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I recently created a blog editorial calendar and ever since it has made my life a lot easier (by this I mean not running around frantically about blog posts!) This is perfect for you un-organised people who have to juggle between school and blogging- I admit I fit into this category quite nicely! An editorial calendar is basically a simplified typed up version of a normal handwritten calendar. It keeps you on track with upcoming posts and events. So today I thought I would share with you how I constructed and edit my calendar...
Choosing your calendar: There are many different hi tech apps that allow you to create an editorial calendar but I suggest to go for the basic option by making a simple excel sheet in Google Docs. By doing this you have easy access to it on any laptop/computer and hand held devices - perfect for on the go travelling. You'll want to create a new folder called 'blogging' and open up a new spreadsheet. |
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| Create your calendar: You can set up your calendar anyway you like - monthly or weekly. I decided that it was easiest if I added one tab for each month of the year. You can do this by clicking on the plus sign at the bottom. I settled to have days across the top and weeks down the side in a two tone pink to add a pop of colour! Remember, don't forget to add a column for notes. |
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| Filling in your calendar: Once the basic structure of your calendar is completed you can now start to fill in the spaces. Start off with the posts you regularly post (series) as you know where they should go. I also like to put in posts that I know I definitely want to include like New Years resolutions or Halloween costumes etc. However if I haven't taken the photos then I make sure to write a quick reminder in the notes! Simple so far, right? Throughout the month you can easily edit the calendar for when a new post idea crops up. I like to keep it quite flexible so I can write up posts on any day I want. One reason why I like using this calendar so much is the fact that I can customise it in many ways. One of which is colour coding the different types of posts. I use blue for lifestyle, mint green for fashion, purple for beauty and last but not least peach for tips/DIYs. Don't forget that to create a new line in the same cell you hold down the alt key and press enter at the same time. My calendar now looks a little like this... |
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| Editing your calendar: The best part of having a super simple online calendar is that you can edit or even scrap parts whenever you feel like it! Where as when using notebooks the tipex has to come out! As I edit and publish my posts I use the strike though symble to mark off each post. This way it's easy to notice if I have stuck to my schedule. Or if I have been unable to publish a post I will mark it in red so I can use it for the next month. This was all I do to create my effortless online editorial calendar -TADAA! Even though this was a very long post I hope it was informative and helpful! Have you got an editorial calendar?  |
