You have probably thought about starting a blog for a while now. You know the importance of one but you shake your head and wonder how you are going to fit it into your already busy schedule.

More content creation.

Something every business owner just doesn’t have time for. There is an easy way to do it though so you aren’t creating brand new content for yet another stream of your business.

THE BENEFITS OF ADDING A BLOG TO YOUR CONTENT PLAN

There are so many benefits to blogging. Whether you are blogging for your business, just to blog, or possibly thinking about eventually starting a business; a blog is a great way for your to create evergreen content and help your SEO.

Evergreen content is content that stays fresh for long periods of time. It is going to be content that you create that your readers can and will keep coming back to. Blog content is how you can create this evergreen content. You want your blog to be a place where readers will keep coming to and learning the information that they are searching for.

Blogging is also a great way to build up your website SEO. By consistently updating your blog, you are showing the search engines what you are writing about. It is also giving your website a boost because you are giving relevant answers to the questions that come up in your niche.

Backlinks are a great way to build up your expertise and authority on your website. Blogging is one way that you can get backlinks efficiently for your website. You can do this by guest blogging for others in your niche or in shoulder niches or you can create a backlink strategy to get others to start sharing the blog posts that you have written.

THE DOS AND DON’TS OF ADDING A BLOG TO YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY

There are going to be things that you want and don’t want to do when it comes to adding a blog to your content strategy. It can and will be overwhelming in the beginning but as long as you have a plan in place, you will be able to stay organized.

Some of these we will go into deeper in the next section. For now, I am just going to list the DOs and DON’Ts.

The DOs of adding a blog to your content strategy…

• Reuse social media content that you have already created
• Create a blogging calendar that fits with your schedule
• Keep track of your insights when it comes to blogging and your social media
• Organize your content in a way that is easy for you
• Have goals set for what you want to accomplish when it comes to your blog

The DON’Ts of adding a blog post to your content strategy…

• Write without any direction
• Think that it has to be perfect before you publish it
• Focus on selling
• Just publish a blog post and then walk away

These DOs and DON’Ts are pretty straightforward but sometimes we can forget them. Are you now ready to learn HOW to add a blog to your content strategy?

HOW TO ADD A BLOG TO YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY

Now is the time when we will walk through the process of adding a blog to your content strategy. We aren’t going to focus on adding the blog to your website. We are going to focus on the planning and implementation of adding that blog to your current content plan.

I am going to break it down into manageable steps for you to do even if you do not have any experience with it. I want this new plan to come together rather easily for you.

STEP ONE| DECIDE HOW OFTEN YOU ARE GOING TO POST BLOG CONTENT

This is an important step. You want to start small and build from there. That means that you need to look at your current schedule and work hours and be truly honest with how much time that you have to devote to maintaining a blog.

Remember, blogging doesn’t just consist of writing the post. The real work begins afterward. This is when you have to share it everywhere you can and start bringing people to your website. When you are first beginning, I recommend setting aside 4-6 hours for the writing of the blog post and then 2-5 hours for creating graphics and sharing the blog post on different social media platforms. These times will improve as you continue to write. I currently can write a blog post in about an hour for myself.

By those calculations, for two blog posts, you will need between 6-11 hours per month for one blog post. If you choose to do one blog post, pick the same day every month (like the 20th) and then post on that day every month for three months.

You can evaluate once the three months are up to see if you can add another blog per month to the mix.

STEP TWO| WRITE OUT GOALS THAT YOU HAVE FOR YOUR BLOG

You need to get super clear on the why you are writing this blog. Have clear goals written out so that you can know if you are on the right track when it comes to your blog.

When I set my goals, I focus on 30 days, 3 months, and 6 months goals. When you are beginning, I would suggest you focus on 30-day goals and then re-evaluate after that. This will let you see what is working and what isn’t working.

If you are publishing only once a month, you may want to do goals that are set for 3 months. That will give you 3 months of being consistent so that you can re-evaluate at that point.

A few examples of your goals can be…

• How many readers do you want in a 4-week period
• How many blog posts do you want to publish
• How do you want to monetize
• How many subscribers do you want to get on your email list

STEP THREE| BRAINSTORM YOUR BLOGGING CONTENT PILLARS

In my blog post, Choosing the Content Pillars of Your Blog, I breakdown the process of how you can choose what these are.

Your content pillars are going to be the main categories that you talk about on your blog. I wouldn’t choose more than 5 content pillars.

As an example, my content pillars are…

1. Storytelling
2. Healing and Transformation
3. Acceptance and Self-love
4. Blogging
5. Motivation and Organization

I have a few grouped with other ones because they work together.

STEP FOUR| BRAINSTORM TOPIC IDEAS YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT

I have a few different places where I list all of the ideas for topics that I come up with for my blog. I even have it broken up into guest blog post topics and blog topics for myself so that I always have different lists on the go.

I created a Trello board that allows me to stay organized with my content ideas plus everything else that I need. If you would like to get a copy of that Trello board, you can do so by signing up below.

If you are struggling with topics ideas a few suggestions that I have for you are…

• Go for a walk. I have a note on my phone that I call Walking Wisdom. The thoughts that come to me, I write in that note. Not all of them become blog posts but they all have meaning. Some of them I just share on my social media platforms.
• Go to answerthepublic.com. It is a great resource to use when you are struggling with what to write about. You type in a word or phrase that is relevant to your niche and you will get a visual report of other things that have been searched.
• Use the title generator from tweakyourbiz.com. Again, it is a great resource to use when you are struggling. You just type in a word and many different lists appear with ideas for you to use. These are meant for titles but they can give you great ideas for topics themselves.

STEP FIVE| ORGANIZE YOUR BLOG CONTENT IDEAS

Before we start putting things down on paper, we are going to want to organize what you are going to blog about and when. There are a few ways that you can do this.

1. You can choose a theme for each month. That way when you choose your blog post topics, they will fit under the themes that you create for that month.
2. You can choose to just pick random topics and put them into the days that you want to post your blog.
3. If you already have a business, you can pick your topics by what you are launching for certain months.

Have an idea of how you want to organize your blog content ideas when deciding what to write about. This will help you to simplify the whole process.

STEP SIX| GRAB A CALENDAR AND BEGIN TO WRITE OUT WHEN YOU WILL POST

Now that you know how you are going to organize your blog posts, it is time to grab your planner and calendar. I love paper planners and paper calendars. For me, they are easier to use than digital planners but use whatever works for you.

I write down my content in a couple of different ways when it comes to planning it out. I use a monthly calendar to write down what topics on what days I will publish. This doesn’t always mean that I have the title of the blog post written down on the date. Sometimes the title doesn’t come until the blog post is written.

I will then also add the blog post to my weekly planner. I also have a weekly content planner where I will break down each platform I am posting to and what I am posting for the week.

You have now officially planned out your blogging content.

How far do I plan my blogging content?

I plan my blogging content for a month at a time. I plan my social media content for a week at a time. This allows me to easily make changes if something comes up or I want to move a few things around.

How you plan your content is going to depend on what works for you. Try planning for 30 days and if it doesn’t work for you, try 3 months. In the beginning, it is all about seeing what will work for you.

IMPLEMENTING YOUR BLOGGING STRATEGY

The planning stage is over. It is important to plan ahead but nothing is going to happen if you don’t take this plan and implement it. Planning is the easy part.

For this stage, I recommend that you grab a daily calendar. I love ones that break it down by the hour. I also use different colored highlighters that represent different pieces of my day. This is where you are going to start time blocking your days.

The colored highlighters represent…

• Self-care time
• Family time
• Business time
• Part-time job

We will be going a step further when it comes to the business piece of the time blocking.

I will block off a bunch of time in my daily planner and then when I have it blocked off, I will write in the blocks the specific activities that I need to accomplish in that time block. That way when I sit down to work, I know exactly what needs to be done.

The daily planner that I love and use is by Day Designer. I can’t find a daily planner like this anywhere else. To grab yours, check out her website, Day Designer. The one I use is from the free printables option on her website. I will be purchasing her 2022 daily planner to use because it is beautiful.

Once you have your daily planner filled out, stick with it. By getting in the habit of doing the work when you say you will, it will get easier. You got this!

Are you ready to start your blog with some guidance? Join my Blogology program that is starting on January 24. Let me help you start your blog. Imagine in 12 weeks having your own blog that has a strong foundation. Apply today to see if you would be a good fit.