A content calendar lets you stay organized if you’re a creator. You may not need one if you’re a casual blogger or video creator. However, pumping out content is vital if you’re trying to keep a consistent brand. This is especially true if you’re a blogger and vlogger who utilizes WordPress and YouTube. You can make content, juice the numbers when you buy views for YouTube Shorts, and try to be consistent, but without a content calendar to keep you accountable, it’s easy to slip into inconsistency and other issues. This post will help you learn how to create an ideal content calendar for your blog and channel.
What Are Your Goals?
When creating a content calendar, you should first ask about your goals. For some people, it’s to gain as many followers as possible. For others, it’s linking them to your business and promoting products. Have this goal in mind before you put the calendar together because if you’re not sure what you’re doing with your content, it won’t gain traction.
In addition, you must know how your blog and your channel can do this. Will they have separate purposes? Will your blog be the primary focus, with an embedded YouTube video to add more context? No matter the answer, it is essential that your branding stays consistent throughout.
Now, it’s time to create your calendar. You can use one of the many calendar apps available. Alternatively, you can use a spreadsheet using a program such as Excel.
How Often Do You Want to Post Content?
This is a question you should ask yourself. Posting too much content can burn you out quickly and overwhelm your readers and watchers. On the other hand, posting very little can make people lose interest.
The sweet spot is to post around 3-5 times a week. You can choose to spread this out equally on your blog or channel. How much you post can also depend on how big your content is. If there is a lot of content, you may break this up into multiple posts. Sometimes 1-2 pictures a post works well.
This is flexible, but be sure you’re posting with as much consistency as possible. This way, you retain an audience and possibly gain new people.
How Far Should You Plan?
This question is controversial when you create a calendar. Since your content can involve recent events and developments, you can’t plan all your content at the beginning of the year. However, planning month by month or week by week can be good. The further you plan, the less likely you will be in trouble if one of your content pieces goes wrong.
Start Filling Out the Calendar
You should start filling it out when you have a calendar. Start at the beginning of the year, and mark out any days that are observable holidays or times when you’ll be out of town. Of course, you may not know everything you’re doing in the year, but try to do as much as possible.
After that, you will want to start putting down content ideas. Base this on how often you wish to post. Some people will upload to their YouTube channel once a week and blog a few days a week. Think about what content you will make. Will you create a diary-style post for your blog weekly? Will you blog about your product? Do you wish to livestream on YouTube for a day or upload a demonstration?
And what about collaborations? Do you want a guest blog on your WordPress and a video with another YouTuber on your channel? Creating a content calendar like this can give you time to craft great content each week and have enough time to reach out to the appropriate channels.
Have Days Where You Can Relax With Repurposed Content
Creating fresh new content every week can be a drain on the mind. Not only that but what if you wish to take a week off? This is where repurposing content comes in. You can have a few days to reintroduce evergreen content by linking to an old blog or video.
Another way to repurpose content is to put new skin on an old skeleton. If you have an older blog post, you can update it via a video or vice versa. You can update an old video or blog post with more recent information.
This isn’t a lazy technique, but a smart one. Not everyone can post content daily, so repurposing old content is clever.
A Calendar is Fluid
One thing to keep in mind when creating your content calendar is that things can change. You may think one piece of content you have is excellent but then realize it’s not so good, or a sudden emergency may ruin your plans.
If your calendar changes a little bit, don’t feel bad. Update your calendar accordingly. As long as you consistently create as much content as possible, you will see success.
Change According to Reception
Another way your content calendar may change is by looking at your metrics and seeing some content that is underperforming or perhaps doing better than expected. Your analytics tools on your YouTube channel and WordPress blog can tell you which posts and videos perform best, who the audience is, and more. A specific type of content isn’t resonating well with your audience. Alternatively, you may have a video or post performing great… but the audience isn’t your regular target group.
When this happens, it’s time to audit your content calendar. Make more content that resonates with your audience, and do not be afraid to trim some content that won’t work after knowing what you know now.
Final Thoughts
Creating a calendar for your WordPress and YouTube pages can save you headaches in the long run. Plan, don’t be afraid to reuse content and change it around if needed, and remember to use an app you’re most comfortable with when crafting your content.
