5 Steps to Plan Your Blog Content for the Whole Year (in ONLY 1 Hour)

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Content planning sounds like a scary and overwhelming task. That’s why many bloggers cringe at the only thought of it. But hey, no need to stress cause I got your back! You’re about to learn the 5 steps you can take to plan a whole year’s worth of content for your blog – so that you can stop stressing over what you’re going to post week in, week out…

Now, whether you’re a new or experienced blogger, I bet there’s been a moment when you’ve stared at the blank page on your computer screen thinking “What on Earth should I write about, now?!”.

Yep, been there, done that!

Let me tell you: if you want to avoid such a scenario from happening again, then you’re in the right place!

In this article, you’ll find out how planning your blog content is going to make you more successful and inspired, while also saving you a ton of time!

Why Is It Important to Plan Your Blog Content?

Before we dive deep into the 5 steps you must take to plan a whole year’s worth of content, you need to understand why you need to be planning your blog content in the first place.

Many bloggers are afraid that having a content plan will:

• Leave no room for creativity
• Interfere with their random bursts of inspiration
• Make them lose trending opportunities
• Make working on their blogs boring and no fun!

While these are all great fears to have, I’m here to tell you that planning your content will actually do the opposite!

You can stick to a content plan and still:

• Make adjustments as you go (to stay on top of the latest trends)
• Brainstorm new regularly
• Write blog posts chasing your inspiration and interest
• Have fun while blogging!

Content Strategy VS. Content Planning

Finally, before we dive into the nitty-gritty of content planning, it’s essential that you understand the difference between:

Content strategy VS. Content planning

They’re not the same thing – even if they sound similar.

One thing’s for sure, though: to succeed in blogging, you need both!

What Is a Content Strategy?

Think of your content strategy as the vision you have for your blog: it determines the direction you want to go.

Here are some questions you might ask yourself to figure out what your vision is:

• What purpose do I want for my blog to fulfill?
• Who’s my audience?
• What am I helping my readers do?
• How do I want to sound?
• What do I want to be known for?

It’s the starting point to delivering what you promised to your readers.

Without a strategy, there’s no plan (and no growth)!

What Is A Content Plan?

While your content strategy is the vision you have for your blog, your content plan helps you to get closer to that vision on a day-to-day basis.

A good content plan helps you figure out exactly:

• What specific blog posts to write
• Where to publish them
• When to publish them
• How to promote them

Your content plan is the foundation for setting blogging goals that you will ultimately achieve.

📌 SHORT ON TIME? PIN IT FOR LATER! 📌

How to Plan Your Blog Content

Okay, by now you should have grasped the importance of content planning.

So, are you ready to finally dive into the 5 steps to effortlessly plan one year of blog content – in under 1 hour? Then, let’s get started!

PLAN YOUR ADMIN BLOGGING TASKS

Even if the words “admin blogging tasks” sound scary – I promise: it’s not as bad as it sounds!

Those tasks essentially help you run your blog smoothly over the long term. So yeah, you need to do them…

Since procrastination has been proven to be strictly linked to the size and difficulty of the project you have to tackle, my tip is to divide those tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks.

What you might find helpful is dividing your admin blogging tasks based on different timeframes, such as:

• Year
• Quarters
• Months
• Weeks
• Days

Should we get more into the details of each? Okay, let’s do it!

Yearly Blogging Tasks

Thank God (or whatever/whoever you believe in) we have to do this only once a year because this section includes:

• Renewing the payment for your domain name
• Renewing the payment for your web hosting
• Filing taxes
• Doing an annual content audit
• Budget planning
• Setting yearly goals for your blog

Quarterly Blogging Tasks

These are the tasks that you should do at the beginning of every quarter in order to make sure your blog is on the right track. Those tasks include:

• Setting quarterly goals
• Updating old posts
• Fixing broken links
• Analyzing your blog’s performance
• Optimizing content for SEO

Monthly Blogging Tasks

The yearly and quarter visions should be then broken down into a monthly routine of tasks, including:

• Setting monthly goals
• Picking a focus or theme for the month
• Developing a monthly content overview
• Creating new Pins
• Scheduling your Pins

Weekly Blogging Tasks

As we zoom in, you’ll see that the tasks become more and more specific and tangible. The weekly tasks you should tackle for your blog are:

• Sending out your newsletter
• Writing new blog posts
• Publishing at least one post per week
• Planning social media content
• Creating content for your social media channels

Related: Read here “The Ultimate Blogging Schedule for Beginner Bloggers”

Daily Blogging Tasks

The daily actions you take lay the foundations for running a successful blog. You might feel like the following tasks don’t make much of a difference, but they do. It’s all in the compound effect…

To grow your blog in the long run, on a daily basis you need to be:

• Sticking to your daily blogging schedule
• Engaging with your audience on social media
• Replying to your readers’ comments
• Posting at least a fresh pin on Pinterest
• Promoting your content

BRAINDUMP CONTENT IDEAS

Before you plan the content for your blog for the whole year, it’s essential that you first do a good brain dump session!

This brain dump session will allow you to come up with all the content ideas you’ll need to be consistent throughout the whole year. Isn’t that great?!

In your brain dump session, you want to write (either digitally or on a blank piece of paper):

• All content ideas (no matter how small or silly they first sound)
• Trending topics
• Seasonal content ideas
• Broad topic ideas
• Relevant keywords

In this case, you’re focusing on quantity over quality.

Don’t overthink it: just write it!

You’ll have time later to review whether an idea is worth fighting for or not…

CHOOSE YOUR MONTHLY TOPICS

Now that you have a good amount of ideas to work with, it’s time to get realistic and specific.

Looking at what you’ve come up with during your brain dump session, ask yourself the following questions:

• Are there any patterns (regarding the topics)?
• Do all ideas align with my blog mission and vision?
• Are these relevant topics I want to be known for?
• Do I know (or can learn) enough to write about this?

Once you’ve filtered your ideas, it’s time to make it happen!

Grab your physical or digital content calendar and let’s finally plan this new content for your blog!

When you’re planning out your blog’s content, you should remember to:

• Schedule seasonal content first
• Consider any vacations or time off you might be taking during the year
• Choose a realistic posting frequency
• Check Google Trends to maximize your reach
• Set themes for each month to have consistency on the topics you’re covering

One strategy many bloggers follow is to set a theme for the whole month.

By doing so, you’ll be able to stretch your content over a longer period of time – coming up with a series of related blog posts – that will provide your readers both with consistency and invaluable knowledge.

CREATE AN UPDATING SYSTEM

As I’ve already mentioned in step #1, there are a series of admin blogging tasks that can help you establish yourself as a successful blogger.

One task that is key to building your authority and expertise as a blogger is updating old content on a regular basis.

You want to aim at updating old, well-performing blog posts at least on a quarterly basis, to ensure you’re not missing out on a huge chunk of new traffic.

Since you want to publish fresh new content while also updating old one, you need to create an updating system that works for you (and it’s not time-consuming).

Here are important things you must do when updating old content:

• Fix possible broken links
• Create new visuals for Pinterest
• Add any new, relevant information
• Make sure the post is SEO-optimized
• Update relevant CTAs
• Promote the article on social channels

KEEP IN MIND YOUR AUDIENCE

You have to know that the 4 steps to create and plan a whole year’s worth of content for your blog might not work…

Okay, before you start panicking, the only reason why they won’t work is if you’ve made this mistake: you didn’t take into account your readers!

While blogging can be a hobby or a way to pursue a creative outlet, for many – and, if you’re reading this, I guess that includes you – blogging is a business.

You might start a business based on your passions, but it ultimately needs to serve a purpose.

Without clients, there’s no business.

Without readers, there’s no blogging…

So, when you’re coming up with your content ideas, as you plan, schedule, and write them, you need to have a clear picture of who you’re exactly talking to.

A good tool you could use is creating an avatar of your ideal reader, making sure you include relevant information such as:

• Demographic data:
  • Name
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Location
  • Educational level
  • Occupation
  • Income
  • Relationship status
• Psychographic data:
  • Daily actions
  • Thoughts and emotions
  • Dreams
  • Challenges
  • Goals and aspirations

Related: On my “Blogging Plan”, there’s a whole page to help you identify your ideal reader. Grab it below for FREE!

FREE Blog Content Planner Template

Since planning out the content for your blog for the whole year might still seem like a big and scary task, I decided to help you out!

PS. Grab my “Blog Content Planner” for FREE!

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Let’s do a quick recap, should we?

Here are the 5 steps to take to plan your blog content for the year ahead – and I promise, it shouldn’t take longer than 1 hour:

1. Plan your admin blogging tasks divided per timeframe
2. Have a brain dump session to come up with new content ideas
3. Choose a topic for each month
4. Create an updating system to publish new content while tweaking the old one
5. Do all previous steps always keeping your readers in mind

There you have it: your formula for a great year of content!

Until next time,

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