One of the best things about running your own platform – be it a blog or a social media account – is that you can post whatever and whenever you like. However, the best influencers are the ones who post frequently and consistently, staying up-to-date with the news and engaged with their community.
Keeping on top of blog posts is one of the hardest aspects of blogging, and it all comes down to planning…
How to plan your posts
In order to plan your blog posts, you need to consider three elements:
- National days, events, and observations
- Your own plans (especially if your blog is written from a first-person perspective)
- News and topical stories
These three elements will dictate everything you could cover on your blog. Of course, it’s up to you what you want to talk about and how you do it. For example, Valentine’s Day might be a good time to talk about earth-friendly present ideas, or perhaps you want to document what you did for the day later on.
It’s important to review these three elements frequently: we recommend at least once a month, or if you post a lot, once a week.
Write your content ahead of time
Many professional bloggers plan their posts ahead of time. This can be between one week and one month in advance – with the occasional post published “on the fly”.
Whether you want to be a full-time blogger or simply improve your blog as it stands, you’ll find yourself posting more consistently and keeping up with important events and campaigns by planning posts in advance.
Consistency is king when it comes to content. Not only will readers begin to anticipate every time you post, your blog will be ranked more highly on search engines (i.e. SEO) and you may find yourself with a growing readership in the months to come.
By using our 2019 Content Calendar, you can also select the events you want to get involved with – out of the 175+ events listed – and also add your own. You’ll banish writer’s block, and keep content fresh, exciting, and on-trend.
Set yourself blogging goals
If you hope to grow your blog or monetise your writing, blogging goals can be a good way to start viewing your blog as a business. Setting yourself achievable but challenging goals for a set period of time will keep you motivated, and also give you something to measure your growth with.
Examples of blogging goals:
- Grow my followers by 50% in six months
- Write two posts per week for the next month
- Send out a newsletter every month for the next 12 months
Make time to regularly refer back to your blogging goals, and see how far you’ve come.
Improve your authenticity
As well as improving the ways you plan your content, you should consider what you want to stand for. Some influencers are very specific, such as Suzanne of Oceanpreneur, who focuses on saving the oceans and information about sailing, whereas others prefer to stay more general, such as myself (I write the blog Curiously Conscious, where I write about ethical lifestyle across a range of sectors).
2019 is set to be the year of authenticity, so make sure you give your opinion and your own personal spin on everything you write or share.
By defining what you stand for now, you will be able to narrow down the topics you should write about, and over time you will become known as an expert in that field.
React to news and events
Finally, all good bloggers react to news and events that relate to what they write about. If your blog is driven by the news, then you can skip this step, but for everyone else – make sure to keep an eye out for relevant developments on the topics you write about.
As a blogger or influencer on a certain topic, you can use the news to your advantage by:
- Learning more about the topic, and keep your own content relevant
- Sharing updates on social media, showing you are a thought leader
- React to news stories by writing open letters on your blog
- Speak to journalists or write for relevant media platforms with your opinion on topics
