Plan Your Best Dream Blog! -5 Quick Steps
I have learned the hard way about setting up a website and blog. Trial and error over many years.
Tools – Google has many tools you can use. With the use of tools, you can plan your blog’s entire year. (See my Resource Recommendations “TOOL List” at the end of this article)
One thing I’m doing this year is scheduling, as much as I possibly can. Having a clear path of action helps you develop your strategy for reaching your long-term goals. What is the difference between a dream and a goal? It’s the reality of planning that turns your wishes into a reality.
“You must have long term goals to keep from being frustrated by short-term failures.”
~ Charles C Noble
Step #1- Prioritize your time
- What is most important to you?
- How will you use your time scheduling your blog?
- Planning out your posts for the week, the month, the year?
We all have the same 24 hrs. It’s what you do with your time that counts. You need to be clear even if it’s just for yourself.
- how will you use your time? -Scheduling. – a day to day plan to follow
- what is most important to you? -Planning out your blog posts on a consistent basis
- who are your readers?-Subjects that would be of interest to them
Holidays etc. Brainstorm, post ideas, slot into certain dates in the calendar for your readers – Ex Christmas gift contest or Easter gift giveaway.
Step #2 – Google InformationTools
Google Business Listing
Use Search “Google accounts” and sign up for an email account. – “create your Google Account ” -Google’s tools
My Drive /Docs /Sheets – Spreadsheets see 3 dots /rename or open in a new tab /Slides /More /Photos
-Google has it’s own Blog system – Blogger. I have a site there.
Spread Sheets on Google
Use a spreadsheet to evaluate your progress. I never liked spreadsheets. The ones in Microsoft Excel I found difficult to use. However, I have discovered spreadsheets in Google and they are much easier to use. In your email Go to Google /Drive /My Drive / Google Sheets. I use a spreadsheet for blog posts and one for affiliate products that I promote.
Step #3 – Keep a Journal
Over time you can see if your blog changes. Note any successes and also what have been the most difficult for you. What goals have you reached? What promotions have you done? Social Media tools that you have used. “Facebook is the largest social network, with 1.79 billion active monthly users in 2016, as reported” by Statista. In the US, 79% of all adults who use the internet use Facebook. Use the platform that your audience uses. You can note this on the spreadsheet or in a daily planner. I do both, as well as use a weekly system with post-its on a board. Organization ( article on my site)
Step#4 –Your Calendar ( Your Vacation Time! )
Schedule your own time on your calendar. Google Calendars. Block off all of the major holidays and your vacation days for the entire year in advance. You can tell your staff or your family that you have this time blocked off on your calendar for holidays. If you worked in an office you would ask your employer for two weeks off, so don’t forget to do this for yourself. Then you are more committed to it. Then as a mompreneur/or solopreneur, the summer won’t disappear into endless work.
You can make sure of all your content and your promotions are ready in advance! This type of planning forces you to look at your blog a little differently. If you want time off, then you schedule your work on your calendar accordingly. Line up guest posts for the time you are away or have your team do work that does not require your input. Print out your calendar and use a highlighter, marking your time off. Long weekends, a week here or even an entire month. Finally take that vacation!
Step #5 – Create your best blog using an Editorial Calendar
The Editorial Calendar, a WordPress plugin seemed to do the trick It grabs all of your scheduled posts and drafts, and it placed them on a neatly organized calendar so we could see at-a-glance what content was coming up.
I’ve installed the Editorial Calendar plugin on this site and I encourage you to add it to your site. This article was pre-scheduled. This is a really helpful item as I write on multiple sites regularly. This plugin has definitely made my life easier. I have also added a note in my regular calendar to add content going out on other platforms. My calendar ties into my spreadsheet and my weekly post it schedule. (that I mentioned you can see on my site.)
Perhaps my favorite feature of the plugin is the cool way you can drag and drop different articles around the calendar. It d updates not only the calendar but the post itself. It is a huge help for keeping all my content organized.
An editorial calendar is just a fancy term for a publishing schedule.
Did you remember to write a post for next Tuesday?
What about the Tuesday after that? WordPress doesn’t make it easy to see when your posts are scheduled. The editorial calendar gives you an overview of your blog articles, and when each post will be published. You can drag and drop to move posts, edit posts right in the calendar, and manage your entire blog!
See a month’s worth of posts at a glance.
Juggle your calendar by simply dragging and dropping posts from day to day.
- Quickly edit your posts’ titles, contents, and publishing times
- Publish posts or manage drafts
- Instantly see the status of your posts
- More easily manage posts from multiple authors.
And you can do all of that right from the calendar interface itself. It’s simple and intuitive.
An Editorial calendar is simply a plan for your blog. It is thinking ahead of time about what you are going to write. You can read more about an > Editorial Calendar here, from a previous article on my site.
So there are the 5 – important steps to running your blog.
Organization will help with seeing what you have and when you can use your content. It also helps with showing what is of interest to your audience of readers. Other tools than those mentioned about Google Blog tools are my list of tools on my Resource page that I have on my site. > My tools recommendations
Some of the tools mentioned are FREE and some are PAID. I only recommend products I have tried and tested and love using. If you have any questions, please click our terms and conditions.
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Make the most of your scheduling and using helpful tools to plan your own dream best blog.
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About Kathryn Maclean-Racicot http://www.facebook.com/marketingofflineonline
A Social Media Campaign specialist using Facebook, Twitter Pinterest & Affiliate Network Marketing using resources such as: Monthly Recurring Income – http://bit.ly/2LE6MXU
