Are Your Using an Editorial Calendar?
Written by Annette Elton · Print This Article
A few month’s ago the esteemed Alexis Rodrigo blogged about New Year’s Resolutions for Content Marketer (It’s #8 on the list). So the question is….are you using an Editorial Calendar?
What is An Editorial Calendar?
Quite simply, it’s a list of the content you’re going to publish with corresponding publication dates. You can find samples of what an editorial calendar can look like here:
Notice that this particular calendar from PC World has a schedule for print and online content. While your calendar doesn’t need to be presentable to the public, you will likely have numerous categories listed.
For example, online, autoresponder, article marketing, reports and so on.
Why Use an Editorial Calendar?
Planning your content in advance offers a number of benefits:
- It makes it easy to outsource your content.
- It makes creating content a breeze because you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to write about.
- It helps you plan your marketing and advertising promotions.
- It reduces stress.
- You’re less likely to miss blog posts if it’s scheduled in advance.
- You’re able to focus your attention on other profitable tasks.
How To Create an Editorial Calendar?
The easiest approach is to grab a notebook and a desktop calendar and to plan your content. It’s recommended to plan a year in advance, however you’d prefer, you can plan three or six months in advance.
Once you have a plan on notebook paper, then consider taking two steps. The first is to create your plan in an easy to access manner. That may be printed out and tacked to your bulletin board or saved as a document on your computer.
Additionally, consider adding the content to your daily/weekly planner, Outlook for example. That way when you’re busy you’ll be notified automatically when you have content scheduled.
If you’re not using an editorial calendar, consider adopting the tool. It’s tremendously useful and it’ll help you stay on top of your content and ahead of your competition.
About the Author
Visit Annette online at AllCustomContent.com
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Alice Seba says:
Excellent advice, Annette. Having a plan in place makes it so much easier to plan your content…plus it ensures you actually get it done. If you fly by the seat of your pants, it’s not as likely it will get done or it my not be done strategically. Getting content out there isn’t enough – you’ve got to have a plan and reason for doing it for best marketing results.
Jeanette Cates says:
I agree – an editorial calendar is a “must have” if you want to have a sense of control about your business. I use a simple spreadsheet format to track the announcements, articles and posts I want to add to various sites and send via email. I also track the results of various posts and articles.
I’ve shared how I set this up as a spreadsheet in the free mini-workshop at http://OrganizeYourOnlineBusiness.com So maybe that will give others ideas of another format they can use.
Annette Elton says:
Jeanette, I love the idea of tracking the results of your content on your editorial calendar. It then becomes a useful tool for planning future content. Might I ask how many months in advance you recommend planning your content?
Jeanette Cates says:
Well, technically I would advise multiple levels of planning:
– a year in advance you can lay out the holidays, anniversaries and other special occasions you want to highlight. You can also decide on a “theme” for each month, if you work well that way.
– a quarter (3 months) in advance you can get fairly detailed on your plans. At this point you have your topics and probably some of the content already written & scheduled. You also know what products you’ll be releasing when, so you can schedule those promotion emails as well.
– a month in advance you should be locked into your schedule
Now I said “technically” – because sometimes we’re scrambling at the last minute, rearranging things for changes in the news (who could anticipate the recent Visa guidelines changes?), launches (some marketers don’t plan very far ahead), and other last-minute opportunities. But if you’ve planned ahead, you can make adjustments fairly easily.
One resource that would be helpful here is Lynette Chandler’s BlogEnergizer.com and her blogging calendar. It’s a great place to start.
Gabrielle Fontaine says:
I also have a system for keeping up with blog posts, though it isn’t as sophisticated as Jeanette’s. I do schedule regular reminders on my Outlook calendar for the frequency of the posts I want to be doing (on 3 different blogs). But it’s more of a guideline/reminder than an “appointment” style schedule.
I also keep a Writing notebook in OneNote where I can put all my inspirational clippings, notes and ideas for future blog posts, along with a “scheduled” list (meaning, they are in the order I want to publish, but without specific dates) of upcoming posts. This is where I also attempt to coordinate what I’m posting with the products I’m in the process of developing and releasing so they can compliment one another. On that posting priority page I also keep a note of the last time I’ve posted to that blog to help keep me within the timeframe on my calendar (target vs. actual)
This flexible style seems to be working for me so far, but it’s a system in progress. I really need to add the recording of results for future reference and planning. (Works better than the intuitive way.)
Alice Seba says:
Hey Jeannette – do you think you could also point a link directly to the editorial calendar? You can leave the link to the opt-in page, but then our readers have a choice whether or not to sign up?
Many thanks – appreciate you providing the additional suggestions/ideas.
Annette Elton says:
Hi Gabrielle – I too use Outlook for planning, not sure how I’d survive without it:-D I also use a large desk calendar for planning because it helps me see and plan ahead. Probably overkill but I’ve found it works for me and that’s the key.
I’ve tried to use OneNote because in theory it looks great but I haven’t had the patience to make it work. Glad you found a system that works for you!
Jeanette – Your timing/planning sounds like exactly what I recommend! Thank you!
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Angela Wills says:
Great advice here!
I did start an editorial calendar but I’ll admit I’ve fallen down on actually following it. I seem to like flying by the seat of my pants, lol. But I see the value of keeping one and getting very strategic with the posts.
I also like the idea of planning 3 months. I think I was looking at the calendar and feeling restricted by the thought of having my full year planned out! I also realize consistency breeds trust and if I build that into my blog my readers will probably really appreciate it.
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