This post will be sharing how to populate your blog content calendar.
One question that pops up very frequently in blogging groups is, ‘How do I find topics to write about?‘
This is a valid inquiry because you shouldn’t write random articles, except you’re a hobby blogger.
You should be blogging intentionally from the onset by having a solid SEO Content Strategy for your blog.
This will save you time and headaches in the long run.
Plus, it will help you quickly achieve your traffic and monetisation blogging goals.
So, even if you have created your content strategy, you must know the exact topics to write about.
You need a blog content calendar if you don’t have one already.
Some people prefer to use online calendars/planners like Trello, Asana, Google Calendar, Notion, etc.
But I use a printable calendar which I print out every month.
I’ve used all these tools but recently returned to pen and paper.
Whatever blog content calendar you use, ensure it is detailed enough.
I prefer to go with a monthly version split into weeks and categories.
This gives me an overview of all the content I’ll create that month.
This saves me time by helping me brainstorm and research my topics and plan them accordingly.
In the long run, this system, which I’ve been doing for the last six months, helps me stay consistent.
Now that we have understood the importance of having a blog content calendar, let’s learn how to populate it with topics.
Here’s A Step-By-Step Method To Populate Your Blog Content Calendar With Relevant Topics
A little background: I currently have about nine years of Digital Marketing experience and have been blogging for about the same amount of time in varying degrees.
I recently returned to professional blogging, and I’m happy to share all the tips and tricks I used to run three blogs, including this one.
Break your niche down into 2-3 categories.
If you have a new or existing blog, I’m sure your niche is your central theme.
There are all sorts of blogging niches, including Lifestyle, Personal Finance, Parenting, Fashion, and Beauty.
While it is possible to cover a niche, you don’t want to spread yourself too thin.
This is why breaking your niche into 2-3 categories for starters is essential.
Start with the categories you can quickly write on with little to no effort to populate your blog.
Then you can later advance to the more technical categories requiring more effort.
For instance, if my blogging niche is Personal Finance, I’ll break it down into Budgeting, Saving, and Debt and leave topics like Investing for later.
Research topics in each category.
Let’s say you’re blogging about budgeting and you’re not quite sure what topics to write about that your audience will find helpful and relevant, you’ll need to do some research.
This method works whenever I want to blog about a topic but am unsure how to approach it.
Typically, when I get topic ideas at any time (which is most times), I document them immediately, and they’re usually enough for a few weeks.
But sometimes, I get stuck and need a little help. This is where I use any of the following;
- Pinterest Search Bar
- Pinterest Trends
- Tailwind Pinterest Planner
- Facebook Groups
- Google Trends
My favourite combination is the first three, which involve Pinterest, followed by Facebook Groups and occasionally Google Trends.
If you’re not using Pinterest for content ideas, you must start doing so.
While I don’t centre my entire content strategy around Pinterest topics because everyone and their mum is writing the same thing, it acts as a perfect guide.
The Tailwind Pinterest Planner is fantastic for planning seasonal content while Facebook Groups are great for FAQs.
Undergo A Keyword Research
Now, you know what topics you can write about, but how do you know the exact keywords to write about?
How do you know exactly what people are searching for?
I’m sure you know that the priority of writing is to be discovered by search engines.
This more sustainable method will bring you continuous traffic even after several years.
So, you’ve gone on Pinterest and typed your keyword ‘budgeting’ into the search bar.
In return, it has given you several results including potential topic ideas such as ‘budgeting tips’, ‘budgeting money’, ‘budgeting for beginners’, etc. Great!
Then you go into any keyword research tool and plug in ‘budgeting tips’.
But then it gives you a search volume of 100,000/month with high competition.
As a small growing blog, you have no business with that keyword (yet) because you’ll definitely struggle to rank or bring in any traffic.
So, you’ll need to search for a longer-tail keyword with low competition.
After looking around, you’ll find the perfect keyword, ‘budgeting tips for beginners’ with decent average monthly searches and low competition.
You must do this for all the topics you’ll write on for that period.
As you can see, this process takes some time, so you’ll need to set aside some time.
Personally, I like to do this at the beginning of every month.
Over time, the more you do it, the faster you become.
Add all verified topics with keywords to your blog content calendar.
By this point, you should have decided how often you want to post on your blog.
If it is once a week, you must prepare four topics for the entire month.
Again, doing this beforehand saves you time and helps you stay consistent.
If it is twice, you must prepare eight topics for the month.
Write them in your blog content calendar and highlight the keywords you’ll write on so you don’t forget.
Write optimized SEO articles for your keywords.
Now that you have your topics, it’s time to write solid articles that are well-optimized for search engines.
Make sure your keyword is included in all relevant positions, including the permalink, title tags, meta description, headings, and body of the article.
Also, ensure you sprinkle a few inbound and outbound links with relevant images to finish up.
In Conclusion,
Populating your blog content calendar might seem tedious, but it is so important to get it done as quickly as possible.
I hope you have found these tips very useful in your blogging journey.
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