Comments on: Editorial Calendars and Professional Blogging

By: Evan Brammer | Losing the World

Evan Brammer | Losing the World — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:26:10 +0000

@ Laura – You’re right about not know what’s going to happen in the blogosphere, but the beauty of having an editorial calendar, like Darren said, is that it can be a fluid document. If something breaks and you’ve already scheduled a post you can either push that post back or give your readers a two-for-one deal that day and post them both. Make one a featured post on your front page if you feel it deserves more attention.

By: vamsi

vamsi — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:29:52 +0000

Great story..
I will never quit blogging..

By: Troy Rutter

Troy Rutter — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:28:18 +0000

Thank you for the resources – Im conflicted between using Excel, Google Docs or Google calendar now. Argh!

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:11:33 +0000

Great tip for pre-production research. Knowing what you’re going to need to find out about to meet your blog post quota that particular day is a great mindset to publishing quality posts, and not get caught up in drudgery of “what am I going to write about today?”
I’ve noticed at my own blog that weekend traffic drops dramatically. So your idea will spark me to add “weekend to-do list” posts. Thanks!

By: raj

raj — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 14:43:47 +0000

that should be “3 years of monthly editions”, not “3 years of weekly articles”

By: raj

raj — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 14:39:48 +0000

I do up an editorial calendar for any big project I’m working on. editorial calendars are easier to follow for print projects, harder to stick to online. (That’s because you’re not publishing editions with lots of articles, only one article at a time.)

My own print mag in the 90s had a calendar with 3 years of weekly articles scheduled. But online, I barely get through 1 yr properly.

So, don’t fret if you’re shuffling publication dates around. Unless you’re expecting advertising for thematic weeks, it’s not a big deal. And changing trends might force your hand anyway.

Use the calendar for feature articles (tutorials, bait, etc.), not for short summaries about a topic.

By: Phil Newton

Phil Newton — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:56:59 +0000

I’ve used schedules in the past and they’re quite handy, but it’s important not to try and pack too much in. I use a simple paper grid to organise my schedule, and it works best when I only aim for two or three articles a week. It also helps when I draft the article several days or even weeks before it’s due to be posted, so that I can refine it.

By: Jay Wilson

Jay Wilson — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:42:20 +0000

I actually came to realize the value of editorial calendars a few months ago when I dedicated Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to certain themes/topics. It’s been a great tool to keep me focused and encourages me to write.

By: Brad V.

Brad V. — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:01:29 +0000

Hey that’s a really good idea! I’ve been looking for a way to really organize my postings and plan ahead a little more. I still feel like I’m “all over the board” when it comes to the topics I write about on a daily basis. I’ll probably download the template and give it a shot!

Thanks again!

By: HyipBlog

HyipBlog — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:32:02 +0000

I am newbie in blogging. Give more knowledge about blog by reading this article.

By: Terra Andersen

Terra Andersen — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:23:16 +0000

I did this very recently on my site with a series on business educational resources (books, magazines, ect), and how to organize them all for optimal reading and information rentention. http://www.betterforbusiness.com/2007/07/23/entrepreneurial-education-information-overload-part-1/

By: Zach Everson

Zach Everson — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:59:38 +0000

Great suggestion! I use editorial calendars often in my work as a freelance writer and editor, but could use one for my blog too.

By: Marko Novak

Marko Novak — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:58:03 +0000

I really like your suggestions about for blogging themes. I’m using some of them already.

By: Yax

Yax — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:37:40 +0000

I use the good old pen & paper editorial calendar! I write all my ideas and brainstorms down in my scheduler. I then write drafts for most of the post and save them on Wordpress.

My blog-stress level went down a huge notch when I started planning things in advance in this fashion, my readership increased and I get a lot more comments too.

By: BeingParents

BeingParents — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:28:42 +0000

It reminds us of our duties, then it must be considered.

By: Rob Witham

Rob Witham — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:05:36 +0000

Interesting idea – and one that I think could be quite useful. My topic involves annually recurring dates and themes. The editorial calendar would allow me to plan ahead for those dates and events.

Of course, this all has me thinking now. How about a nice Web 2.0 app? That could be a real killer app for editorial planning. Sort of a merging of Google Calendar and RustyBudget?

By: Brian Auer

Brian Auer — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:01:35 +0000

That’s funny, I just finished creating a weekly schedule for myself. Each day of the week represents a specific type of post (guide on Monday, poll on Wednesday, quick-tip on Thursday, etc.), and I also listed out other activities to be done on each day of the week (forums on Monday, social networks on Tuesday, photo editing on Thursday, article writing on Saturday, etc.). Then I also have a list of daily tasks that need to be done (feed reading, commenting, bookmarking, keeping up with my Flickr and Zooomr contacts’ photos, etc.). I’m actually going to write an article about my schedule very soon (to be posted on Monday according to my schedule).

By: Travis Seitler

Travis Seitler — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:56:35 +0000

My wife's done this for a while now for her rubber-stamping blog... I envy her organization. Looks like I'll be downloading that spreadsheet!

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:13:15 +0000

Great post! Since I am blogging for three blogs currently (and one of them professionally), I need to look into this. The only potential drawback I see is that there is no way to predict what else is happening on the blogosphere — and there are often things that I want to react to.

By: Dan Cole

Dan Cole — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:03:58 +0000

It’s a great idea. I do this same thing with college classes and the long term work they give, but I never though of doing it with my blog. This would really help me stay ahead on my posting and make the topics less random.