You know how everyone says you need to blog regularly, and consistently? But for most of us the only thing regular or consistent about how we blog is that there is no consistency to it at all.
Hey, no shame in it (I am guilty of this as well).
But I made a pledge to myself earlier this year to get this one blogging gremlin sorted, so (as I do), I sat down and made a plan.
And yes, this plan does allow me to now create six-month’s of valuable content for my blog, in just one week.
Now don’t get me wrong here, if the types of blog posts you create require photography or DIYs or recipes to be created, then forget it. This probably ain’t for you (although you could probably adapt it to still work to some degree).
No this process is really for the online business owners, infopreneurs, creators, makers and coaches who read my blog.
The people who just have to write something (preferably something that converts!), and do it in some sort of regular manner.
And the best part of all of it (apart from all the time it saves you, and all the extra brownie points you get with your audience), is it really freaking works!
So how does it all go down?
My blog content plan -How do you create 6-months of blog posts in just one week?
First things first, grab my handy workbook below & then use it to map out your own ultimate blog content plan too!
Blog Content Plan Step 1 – Get real
OK, first things first. You have to get a bit realistic. These days, with all the other content we create, no one is expecting you to be posting daily, or multiple times per week. Once a week, or even once a fortnight (as long as you then mix thing up with some Facebook lives or other live content in between) is totally fine.
Plus six month is 26 weeks.
Even if you were posting weekly, trying to write 26 entire blog posts in one week is kinda insane. Those would not be good quality posts.
And if they are not something that is going to make your readers jump up and say “this is amazing, I want to share it with all my friends” or “wow I love this, tell me more!”, then it’s a waste of time in the first place.
But what about 6 posts? Could you wrangle 6?? I think you could, especially with a few more of my tips below (that’s less than one post a day for a week for anyone who is playing along at home!)
So jot that down, 6 new posts.
TO DO – Write 6 awesome new posts (time varies)
Blog Content Plan Step 2 – Re-use and recycle
Now another thing I want you to include in your blog content plan & schedule (I’ll share mine in just a minute) is that you need to embrace repurposing your content. I like to “re-vamp” at least one old post a month, which means I find one of my previous posts, tweak it slightly, update anything that’s out of date, maybe change up the heading and image, fix the SEO and then republish.
This way your old content is staying fresh, and saving you so much time too.
You could even look to create a blog post from something like an email newsletter you sent, or a “meaty” social media post.
Trust me, repurposing is the best, and for those who are a bit hesitant I have three things to say to you.
1 – No one reads everything you write (across all your content channels… they are busy people, they do not have time).
2 – No one remembers what you wrote last year. They barely remember what they had for breakfast.
3 – Google actually doesn’t mind it any more, in fact they prefer quality over quantity as well – as long as you don’t post duplicate content (aka just update the existing post, then change the publish date when the time is right, rather than creating a whole new post)
I actually have 2 of my biggest and most popular posts each year, that are just ones that I add an extra paragraph or two to each year. Aka – My 9 biggest lessons from 9 years of Blogging, How to start a blog in [insert year here], and 56 of the best blogging tools, plugins & apps for [insert year].
So if you revamp 6 posts, which shouldn’t take more than a few hours, we are now up to 12 posts. Which is one a fortnight, and you could totally stop there.
Or, if you just can’t let go of the “one post a week” mantra, here’s how you get that done without breaking a sweat.
TO DO – Find 6 existing blog posts that fit in with your content schedule, update them ready to be republished.
Blog Content Plan Step 3 – Embrace voice and video and testimonials too
If you are a coach, blogger, vlogger, infopreneur, course creator or basically anyone who makes their money from sharing their content and knowledge on the Internet. Then you would know that Facebook live, and any other live streaming service is another must-do on the never ending to-do list.
But what if you got smarter and repurposed that as well?
I like to try to post a few reader Q&As live into my Facebook community each month, and then I have my VA (virtual assistant) grab one of them, get it transcribed (check out rev.com), upload it to youtube, and pop it all into a post for me.
All I then need to do is write the intro for the video. Which guess what, you can batch that up during this process too (and then use it as your prompt for what to chat about when it’s time to go live!).
You can do the same thing with your podcasts (although if you have regular podcasts, you really don’t need to be writing MORE blog posts… just saying!).
The other super-easy blog post type you can include (that yes, can be outsourced to your VA or assistant), is customer success stories and interviews.
We choose a Blogger of the month from our Blog Squad community each month, and to celebrate them we ask them to share their story and their best tips with us, and this can be easily turned in to a killer blog post (again you’ll need to write an intro, but it’s no biggie at all!). The added bonus here is it’s a win, win for you and your customer also.
TO DO – Come up with 6 reader Q&A questions, and write an intro paragraph for those posts ( 1 hour)
– AND/OR choose 6 of your top customers, and send them an interview questionnaire (1-2 hours)
No one reads (or remembers) everything you do, which is awesome, as you can re-use it! #secretbloggersbusinessClick To Tweet
Blog Content Plan Step 4 – Make a schedule
Now, you know what types of content to create, but what about WHAT that content should actually be about?
Well I (like most of us), normally try to create my content to be related to what ever product I am promoting next, so whip out your calendar, look at those launch dates (don’t have any yet, then please put them in first!!), and assign content themes from there.
Then each month your editorial calendar would look something like this:
week 1 – New post
week 2 – Reader testimonial
week 3 – re-freshed post
week 4 – Q&A video + transcript.
Even when it’s a promo month, or leading up to a launch you can still follow this simple formula (it works really, really well!)
TO DO – Download our content planner below and plan out your content.
Blog Content Plan Step 5 – Just bloody do it!
Now you know what needs to be done, and how much better your business will run when you do it, now is the most important thing.
Now you need to actually do it.
So go on, click below and give yourself some public accountability, that YES you will get your next 6 months of content sorted.
Sure, for one week you’ll have a bit extra on your plate, but after that… trust me, it’s bliss!
Are you going to do it?
Go on?
I’ll see you on the other side x