential documents for creating high-quality content, it’s time you get started today.
Create a style guide and a checklist of ways to write great content. Share this with any agencies or freelancers you work with, too.
You’ll also need an editorial guide for editing pieces to meet your blog’s standards.
In GatherContent, you can also create a template for briefs to speed up creating briefs at the start of each month.
Finally, if driving organic traffic is your goal, consider creating a checklist for SEO-optimizing your content.
Look at Google Analytics and pinpoint pieces that have been previously doing well but may have a reduced inflow of traffic lately, otherwise known as 'content decay.' This happens naturally as content ages or becomes dated or irrelevant.
Create a list of these posts and add them to your content refresh list. From there, follow these steps to freshen up your content:
Not only is interviewing your readership essential for sourcing content ideas, but it’s also a great way to understand:
If you don’t already have a content workflow or a list of steps to take from ideation to production, create one.
Make sure you add content distribution to this workflow as well. Why? Because that’s the only way you can schedule it in your calendar – making it an integral part of your content marketing.
Additionally, enlist all steps you need to take to distribute content.
Creating new content shouldn’t be the center of your blog strategy. Pay attention to repurposing content to drive more mileage from it as well.
The best part? Repurposing content will help you:
💡Learn more: A complete guide to repurposing content [including 9 real-life examples of repurposed content]
Now, prepare your content calendar so you can stick by your decided publishing frequency.
But, be sure to set a realistic schedule by factoring in content production, design, and publishing time.
Also, mark important holidays in your calendar. This way, you can plan content for those calendars when the dates are around the corner.
If there’s anything that the pandemic has taught us, it’s that you shouldn’t plan everything down to the tee. Leave room for flexibility in your calendar.
A good rule of thumb is to plan 75% of your content for each month or quarter and leave about 25% for ad hoc requests or timely pieces.
Ready to dive into blog planning and beyond?
Tune into this masterclass on designing a content production plan – you’ll be more than ready to welcome the new year with a fresh ROI-delivering content plan.
To top that, updating previous posts and properly distributing content isn’t something to put on the backburner.
This, however, is only the primer. There’s a lot more that goes into planning blog content.
To make things easy for you, we’ve put together a list of 16 don’t-miss best practices for blog planning.
Without further delay, let’s dig in.
First things first, set SMART goals. These goals are:
Take the time to write down how you will achieve your goals. In the example above, you see that the SMART goal was anchored by the action of 'creating downloadable assets'.
Since planning for the entire year can be overwhelming, create quarterly to-do lists. Then, chop each quarterly to-do list into monthly to-do lists, e.g., quarterly downloadable ebooks that would help boost email subscribers.
Create a list of tools that you need for optimizing your content production.
Need a new plugin or keyword research tool, for example? Add it to your resource list. Will you need to outsource content production to meet your content goals for the year? Add ‘find new freelancers’ to your list.
You’ll also want to add a blog content planner to this list—or, invest in a content operations platform such as GatherContent. This tool can double-down as your blog post planner while providing you a place to:
💡 Learn more: Document collaboration tools: Features to look for and our top 5 recommendations
It's pointless to plan high-ranking content that simply regurgitates what’s already out there. It’s also a surefire way to provide more value to your readers.
Ask yourself: how can we take a unique angle? Some ways to do so include:
Ensure your blog plan includes a healthy mix of content types, including:
Refresh your buyer persona and customer journey map
Never stick with one source for your content ideas. Diversify your search for winning ideas.
Try the following:
Not all the ideas in your blog content plan are going to be home runs—every writer and content manager can agree with this. So, how do you spot the needles in your haystack of ideas?
For each idea, ask yourself two questions:
A good content topic idea aligns with both your readers’ and brand’s interests. (This is another reason why it's wise to collaborate with your customer-facing teams—so you can ensure the content you create is relevant to prospects and customers.)
💡Learn more: Planning contextual content for users
As you source ideas and sift through your ideas list, make sure you’re finalizing content ideas for all funnel stages.
This way, your content marketing plan will be able to:
If you don’t already have a plan for publishing content, create one. Decide on:
Creating this schedule will help you identify gaps in your blog planning as well as opportunities to repurpose content for content distribution and promotion.
If you already don’t have these essential documents for creating high-quality content, it’s time you get started today.
Create a style guide and a checklist of ways to write great content. Share this with any agencies or freelancers you work with, too.
You’ll also need an editorial guide for editing pieces to meet your blog’s standards.
In GatherContent, you can also create a template for briefs to speed up creating briefs at the start of each month.
Finally, if driving organic traffic is your goal, consider creating a checklist for SEO-optimizing your content.
Look at Google Analytics and pinpoint pieces that have been previously doing well but may have a reduced inflow of traffic lately, otherwise known as 'content decay.' This happens naturally as content ages or becomes dated or irrelevant.
Create a list of these posts and add them to your content refresh list. From there, follow these steps to freshen up your content:
Not only is interviewing your readership essential for sourcing content ideas, but it’s also a great way to understand:
If you don’t already have a content workflow or a list of steps to take from ideation to production, create one.
Make sure you add content distribution to this workflow as well. Why? Because that’s the only way you can schedule it in your calendar – making it an integral part of your content marketing.
Additionally, enlist all steps you need to take to distribute content.
Creating new content shouldn’t be the center of your blog strategy. Pay attention to repurposing content to drive more mileage from it as well.
The best part? Repurposing content will help you:
💡Learn more: A complete guide to repurposing content [including 9 real-life examples of repurposed content]
Now, prepare your content calendar so you can stick by your decided publishing frequency.
But, be sure to set a realistic schedule by factoring in content production, design, and publishing time.
Also, mark important holidays in your calendar. This way, you can plan content for those calendars when the dates are around the corner.
If there’s anything that the pandemic has taught us, it’s that you shouldn’t plan everything down to the tee. Leave room for flexibility in your calendar.
A good rule of thumb is to plan 75% of your content for each month or quarter and leave about 25% for ad hoc requests or timely pieces.
Ready to dive into blog planning and beyond?
Tune into this masterclass on designing a content production plan – you’ll be more than ready to welcome the new year with a fresh ROI-delivering content plan.
Masooma Memon is a pizza-loving freelance writer for SaaS. When she’s not writing actionable blog posts or checking off tasks from her to-do list, she has her head buried in a fantasy novel or business book. Connect with her on Twitter.