Why You Need A Blog Content Planner

Last updated on 26 November 2024

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I would be lost without a blog content planner

If you’re anything like me then you may just like to ‘wing it’ and ‘go with the flow’. Perhaps you don’t really make goals or have any elaborate (but beautiful) bullet journals that you will with your plans and your goals. Perhaps your own blog is simply a ‘whenever I have an idea I publish it’ sort of blog, with little strategy or direction. Maybe you’re like me when I started my blog, with no plan, no clear direction, and absolutely no idea what I was going.

Okay, maybe you’re not like me.

But it doesn’t have to be the new year to start right. Especially when it comes to blogging. Now is the time to get organised. Now is the time to sort your ideas out. Get in control of your wacky and wonderful ideas. Put them to paper. Or an Excel Spreadsheet.

Or into my blog content planner.

What is a content planner?

A content planner is a workbook, a spreadsheet, a diary, a ginormous piece of paper, a programme, in which you plan out your content for your blog, business, social media. It’s where you have your ideas listed and you can look ahead at the month and see exactly what you plan to post, when and even why.

It’s a way to plan your content, surprisingly enough.

Why is having a content planner important for your blog?

Suppose you had an idea. Or a raft of ideas.

Suppose you typed them all up into a series of blog posts and then posted them all in a flurry of excitement.

Fantastic! You’ve just posted 5 excellent articles about XYZ onto your blog! Well done.

But what are you going to post next week? The week after? How are you going to accompany your excellent blog posts with social media posts and Pin for Pinterest?

Having a blog content planner means setting out your month/quarter/year is much easier and you can plan for busy periods, specific holidays and anniversary, exciting days of the year, and best of all, you’re never without ideas nor are you stuck for things to write about. It means when it comes to sitting down and writing for the week/month, you’re all ready to go.

DOWNLOAD YOUR CONTENT PLANNER HERE

5 handy things to have in your blog content planner

1. A brainstorm page

You need somewhere to jot down any and every idea that comes to you. You might not use the idea in the near future, and it might not make 100% sense at the time, but I cannot stress enough the importance of writing it down. You’ll come back to it.

2. A monthly planning page

Having your entire month of blog posts planned out in topics (even if it’s just the generic heading or idea) is going to save a world of time and energy when it comes to actually creating the posts. Having the month laid out in front of you is going to make a big difference, and it will allow you to easily move posts around if you need to.

3. Insights columns

Tracking some metrics for your posts is going to inform you how posts are doing, and if people are picking up what you’re putting down. Google Analytics and other analytics programmes are great for tracking these sorts of things, but if you want a quick overview of a certain post, adding a column to your planner is really going to help and give you a quick glimpse at how past posts have done.

4. Resource page

See a potentially game-changing app somewhere online? Don’t have time to investigate it right away? Having a page or way to keep a list of potential resources is going to pay off in the future. It also allows you to keep a list of the best apps, programmes and websites that you can quickly access without having to remember what that one cool site was you use 4 months ago.

5. Days of note

Did you know there’s a long list of weird and wacky (and sometimes normal and exciting) holidays celebrated around the world? Check out the Holidays Calendar site for the whole list, and make note of any that are relevant for your and your niche. Not only are you getting content ideas but you’re going to be writing about things that people are searching for on particular days of the year. And they come around every year, too! Bonus.

DOWNLOAD YOUR CONTENT PLANNER HERE

How to make a content planner

There are hundreds of blog content planner templates out there that you can grab for free, but they might not be exactly what you want. You might also plan differently to others, so what one person creates might not work for you. That’s okay!

You can easily create your own content planner by thinking about all the things that you really need (ideas, dates to be published on, holiday dates), and pop them all into a spreadsheet.

Sound like too much work?

Don’t worry; I got you covered.

I’ve created a blogging content planner for blogs and social media on Google Sheets (essentially it’s an excel blog content planner) that is so incredibly easy to use and easily customizable, so even if there is an aspect or feature of the content planner I’ve created that doesn’t work for you, you can either delete the Sheet or adjust it to suit your style of planning.

What more could you want in a planner!?