Are you struggling to write great content every week? I was when I first started blogging. It wasn’t until late 2019 when I reinvented my blog… again, that I decided to change my approach to my blog and the blogging process itself. After getting everything set with the blog itself it was time to focus on content. My first step was a brainstorming session, next up an editorial calendar.
Creating a content/ editorial calendar was my first step to planning out my blog and making the blogging process easier. Sounds like a lot of work, right? It’s really not once you get started so keep reading to find out how an editorial helped streamline the process for creating content on your blog so you can focus on other aspects of it or make time for other things and stop feeling like you are spending your whole day in front of the computer.
Find a software that you want to use be it Excel, Evernote, Google Docs, or something else and figure out how many posts you’ll be able to do a month, it’s something you want to do consistently so make sure that it’s a number that you know you’ll be able to stick to. Whether it’s two, four, eight, doesn’t matter as long as you can stay consistent.
Why You Should Create An Editorial Calendar As Part Of Your Blogging Process
A content calendar or editorial calendar, allows you to plan content ahead of time, gives you more time to write better quality content, and removes the stress of continuously coming up with great ideas. This works in your favor so that you can focus on other aspects to improve and grow your blog like creating an opt-in, networking with other bloggers, and working on your social media presence. Simply put, a content calendar, in my opinion, is one of the best things you can to do help you grow your blog.
How An Editorial Calendar Helped Me
When I first started blogging, I had decided that I was going to post new content on the blog twice a week, which was reasonable but instead of having fun with it I was struggling. I often spent the night before a new post was due to go up, editing it in some way, or worse writing it for the first time. The time crunch to do that was making it hard to create quality content and took all the fun out of the blogging process for me. I spent some time wondering if I wanted to keep blogging because of it. Sound familiar?
I knew that my reason for starting a blog still existed so I couldn’t quit, but I had to find a way to make the process easier. Creating content calendar gave me the ability to plan blog posts stress-free so I could not only create great content for the blog, but I can also do special posts like the one for International Women’s Day. As a result of using my editorial calendar, I’m also able to be more productive when actually writing the posts with the batching process.
Batching Blog Posts: My Number 1 Blogging Tip
Batching blog posts means writing a few simultaneously. Confused? I know, but stay with here okay?
Instead of:
- Pulling an idea off of your blog post list
- Researching and drafting it
- Writing it
- Putting on final touches, images, links and
- Proofreading and Scheduling the post
Try this
- Pulling 2 to 4 ideas off of your blog post list
- Research and draft those ideas
- Writing the posts
Now, your typing speed is obviously a factor in how much you can do without feeling overwhelmed. There are other factors too, but I know bloggers who can write 4 posts based on drafts in a day. Let me just say…. I’m not one of those bloggers. I can maybe get done, 1.5 to two posts that day when I write my drafts. Since I currently post twice a week on my blog that’s okay because that means in one day, I took care of a week of posts when I have a few more blog post ideas I may write 4 blog posts over approximately two days. That’s two weeks’ worth of posts for me. If you do this once or twice a month you’d be ahead with your blog posts. Planning with my editorial calendar and batching blog posts are two important parts of streamlining my blogging process.
Although you have a process for writing blog posts, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to come up with ideas. Before I started batching blog posts, I spent a lot of time the night before a post was due to go up on the blog still researching ideas, remember when I said, not having a plan had me creating content that wasn’t my best? Well, I also published way too may blog post idea posts. The posts were an easier idea than researching, hoping inspiration would strike, and I’d have enough time to write it before it was supposed to go up on the blog.
When I relaunched the blog, I wanted to stay away from blog posts idea posts, because I didn’t want to fall into old habits again. So why write now?
There are a couple of reasons for it actually. A few days before writing this, I didn’t like the plan I had on my content calendar so I changed a bit. The content on the blog has been a lot about beauty and fashion so I wanted to break up that pattern or at least take a break from it and lastly, everyone is home right now and whether you’re just starting on your blog or you’ve been blogging for a while. I know you’ve been working hard and want to plan ahead so you can focus on all the other aspects of running a blog that we talked about.
I love blog post ideas lists and find them so helpful and will refer to them time and time again when brainstorming ideas so considering all that is going on, with the extra time you may be spending on your blog, I wanted to share some ideas to get you started.
Here are 65 blog post ideas for your content calendar.
65 Blog Post Ideas For Your Content Calendar
Beauty Blog Post Ideas
- How you got into beauty in the first place
- Your Favorite Beauty Products
- Best Places To Find Beauty Inspiration
- Favorite Beauty Influencers To Follow on Instagram / On Pinterest
- Best Beauty Brands On A Budget/ High-End Brands
- What’s In My Makeup Bag
- What’s In My Makeup Collection: Primers, Foundations, Eyeshadows, etc.
- Favorite Youtube Channels For Makeup Tips or Tutorials
- Beauty Blogs You Read
- Monthly Makeup Edit
- Facebook Groups To Join For Makeup Lovers
- Top Ten Tips For Applying (Foundation, Concealer, Mascara)
- Best Piece of Beauty Advice You’ve Ever Received/ Worst Advice
- Beauty Products You’ll Repurchase/ Products You Regret Buying
- Makeup Dupes Of Your High-End Beauty Products
- Best Beauty Buys From Amazon
- Things You Wish You Knew When You Were Starting In Makeup
- Top 10 Tips From Your Favorite Beauty Bloggers/ Youtubers
- Beauty Techniques You’re Working On This Year
- Full Face Using One Makeup Brand
- Your Favorite Beauty Hacks
- Full Face Using Drugstore Makeup
Fashion Blog Post Ideas
- A Tour Of Your Closet
- Favorite Fashion Items In Your Closet
- How To: Define Your Style
- How To (X) Ways Style A (Little Black Dress, Jacket, Boots, Handbag, Sweater)
- (X) Fashion Items You Need In Your Wardrobe
- Fashion Blogs You Read
- Best Places To Find Fashion Inspiration
- Favorite Fashion Influencers To Follow on Instagram / Follow on Pinterest
- Favorite Fashion Trends / Fashion trends from last year that need to stay gone
- A full outfit for (X) Dollars From _____
- Best Fashion Buys From Amazon
Disability Blog Post Ideas
- The story of your disability
- A Thank you letter to your disability
- How You Do Something (Drive, Transfer, Workout)
- How to Approach Conversations When It Comes To Your Disability
- A tough situation that resulted due to your disability( Lack of access, conversations etc)
Lifestyle Blog Post Ideas
- 10 Things You Don’t Know About Me
- 20 Things To Do Before 20, 25 Things To Do Before 25, etc
- Letter to your younger or future self
- Favorite things from your childhood: toys, tv shows or movies
- Bucket List / Travel Bucket List
- Book Review / Movie Review
- Girls Night Out Ideas / Girls Night In or Virtual Girls Night Ideas
- Learn A New Skill and Share The Experience
- Favorite Healthy Snacks
- Netflix/ Hulu/ or Prime recommendations
- Gift Guides
- First Date Ideas/ Date Ideas In
Blogging Blog Post Ideas
- The Story Behind Your Blog Name
- Why You Started Blogging
- Your Favorite Blogging Tools
- Blogging Mistakes To Avoid
- Blog Photography Tips
- Best Places To Find Stock Photos: Paid, Free, or Both
- Your Blogging Process
- Things To Do Before You Hit Publish
- How To Start A Blog
- Favorite WordPress Plugins
- Why You Need An Email List & How To Create One
- Tips For Creating Your First Optin Freebie
- Tips For Driving Traffic To Your Blog
- The Social Media Platforms You Use For Your Blog
- How You Schedule Your Social Media Posts
Whether you’re just getting started on your blogging journey or have been blogging for a while, I hope you find that creating an editorial calendar helps make your blogging process for writing content easier. Hopefully that this list inspires you to write some great content as well.
~Kimberly
