There are literally hundreds of ways in which you could make a calendar. You could use something as basic as Excel, or one of the numerous fancy calendar designers that are available on the web.
Organise your content strategy in 3 simple steps
The idea of having a content calendar is actually relatively new, but those who are starting to use them are finding out that they are extremely effective tools in their writing arsenals. They fulfil two main purposes; they organise things better, so that you know when and what things need to be done, and they also help you improve your website content writing, because you’ll be able to find out what worked best when.
They aren’t particularly difficult to implement, and they get better over time. Get in to the habit of creating one, and your content strategy will be more effective. Here are the three main steps to creating your calendar:
Step 1: Drawing Up the Calendar
There are literally hundreds of ways in which you could make a calendar. You could use something as basic as Excel, or one of the numerous fancy calendar designers that are available on the web. It doesn’t really matter what you use as long as it’s got the functionality you need. Realistically, all you need is a calendar with space in each day to write what you’re doing and why, and room to write how things went later. The more confident you become with using a content calendar, the more complex you can make it.
Step 2: Decide on the Content
This is the hardest part; working out exactly what you’re looking to do when. This might include blog posts, guides, tweets; anything that you consider content, and it’s something you will have to decide on yourself. Plan out what you want to do when, taking in to account how long you think it’s going to take, and why you’re going to do it. Certain days are best for releasing certain types of content, and you may already have worked this out. The major advantage to a calendar is that you can plot in relevant events, and then plan to write around them. For instance, if you’re writing a blog about cars, it makes sense to capitalise on a motor show. You’ll also be able to see over time how often you’re doing certain things, such as refreshing website content like landing pages or guides.
Step 3: Learn from Previous Months
Take a look at how things have gone for you in the past, and learn from this. You might be able to find patterns in what types of content have been popular when, and how people have interacted with you. This is another way of figuring out how valuable your time is. If you spent a long time creating a fantastic infographic, how successful was it? Was it worth taking the time to do it rather than something else? As you build up a series of calendars, you’ll be able to improve as you go along. Attach notes from your analysis, and wherever possible, build a picture of how you’ve spent your time and how effective it’s been in achieving the results you wanted.