Simple content plan

In March, I identified that I needed a plan to help me manage my blog content. I needed the plan to be simple, quick and accessible so I could use it wherever I was and I had time.

Google spreadsheet

I decided to create a calendar in Google spreadsheets.

I coloured the cells to indicate the content type:

Orange: featured post
Blue: writing post
Green: beauty post
Yellow: personal post
Pink: NaPoWriMo (a special feature/event)

I wrote my content idea on the colour coded cell. I made the text:

Bold: unwritten
Italic: started/in draft
Plain: done (scheduled)

This made it superveasy to see what posts I needed to write and when so I could prioritise.

Being easy to access on my mobile or any PC/Laptop meant it didn’t restricting my blogging.

Amending plans

Sometimes, I found I wasn’t inspired to write what I planned. So, I copied the cell to my ideas list for future reference and moved another idea into the vacant space that I did feel like writing.

I often have more ideas than time to write and this helps me stay focussed on the tasks I have chosen rather than trying to write them all. Being more focussed helps me get the article written in the limited time I have (usually an hour or two on a Sunday).

I can gather the pics I need for my blog and Instagram in plenty of time. I take these throughout the week and save to a folder on my phone.

Verdict

I’m really pleased with my simple plan as it work for me. Being more organised makes me feel more in control.

My future schedule

I do need to relook at my schedule and reduce the frequency ready for when my newborn arrives. In addition, I vowed to return to novel writing once my CIPD course is complete (end of June).

As a result, I think I’ll struggle to post every other day but I still want to achieve a fairly regular flow. Currently, my content plan is filled up until end of August and 50% full from there until December… Maybe, I can do it all…

I would love to know what you think and the methods you use to plan your content. I’m constantly learning.