… by Michele McGraw
There are days the ideas come fast and furious and other days, it just doesn’t happen. You know you should have an editorial calendar to help you blog consistently, but how do you fill the editorial calendar with ideas?
Blogging about timely subjects will also help your SEO. Here are a few ideas to keep your blog posts consistent and current.
- Plan ahead for major holidays. We all know when the major holidays are during the year, but how do the holidays affect planning in your niche? If you are a craft blogger, you will need to think about your Valentine’s projects needs in advance of Valentine’s Day.
- Check for special days in your niche. In addition to the holidays, there are special observance days and there are probably a few that you could celebrate in your niche. If you blog about coin collecting, you wouldn’t want to miss National Penny Day on May 23. MyDailyPlan-It.com lists holidays by day, week and month.
- Search your niche keywords. Type in a few of the main keywords in your niche and see what shows up in Google, Bing or Yahoo. If nothing triggers ideas, try searching in Delicious, Diigo and StumbleUpon. For more current ideas, search news sites for your keywords.
- Check book and movie release schedules. The release of new books or movies will often create discussions surrounding the movie or books topic. These topics may be in your niche. Instead of responding to the discussion, create the discussion. You can find release schedules for movies on ComingSoon.net. If you search Amazon for books in your niche and sort by “Publication Date,” you will see future book release dates. (While you are Amazon, look at book titles for ideas too.)
- Look at your snail mailbox. Your magazines, junk mail and catalogs are a great resource for ideas. Retailers and publishers are always trying to be ahead of the trends and news.
Using the above ideas, you should be able to fill your editorial calendar for the year. Having the editorial calendar does not mean you MUST use that idea on that day, but when you need an idea, you will have it.
Where do you get your ideas?
Michele McGraw (@ScrappinMichele), a work-at-home mother of 4, can be found blogging about technology and digital scrapbooking at Scraps of My Geek Life
Image from Microsoft Image.
