Planning blog content is not an easy task. In fact, it’s kind of terrifying. You have to sit down and pull ideas out of thin air — then turn those ideas into engaging, helpful, and/or entertaining blog posts for others to read. Like I said before: terrifying.
My process used to look like this:
- realize it’s Thursday and I need to post on Saturday
- lowkey freak out
- scour Pinterest for ideas on what to post about
- fruitlessly search through old notebooks for ideas I had in the past
- lowkey freak out, pt 2
- get a good idea by sheer miracle
- write the blog post just in time
- dread next week when I’ll have to do it all again
BUT HERE IS THE HAPPY NEWS: I’ve discovered a better way to do this! An efficient way to plan all my blog content, weeks — or even months — in advance. A way to always have good ideas for engaging posts. And a way to plan a month’s worth of content in just 25 minutes. Yep. We’re gonna do this.
Forget everything you know about planning blog content! It’s actually easier than it looks.
STEP #1: FIND YOUR 4 PILLARS OF CONTENT
No matter how niche or niche-less your blog is, there are 4 main “pillars” of content that make it yours. Sit down and think about your blog — what kind of posts you enjoy writing the most and what kind of posts get the best response? Now break down those topics into 4 pillars. Here are mine, for example:
MY BLOG’S 4 PILLARS:
- Productivity + Time Management
- Writing Tips
- Blogging + Biz
- Mental Health + Creativity
Let’s say you post on your blog once a week, like I do. That means you only need to create one post for each of these topics! EASY, RIGHT? When you think “a month’s worth of blog content” you cringe because that sounds so daunting. But it doesn’t feel daunting to think about writing just one post for each of these four topics. But guess what? That’s a month’s worth of blog content!
STEP #2: SET A TIMER FOR 25 MINUTES
You don’t have to time yourself, but I like to work (and write) in sprints, using the Pomodoro method (25 minutes of work, followed by a 5 minute break.) When there’s a ticking clock* nearby, it’s so much easier for me to stay focused on the task at hand and not get distracted staring out the window or making cookies or something.
*I use the app BeFocused on my MacBook, and I like it because the countdown timer is always visible in my toolbar.
STEP #3: THINK OF ONE POST TO WRITE FOR EACH PILLAR TOPIC
That’s not so daunting, right? You already know what category each post is going to be in, now all you have to do is think of something specific for each topic. To get the creative juices flowing, I like to ask myself the following questions:
- What have I learned about this lately?
- How can I meet someone else’s need in this category?
- Can I answer a specific question I get asked a lot on this topic?
- How have I overcome a struggle with this in my own life?
You’ll be amazed by how many ideas you come up with (seemingly out of nowhere!) when you just take a few moments to get specific and focused. Set aside 25 minutes to be in a quiet room and think up some post titles. They don’t have to be perfect yet, they just have to be a start of something.
OTHER HELPFUL ARTICLES ON BLOGGING:
- How To Make People Stay On Your Blog LONGER
- 7 Awesome Tools And Resources Every Blogger Needs
- What Is BRANDING? How To Create Your Unmistakable LOOK And Be Instantly Recognized ANYWHERE
STEP #4: CREATE DRAFTS FOR YOUR POSTS
Now it’s time to flesh out these posts! Jump into your blog dashboard and start creating some drafts. Name each draft with your catchy headline, then write some rough ideas for the post. Don’t actually write the post yet (unless you feel totally inspired, then GO FOR IT BRO) but do write yourself a few notes so that when you come back to write it later, you don’t have to start from scratch.
Because, as we all know, a blank screen is terrifying.
Here’s an example of what my draft notes usually look like:
This post is basically going to be about planning blog content and how if you find your 4 pillar topics you just have to write one post for each topic and BOOM YOU HAVE YOUR WHOLE MONTH OF CONTENT. Then make drafts with notes so you don’t forget the points you wanted to hit on. Come back and write the posts when you need to/want to.
Now when you return to that draft to write the whole blog post, you won’t have to struggle to remember the ideas you had — you have a rough outline of where you want this post to go. Trust me, take the time to outline your post draft. IT’S A LIFESAVER. Continue this process for the other three post ideas, and… you’re done.
Congrats. You just did the daunting thing.
I hope at this point you are BURSTING WITH IDEAS for future blog content and I hope this post has taken some of the scary out of the content-planning process. This method of planning content has literally changed my life. I hope it changes yours too!!
TALK, BRO
How do you plan content for your blog? Do you ever find it TOTALLY DAUNTING to think about coming up with a whole month’s worth of content to write and schedule ahead of time? I hope you try this method and I hope it works awesomely for you!
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