You know me. I’m interested in anything that will make my life easier, especially if it helps keep me organized. So, when I started reading all these posts in the blogosphere about the benefits of having a blog calendar, I said, “Great! Let’s do it.”
Everyone raves about how a blog calendar will make things easier, faster, more organized, and more cohesive.
“Okay, I’m all for it. How do I do this?”
Having a blog calendar is essential, they said. You can’t have a successful blog without one, they said.
What they didn’t say was how to create one. I realize that might be because a blog calendar is an individual thing. Some might prefer a paper version over an electronic one; some a grid calendar over a list.
So, I started out with a traditional, paper monthly calendar. There I was with dogs and cats in cute poses peeking out at me as I plotted what blog I wanted to write when. I took the notebook and mound of paper scraps where my scribbled ideas were living, rolled up my sleeves, and dived in.
The grid calendar was useful for seeing upcoming holidays and ticking off blog milestones (I’m coming up on my 100th post!), but it was a little clunky for me. So, I wrote out a list with post dates and put corresponding ideas next to the dates.
This was a better visual for me, but I had two problems: I have a really hard time reading my own handwriting, and I couldn’t easily move topics around to group them better.
So, my next step was to take what I had written and make it electronic. I now have this Blog Calendar Form in Word that allows me to easily move topics around since we all know that things will pop up to disrupt our best laid plans. Feel free to use the form for your blog or posting schedule (or whatever else you might cleverly adapt it for).
So now I can plan for Smile Power Day, National Lobster Day, National Dairy Month, or whatever!
Writing-Insight-Success 