Why your blog needs a content calendar
Need help keeping yourself focused and organized? Juggling being a mom while trying to grow a blog can make you feel like a bit of a hot mess when there’s no structure or plan to it. Let’s get organized and learn how to create a content calendar as a mom blogger!
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Creating a Content Calendar for Mom Bloggers
Typically when our personal lives feel overwhelming, we take out our handy-dandy planner and start laying out our activities on a schedule and writing out to-do lists.
But instead of using a mom planner, bloggers often opt to use a content calendar.
Creating a content plan will help you stay on top of writing weekly posts without feeling like you need to rush to find your next topic idea for the week.
Having a content plan will also help if you struggle with writer’s block!
So if you have no clue how to start a content calendar for your mom blog, then you’ve come to the right place!
You can read about creating a content calendar for mom bloggers below.
1. Write Out Your Blog’s Categories
When you first start creating a content calendar, you may want to start by listing out all of your blog’s categories and subcategories.
This is a great first step to keeping everything organized.
Without this, all of your blog post ideas are just going to be scattered around. This can turn chaotic pretty quickly.
If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can also assign each category section a different color. Not necessary, but helpful
2. List Out Your Blog Post Ideas
Now that you’ve got your categories laid out, it’s time to list out your article ideas.
The best way to do this is to list each blog post idea below the category it fits into. I find this more helpful than listing them out to the side. Using a column layout can be easier to scan through and read.
Related Reading:
100+ Blog Post Ideas (& Monetization Tips) For Mom Bloggers
3. Create Your Titles & Headings
Once you’ve laid out your topics you can jot down some ideas for possible titles and headings for each one.
If you have time at the moment, do some keyword research using those ideas and decide on the best titles and headings for SEO purposes.
Writing out headings is a great way to create a rough outline. It gives you a nice little head start when you sit down to write the full post.
4. Write Out Keywords
Another thing mom bloggers can add to their content calendar is keywords to be used within the post.
Doing your keyword research ahead of time will save you valuable time as you’ll have everything on hand when you have time to focus on writing.
You’ll be more organized and focused without needing to disturb your writing workflow to go look for the best keywords.
5. Your Call to Action
You may also want to preplan the specific call to action you plan to use within your post.
Of course, money from ads is great, but a call to action can help give your post more of a goal.
Do you want this post to help give you more email subscribers? Add an opt-in!
Or do you want to promote a new product? Link to it along with the reason it will be helpful to your audience!
I like to add related posts to keep readers on my site longer as well as suggesting they save the post to Pinterest to refer back to later.
And of course, you know how I feel about including an eye-catching pin design at the bottom for them to pin 😉
6. Publish Date Goal
Next, when you want this post done and published should be added to your content calendar.
Have you ever said to yourself that you’re going to publish a new post every week, then it turns to every 2 weeks, then once a month, and then all of a sudden you realize it’s been months since you last wrote a post?
Yeah, me too.
Giving yourself a deadline you can physically see helps you from straying away and putting it off.
7. Images needed
A good blog post needs images to hold the reader’s attention. Whether you create your images before or after you start writing is up to you. But adding a section to your content calendar for images you’ll need for each post can make your process more straightforward.
This list could include designing Pinterest pins, taking screenshots of various results, process photos (recipes & DIYs), appropriate stock photos, etc.
P.S. If you can use your own images instead of stock photos, do that! Google wants original content.
8. Add Post Ideas to a Calendar
Now that you have everything ready, it’s time to add them to a calendar!
You can use an actual calendar or an online tool. Some people do better when physically writing these things down. Others prefer the streamlined process of an online platform.
Your content calendar should have 4 rows for 4 weeks of the month and 7 columns for all the days of the week.
After that, find a day you want to start writing posts and list them under that day/column.
You can also put down which day you plan to publish them as well.
It helps to either color code it or state it when writing it down.
If you prefer actually writing things down the “old fashioned” way, my top choice is this adorable and affordable printable blog planner from Stray Curls. I personally use and love it!
What tool is commonly used to create content calendars?
If you’d rather use an online tool than a physical calendar, there are a couple of tools for creating a content calendar for mom bloggers.
Some popular options include:
• Trello (my favourite)
• Asana
• Google Sheets
• Airtable
These are all well-designed platforms, are easy to use, and free to sign-up for.
Is a Content Calendar Only Used for Blog Posts?
Nope! A content calendar is a great way to plan out your social media posts as well.
So if you use platforms like Instagram, Tiktok, or Facebook you can create a social media content calendar for those too.
What is the difference between a social media calendar and a content calendar?
A content calendar and a social media calendar serve the same purpose and are made pretty much the same way.
The difference between them (besides one being for blog posts and the other for social media posts) is what you would include in them.
For a blog content calendar, you would include titles, heading ideas, keyword phrases, a call to action, etc.
A social media content calendar on the other hand would include things like:
• The Graphic
• Copy/Caption
• Hashtags
• Type of Post (product, event, testimonial, etc.)
• How it’s Delivered (video, image, GIF)
• Platform You’re Posting On
If social media is a big part of your blogging business, I would suggest making a social media plan as well.
You could basically copy your content calendar and use it for social media (you’d just have to change a couple column names).
You can also create your content and schedule it using tools like SocialBee, Tailwind, and Meta Business Suite.
Conclusion
All in all, creating a content calendar for mom bloggers, can help keep your mom life and your blog life less stressful and more organized.
Though it’s not required to use one, it can really help you focus and stay on course.
I would recommend making your content strategy for the month or a couple weeks in advance. Don’t make it the month of.
Seeing a complete, ready-made plan at the beginning of the month will keep your mind from bouncing from idea to idea. Instead of fighting scrambled thoughts and indecision of where to focus the small amount of time you have to work, you’ll know exactly what you need to do when your mom life allows 😉
You may also like:
9 Tips for a Successful Mom Blog
Save Time With Pinterest Pin Templates
Ten 20-Minute Blog Tasks (Grow Your Blog When Short of Time)
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