The Content Plan : The Benefits and A Peek to My 2021 Version -

Success starts from the moment it was planned. One said,”When you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail”. As well as a lesson plan brings you ease in delivering your lesson, your content plan will also help you to be a successful blogger or content creator.

Content plan is a big picture of what you will be doing in a long period. It helps you to focus to reach your goals, especially the longer term ones. Thus, before you start making a content plan, you need to determine what your goals are. Then you can break them down into smaller goals to be completed in shorter periods, such as topics for each month or each day. Once the topic of the post is determined, then you can start to make the outline for the post.

Let me use my own case as the example. As I mentioned in the previous article about personal branding, my goal this year is to be a resourceful teacher blogger. Thus I need to post a great number of articles. Looking at my strength and weakness during this Blogspedia Coaching program, I understand that I can post about two articles every week. Greater than that, my other schedule will be ruined.

In addition, I need to establish myself as a blogger. Because you know from the previous survey, no one mentioned me as a blogger. :) So I will start to introduce myself as a blogger to my family, friends, and colleagues.

So, here is roughly what I will put on my content plan:

Weekly Content Plan

(Prioritize) 2 new posts per week, SEO and social media
(Addition) 2 x blogwalking per week
(Addition) 2 review old posts & update
(Addition) 1 x comment check, page view check

I divided my plan into two terms. My priority is to consistently post two new articles per week, not to forget the SEO aspect, and maximizing social media sharing.

In addition, if time is possible, then I added 2 times of blogwalking per week, 2 times reviewing old posts and making some updates, and one time checking comments and page views.

This type of planning can change according to the target you want to reach at the end of the year. If you still find difficulties in determining what your target is, you might consider asking people closest to you or throwing out surveys to your social media followers. This might give you insight of what you need to improve to your blog. At least, that is what I am planning to do for every end of a certain period. I found it helpful. So maybe it can be helpful for you, too.

A Peek to My 2021 Content Plan

I would like to give you a peek of my content plan. Everyone has their own method. Mine is only a version. You can also find other inspiration from other bloggers.

Using Google Calendar as Content Planner

Because I manage all my time using a Google Calendar, I add one extra calendar special for blogging. So I can see that I have the time slot to write. I usually spend about 2-3 hours to write one post, not to include making the supporting images using Canva.

For each time slot, I already attached the Google Docs link to the draft. I like using Google Docs for writing outlines and writing the draft because I can still be typing even if the internet connection is lost then it will synchronize itself once the internet is available.

Benefits of Content Plan

I don’t say that without making a plan you can’t be successful. Few people did succeed without plans. But many fail because they have no plans. Even people who plans can fail sometimes. But I am saying,

”Let’s do our best. Do what we can do. If we fail, look back to what we did and reflect from it. If we succeed, there must be a greater purpose we are meant to reach ahead. Reflect back and see what works for it.”

In any way, making a plan can give you many benefits. Here are some of them:

1. It keeps you focused on the goal you want to reach.

Yes, I know, it is in your head, but would you admit that sometimes you forget? Have you ever wanted to find something on the internet and ended up spending thirty minutes watching a not-so-important video on YouTube? While what we are talking about here is a goal you want to achieve in one year or longer. It is much easier to be forgotten.

This 2021 for example, other than I want to be a resourceful teacher blogger, I want also to expand my views by joining at least 1 teacher blogger community (do you have any suggestion, which community I should join?) I want to also start a new series of articles about CLIL and also give resources for homeschoolers and their parents for independent learning. I want to also post some stories about other teachers and educators around the world. I hope I can help more people to strive through this difficult time.

2021 Blogging Target

2. It helps you to be consistent.

To keep the blog alive, you need to post articles regularly. You might find difficulties in finding ideas for the blog post if you don’t have a plan. You can jot down your ideas once it flashes your mind in a note and put it in your content plan. So, the time you sit down in front of your laptop to write, you will not run out of ideas for the content.

3. It can help you track your progress.

You might find it hard to track which post gets the most frequent views, which ideas you already write, which post you need to follow up with another post,etc. A content plan helps you to do this.

4. You won’t miss any special days.

Schedule a post for a special day using a content plan. For this year, for example, I planned for several important weeks, like end and beginning or academic year, teacher’s day, blogger’s day, book’s day, annual professional development program, or eclipses. During those days, I will post related articles.

In the end, every blogger or content creator will have a different form of content plan. Considering the benefit of a content plan, will you also consider to make one?

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