Marketing Checkup - How's the Health of Your Content Calendar

Starting and maintaining a business blog is no easy feat. First, there’s the sheer anxiety that takes over when you think about how many people may read your content once you put it out there. How can you possibly open up your business—and worse, your heart!—to such potential for criticism?

Then there’s the difficulty you’ll face in keeping your blog schedule regular and your content as current as possible. With so many other things you face on a daily basis, how can you possibly make sure you’ve written and polished a blog? And you really must, because a blog gives you the ability to increase traffic to your site by up to 93%.

The answer to these questions is a content calendar. But you can’t just throw potential topics into a spreadsheet and call it a day, can you? Creating a content calendar should take a lot of time and leave you mentally exhausted when you’re finished. That exhaustion is definitely worth it later, when you’re able to quickly and effectively share content that your customers want and need.

So, how can you make sure your content calendar gives you what you need? Here are some tips to keep in mind.

Use Your Expertise

One of your blog’s biggest purpose is to position you as an expert in your field. You can’t do this if you’re not writing about the things you know. Sure, you’ll need to expand your own horizons to grow as a business and a business owner, but that learning shouldn’t take place as you’re researching your blogs. Plan your blogging schedule around topics you can speak about with authority.

Plan with Passion

Just because you know a subject doesn’t mean you’re passionate about it. If you’re bored when writing the blog, you can only imagine how bored your customers will be when reading it. Plan content that gets you fired up, and your customers will get excited, too.

Give a Twist

Your competitors will likely blog about similar topics, no matter how hard you try to come with something new. You don’t have to sift through the dregs of content topics if you can come up with your own twist for the popular blog types. How is your company different from your competition? That alone should be enough to provide the twist you need.

Answer Questions

After you’ve been in business for a while and answered plenty of customer questions through email or over the phone, you’ll know which topics address the most common concerns. Until then, think like a customer. What will they need to know to use your products or services? Create your topics around those questions and do your best to address concerns before customers even know they have a need.

Research Hot Topics

Creating thought-leadership content is important, but you don’t want to stray too far from the general conversation other brands are starting. If something within your industry is a hot topic, go ahead and talk about it. If you show your expertise, give your own twist to the subject, and answer customer questions, you win.

Be Flexible

There are many benefits to scheduling your content weeks or even months in advance. General topics can be covered at any time and add value to your blog. Leave some room for changes so you can add in those hot topics the moment they come up. If you’re not first out of the gate with your take on current events, your blog will be old news the moment it’s published.

Were you aware your content calendar needed this much attention? If not, it’s time to reassess your blogging technique. And if you just don’t have the time to focus on a content calendar that meets your customers’ needs, we’re here to help. It’s our job to understand your buyers as well as you do so we can help you create content that drives traffic to your website. Just give us a call and we’ll show you how.

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Contact us today to start planning your business blog.

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