Your First Week of Blogging – Plan Your Future Blog Posts

Lets look at another idea of what to do in your first week of blogging. Related to our previous post in this series which focused upon writing compelling content – is a task that I think can be a very useful habit to get into – developing an Editorial Calendar, or at the very least doing some planning on the future content that you’ll be producing for your blog.
Today I want to show you three techniques that I use in my process of future planning for posts.

1. Capturing Ideas

One of the most useful folders that I have on my computers desktop is one that I simply call ‘Ideas’.

Inside that folder are four other folders – one for each of my blogs and another for miscellaneous ideas.

Inside each of those folders are many many text files. Each text file is a different idea for a blog post.

• Some are completely empty and the name of the file is simply a short phrase which is an idea I could write about.
• Other text files are simply a list of 3-4 points that I could write about.
• Others are more developed ideas – they might contain an introduction or even a full draft of a post (although generally once they are at this stage I move them over to saving them as a draft in WordPress).

These text files generally begin their lives at random times during the day when I’m thinking about something else and an idea pops into my mind. The key is to capture them quickly, record them in a way that they can be found again and to develop them as much as I’m able to as the idea is fresh.
Sometimes, if I have the time and energy for it, I’ll work on the ideas for a while straight away but many times I simply get as much of the idea down into the file as I can and then save it for another time.
This means that at any point of time I have quite a few post ideas at different stages that I can tap into.

2. MindMapping

I won’t write an extended post on this as I’ve covered it previously but one of the most powerful techniques that I’ve ever used for coming up with blog ideas to write about is mind mapping.
You might choose a different method of brainstorming – but the key is to set aside specific times (I try to do it monthly) to simply come up with ideas to write about.
You can read more about how I do this in at Discover Hundreds of Post Ideas for Your Blog with Mind Mapping. Note: I used to use whiteboards for this process but now use a Mac tool called MindNode.
Generally once I’ve done the mind mapping exercise I’ll then convert the best of the ideas that I’ve generated into text files to save in the ideas folders mentioned above.
Note: Incidentally – I also use mind mapping when planning a new blog. It’s similar to the technique outlined above on coming up with post topics but I find it also helpful in planning out categories for a new blog.

3. Editorial Calendars

I’ve used a variety of approaches to creating editorial calendars over the years. I’ve adapted my approach over time to suit the different stages of my blogs. These days as I’m actively editing two decent sized blogs with up to 30 posts a week I find that I need to map out what posts I’ll be doing ahead of time.
In doing this you’re able to develop content that builds momentum (posts that build upon each other), take your readers on a more thoughtfully planned journey and give them a more balanced run of content.
I found previously that if I wasn’t planning ahead in this way that I’d end up with too much of one kind of content all in a row which didn’t really benefit readers as much.
The other good thing about this approach is that you know what writing you need to have done by certain times of the week – deadlines work well for me in motivating me to work.
My Editorial Calendar approach these days is pretty much based around spreadsheets. I’m on a mac and use its ‘Numbers’ program for this and simply have a spreadsheet which looks like a weekly calendar. Here’s last weeks:

You can see here that DPS has a 2 post per day schedule and that ProBlogger is on a 1 post per day schedule – but I like to throw in a few extras each week. This is obviously a completed week – I generally am playing around with it during the week and am finalising timings as the week progresses as I (and my writers) finish posts.
I also have editorial calendars on the go for future weeks at any given time – they’re less developed but I do add to them as I get closer to the beginning of each week.
At this point spreadsheets work best for me but previously I’ve taken different approaches including using a paper diary, using iCal and Google Calendar, using tools like Basecamp etc. It’s about finding a system that works for you and setting it up so that you do it naturally as part of your workflow.
Also check out Day 12 in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog – it is all about Editorial Calendars.

Tasks for Your First Week

Perhaps an editorial calendar like the above one is a little advanced if you’re in the first week of your blog – however the concepts behind it can be good to explore. If I were starting a blog today I’d be taking the above three exercises and doing something like this:

1. Set up an Idea Collection Process – whether it be using folders and text files as I’ve mentioned above, getting a notebook and pen or using a tool like Evernote on your iPhone – set up a system where you can collect ideas as you have them for future use.
2. Set aside time to brainstorm topics – schedule time into your monthly (or weekly) workflow where you’re simply setting aside time to brainstorm possible topics to write about on your blog.
3. Develop some kind of system to help you look ahead at the future posts on your blog – You might use a calendar of some kind or simply have a section of your notebook where you plan your next week or month of content.

Share Your Approach to Planning Future Content on Your Blog

I’ve shared 3 of the techniques I use to help me keep fresh content coming on my blogs – I’d love to hear from you on how you do it in comments below!

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Create a Blogging Plan by Breaking Down Objectives into Task List

Start with the end in mind

You need to determine for yourself what the final destination is. Work backwards from your desired end goal to determine the steps along the way. When you are monetizing your blog, this end goal will usually be a dollar amount. If your blogging supports a business (whether you are a business owner, freelancer, or work for a company), you need to think in terms of increased business: more inquiries, more sales, more referrals, and greater profits.

Getting from here to there

After you’ve determined an end goal, set the secondary goals that will help you achieve your ends. These are often the same for every blogger regardless of end goals: you want high levels of qualified traffic. By qualified, I mean traffic that is a good match for your blog and that is predisposed to like, benefit from, and agree with its content. There are two metrics you can use to determine your progress in this: RSS (or email) subscribers and bounce rate (the percentage of unique visitors who immediately leave or “bounce” off of it due to low relevancy).
High numbers of RSS subscribers and a low bounce rate generally means that most of your traffic is qualified. If your blog runs contextual advertising, this means your audience should be seeing relevant, highly-targeted ads which have high click-through rates. If your blog supports a business, this means that your readers are likely to become your clients.
To achieve this, your blog’s content has to be highly relevant for your intended audience. More than that, it has to get in front of your audience’s eyes. So, a chief component of any good blogging plan is a strategy and practice for getting people to connect with your blog’s content. This is really the end goal of practices such as search engine optimization, advertising, using social media, and commenting on other blogs. Keep in mind that these practices fall flat without relevant content behind them.

Write your objectives down

With the end in mind, you can create a list of objectives to get there. Here’s an example you can use for your own blog if you like:

1. Create strong, linkable content that can be a resource to others
2. Actively engage in building your network with others by commenting, emailing, using social media, and guest blogging
3. Actively engage in increasing your traffic through SEO, social media, commenting, and advertising
4. Encourage visitors to become subscribers via RSS or email (use FeedBurner and/or Aweber).
5. Monitor and test what content drives traffic and backlinks, and create more content like that.
6. Monitor and test ad placement, colors, and types for maximum effectiveness and earning power.
7. Occasionally redesign in order to strengthen the above results: redesigning can increase RSS subscribers, increase earnings from ads, and make your best contents more accessible to new visitors.

Break down each objective into a task list

The above points are very generalized for nearly any blog. Each point can be broken down into more detailed steps. Each point is the basis for a sub-plan. For example, the sub-plan for creating strong content could look like this:

1. Write a basics or “101″ series of posts
2. Write several detailed tutorials
3. Interview a specific list of top people in your blog’s niche
4. Write several “top 10″ linkbait types of posts
5. Write several posts that are large lists of links and resources around a specific topic your audience would find helpful
6. Write an ebook or create some other kind of long format content that can be an incentive for subscribing to RSS or email
7. Write a strong “About” page for your blog
8. Record several audio or video posts

I can’t stress enough how important it is to write down the steps of your plan. Writing it down is like shining a light into the darkness of your thoughts: it chases away the murk and shadows and illuminates your ideas clearly. Breaking your objectives down into task lists is really the heart of your blogging plan.

Break down your target numbers

Let’s say that your earnings goal in blogging is to make a modest $400 USD per month in supplemental income. That breaks down to $13.33 per day in earnings. Let’s say you were monetizing your blog with Google AdSense. If you averaged $0.05 per click, you would need 266 clicks to make $13.33 in a day. If your click-through rate was 10%, you would need 2660 visitors every day. Most click-through rates are not 10%, but you also might get more than $0.05 per click, too. At $0.08 per click, you would only need 150 clicks per day to make $13.33.

The plan is not reality

Your plan is a valuable guide to help you answer the question: “What do I do next?” But don’t ignore reality! Having a plan helps prevent you from wandering aimlessly, but ignoring new opportunities or following the plan for its own sake will weaken your blogging in the opposite way. Keep an eye on the goal… but watch your back, too.

The challenge: write your blogging plan!

Consider this post a challenge for you to really think about what you want to accomplish with your blog and to write a blogging plan that will get you there.

Add to Cart Create a Blogging Plan by Breaking Down Objectives into Task List

How to Create a Blogging Plan and Actually Reach Your Goals This Year

The future of niche blogging, as it always has been so, is about gradual growth. Bloggers who have found that out and focus their efforts on long term strategies will reap the benefits and those who tried to hit a home run may end up wasting a lot of time, effort and perhaps also a small fortune.
For this reason, whether you are just planning to get started in 2009 or you already have a blog, I present you with a comprehensive list of steps, tips and strategies that if carried out correctly, will propel your blog to a big success this year and beyond.
I’m the first to admit that very few of the strategies below are entirely new, but I’ve done my best to emphasize on current and upcoming trends in order to maximize results. Bloggers are already swamped with things to do and failure to prioritize can make a difference between taking your blog to the next level or let it fade into oblivion.

Getting Your Plan in Order

As the saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Despite what others have said about blogging, it is still a complete strategy that needs planning. It is my intention to get this time of the year to help you get your house in order and create strategies to go forward.
New year for many people is a great way to get a brand new start, but there’s nothing more common than broken new year resolution in the first week of January. Although the majority of people abandon their resolutions within days of making them, that doesn’t mean it is not worth the effort.
A plan, when accomplished, lets you feel good about yourself. It also puts you in a position to set and achieve higher goals.
What I learned throughout the years is that, resolutions don’t have to be declared during a special occasion. So, even if you are late, every day is still the best day to make a decision about the direction you want to take your business.
Just that no matter what you do, plan ahead!

The Art of Setting Realistic Goals

To help you gain perspective about planning, allow me to be upfront about it. Just recently I read in an Internet marketing forum a post from a newbie about his plan for 2009. He was quite knowledgeable about the latest buzz words like social media, Twitter, and so on, of which I saluted him for his broad range of knowledge about Internet marketing. However, when the post came to the part about goals…
Here’s a partial list of what he included as the goals for 2009:

1. Start writing a novel and finish it.
2. Be completely debt free.
3. Earn $300,000 online by launching 3 more products.
4. Start a blog and grow traffic to 3,000 visitors a day.
5. Fulfill a dream of owning a boat.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t try to discourage by saying those goals are too good to be true. In fact, many individuals are able to set higher goals and get them all.
I’m also not oppose to goal setting at all, but at the same time I don’t think that new year resolution is made to be broken.
One particularly important factor of goal setting is to be realistic. Your goals need to put yourself outside of your comfort zone, but not too much that you feel unrealistic about them. For instance, without staffs or at least virtual assistants that help you with various tasks, creating and marketing products will consume a large portion of your time already, let alone launching three products, maintaining a blog and writing a novel in the same year.
To quote Jim Rohn, “Most people overestimate what they can do in their first year, and greatly underestimate what they can do in five years.”
The point is, by all means set a longer term goals but refrain yourself from aiming too high a goal at first.
Starting a blog with the intention to making money blogging is still possible but it takes more dedication than ever.
An extreme example may be a blog called Bankaholic by Johns Wu. BankRate acquired his blog for up to $15 million in October 2008. At that time, he had only been blogging for that blog for a bit more than two years.
As a solo blogger, this is a huge amount of money but I bet he didn’t make $7.5 million in his first year of operation. Traffic and revenue grew gradually and when the right time comes, the blog bloomed.
I hope I got the point across well about setting realistic goals. Each time I talk about this, some people defend their goals aggressively as if I am going to take their dreams away. Deep down inside every one of us, we still want to believe that overnight success is still possible online. No wonder, everyone seems to fall victim of one type of scam or another.
But I digress…

So, How’s a Blogging Plan Looks Like?

It doesn’t have to be tens of pages. After all, this is not a formal business plan. When it comes to starting a blog, most people don’t start out by hiring people to blog. By keeping the operational team small (or most likely a solo player) this type of business doesn’t need venture capital to finance.
My personal business plan adapts the popular one-page business plan format.
The plan consists of five major parts, namely:

1. Vision. Your vision should answer the questions of who is your target audience and what you will offer.
2. Mission. Be concise and clear instead of clever. Use this part to clearly convey your unique value proposition.
3. Objectives. What are you trying to accomplish with your blog? How do you know if you’ve accomplished your goals? Objectives are your milestones. They may not be the end-goal. As you reach your objectives, you may have higher-level objectives.
4. Strategies. What are your strategies to accomplish the objectives above? Being strategic means working on your blog based on certain principles and values. That also helps you focus on reaching your vision and mission.
5. Actions. This part outlines your actions that support the vision, mission, objective and strategies.

Personally, I prefer to create a one- to two-year plan. Beyond that, it is hard to predict the right strategies because of the rate of changes happening online. Ask any blogger if she still follows her plan two years ago when she got started. I bet the answer is no. A plan needs to be flexible to new strategies but nevertheless you need it to stay focus so that every day you do something to move yourself closer to the objectives.
A plan should allow you to quickly glimpse through it, perhaps on a daily or weekly basis. For me it is a reminder about where I want to go and avoid spending time on whichever activities that don’t benefit my blogging business on the long run.
Note: Darren has written a blog planning post and his steps are very similar to mine. Seems like we adapt the same concise system for planning.

Focus on Your Blogging Business Model

If you see it from the publisher’s standpoint, a blog is nothing more than a publishing tool. It helps you get content online. In other words, instead of focusing on the intricacies of getting a piece of content online, you can concentrate on content production and promotion.
Based on that, there really is more than one way to create a blogging business. I’ve written about 8 blogging business models in the past. If you are confused about which way to go, that post certainly can help.
The fact that you can combine one or more of those into your blog means there are really many ways to create a business based on a blog.
Before you go ahead and get your first message out, it is necessary that you pick the right business model and focus on it.
For instance, if the affiliate model suits you best, your strategies should revolve around content creation, relationship building with both merchants and your audience, trend spotting, etc.
I won’t get into much detail in this post, but those by themselves already demand much of your precious time. By working closely with a merchant, for example, you will be able to spot new products and help them test new ad creatives.
And if this is how you strategically separate yourself from your competitors — by building closer relationship with merchants, get new updates of products before anyone else, able to request for higher commissions, etc. — you should be prepared to help those select merchants.
Just so this is clear, testing and tracking new ad creatives and at the same time work on your content creation and promotion may already overwhelm most affiliates.
Remember that with more samples, testing will be scientifically more accurate. Perhaps you also want to help the merchant test email offers. For that, you’d better have built quite a significant amount of prospects or customers and send e-newsletter regularly.
If you are not prepared strategically, most likely you will not be able to take this route by doing it yourself, especially if you still have to struggle through technical stuff to get things done.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to scare you off but just because publishing with a blog is easy doesn’t mean that you are able to throw a few content pages and ads out and immediately earn money that way.
More and more it will be about optimizing your sites to get more traffic and then convert those visitors into paying customers. That separates the winners from the average and if you start doing it right now, you will be on the right track to dominate at least a segment of a larger niche.
When it comes to link development, a fellow blogger I know of spend eight hours per week to create highly linkable content. If you think you can do this in 10-20 niches, you are stretching yourself too thin.
Think outsourcing is the answer? Think again. Outsourcing is another buzzword nowadays. It can be a very solid strategy if done right. However, it also requires that you are good at managing resources as a project manager, not to mention that most people don’t have enough fund to hire others at the beginning.
Just as an example, if you seek for a professional help to create a linkbait plan — consulting, not actually creating the linkbait — expect to pay between $750 to $2,000.
So, that depends on your plan and strategy and I hope I drive the point home that planning has to come first if you are going to get significant result this year. Competing is still possible if you pick the right field to play and take massive actions.
I hope by now you agree that hiring $5 article writer is not the only thing you’ll need to get tons of links and traffic. You need much more than that.
And that’s what you should expect if you are to build a business.

Review

Many bloggers avoid planning because it is boring. However, by approaching it from the correct angle, this can in fact turn into one of the most exciting part of your business.
When you are just about to launch a blog, usually the excitement fills in the atmosphere. Planning is the stage when you can see your dreams and goals come into fruition, at least in your mind. With strategically created plan, the only gap that separates you from achieving your goals is action.
For you who are a bit desperate right now because of the hard truths that I revealed above, don’t give up! It is still possible to grow a blogging business, just that the model may be much different from what’s in your mind. But still, working from home or from any of your favorite place, doing what you enjoy and making money from it is still an attainable goal if you finally direct your efforts on the right track.
Plus, I’ve just saved you time and money buying e-books and jumping from one thing to another every two weeks. By starting now and focus your effort on one thing, you will be way ahead others by the end of this year.
In the next few posts, I’ll go into more specifics about activities related to blogging, including content production, optimization and promotion. If you are still unsure about the strategies and actions to go to where you want to be, those articles will be of help.
Hendry Lee helps bloggers overcome strategic and technological challenges in starting and growing their blogs. He also writes about make money blogging on his blog Blog Tips for a Better Blog – Blog Building University. While you are there, download your free eBook and subscribe to his blogging e-course where he reveals his secret about blogging and content writing!

Add to Cart How to Create a Blogging Plan and Actually Reach Your Goals This Year