The Benefits of a Content Calendar

Do you have a blog post content calendar? Did you create one after my post “How To Create Your Blog Content and Social Media Calendar”?

If you still haven’t created one, I hope that by sharing the benefits of a content calendar you will change your mind and start one!

The Benefits of a Content Calendar

A Clear Plan in Place. Having a clear plan in place and documented, allows you to look back over what you have done in the past to better aide you in what you should do in the future. You may also find some great recyclable content that you can reuse/repurpose.

Less stress, More Efficient. Another benefit to having a content calendar is you can eliminate the mad dash to create content because you forgot. Like Easter, how did this holiday sneak up on me?! Plus you can start pulling things together in advance so it’s not so overwhelming.

Strategic. A content calendar can help you strategically write posts that:
-link to previous posts,
-share affiliate links you’d like to promote, or
-encompass an e-book or other product you’re selling.

Fill the Gaps. Being able to spot any gaps – say for example a month that is pretty empty – you can highlight missed opportunities, lack of promotion (client projects, products or services), or past blog post topics that your followers love and tend to bring you lots of traffic.

‘Tis the Season. This calendar will help you prepare for the effects of seasonality, through past experience you should know what content works best when and where. And if you’re new to blogging, a calendar will help your future preparations.

3 Keys To Remember

A content calendar is a valuable and essential tool that can help your business succeed. These are the 3 keys to always keep in mind when creating your content calendar:

1. Always create your content for your readers. Know your target audience, understand who they are, what interests them and what they value getting from you.
2. Keep your business goals in mind. Print them out, keep them in front of you. Remind yourself the idea/strategy behind your blogging.
3. Be flexible. Setting clear content guidelines will go a long way towards the type of content and voice you set for your blog. Don’t forget… a plan allows you to be structured AND spontaneous.

Quick BFF Tip: When a certain topic or question is on a number of my reader’s minds, I’ll move around my content so I can answer their question in an upcoming blog post. This way I’m still relevant and timely, which my readers love and it keeps me from having to answer several emails individually! Once the blog post is live, I send each person/business a link to the post that answers their question. It’s a win/win!

I hope you now realize the benefits of a content calendar – a powerful tool that allows you to have structure, flexibility and success with your content marketing efforts!