Okay friends, hello again! Oh, and sorry for being a bit late this week. Won't happen again!
Now that we have answered all my questions, decided that a blog is in the future, it’s now, finally, time to work on the actual blog by creating your content calendar playlist. Time to answer the nit & grit questions Ready for them:
How many posts each month?
What is my SEO keyword portfolio?
What am I going to write about for the next year?
Who is going to the posts?
In these last two posts I’m picking them apart. I’ve decided to answer the easier ones first, questions one and four. In the next one I’ll present you with my chosen keyword in my portfolio and an example of my content calendar with the next one. I’m excited to be getting to the end of this and even more excited to know that at the end I’ll have a plan in place to get me through the next nine months.
Question 1: How many posts each month?
I began 2023 with limited bandwidth. I could only handle a blog every other week. That has been consistent throughout the year. Keeping to that schedule, it looks like I’ll have nine more posts this year that I’ll need to plan for. Then we come to 2024s plans, and I have decided to challenge myself. Can I up it and start a weekly blog? I decided on yes, but it required expanding my mind to keep coming up with compelling content.
For me, however, this past year has not been a normal one. Life kept me out of the game, so to speak, for many months. The result? My business year began, really, in June and I’m planning through until then. Since I’m continuing to do bi-weekly posts for the remainder of 2023, that gives me nine more to write. Then, starting in 2024, I’m changing to weekly blogs, meaning I’ll have 25 posts to write to finish out this “year.” That gives me a total of 34 posts total to figure out.
Background information: I close my business every year for three weeks, the last two weeks of Christmas and the first week in January because, let’s face it, no one wants to work on their website copy or start blogging over the holiday season. I don’t. However, while I’m closed to client work, I am working on finalizing my strategy for 2024. Heads up, I start looking at this in October, but I make the hard decisions during this time. I include this, because you too will need to include anything like conferences, vacations or anything else that takes you away from your business in order to maintain consistency.
Question Four: who will write the posts?
By the time we’ve reached this place my clients will have a real sense of how much of an investment this involves and need to make a choice in how they execute. In the end, it boils down to this: what do they want to use? Time or money?
If they choose time
Choosing time means that they will write the blog themselves and have marked out their calendars to create the space to write these posts. They do this knowing what they will write about, their SEO, possible titles and a basic outline. I also offer some post blog options, such as one that offers accountability reminders. My goal is that once they find their groove, and with content decided on, they can fold it into their normal duties and continue on without me.
If they choose money
If, however, they still want the blog, but realize they don’t want, or cannot find, the time to create them, then we need to outsource this. I do ask my clients to consider this at the start of the process, but I don’t bring it up again until now because they do not have all the data necessary to make that decision before now. Once they have made this decision, it now means that they must figure out their budget for a content writer and find one within their niche. I help with the second once they have figured out the first.
Since I’ve written every post, you know my choice, but this question is a crucial one you must answer before moving forward.
I cannot believe we’re almost at the end. It feels amazing to know that I’m going to have a major part of my marketing decided and ready to execute. I am so excited that you decided to follow me on this journey. If it has inspired you to consider your own blog, make a 30-minute appointment with me. Until then
Rock On! And remember, it’s never too late to bloom.
Need some more information? Download my 2023 Blog Review.