How to Plan a Content Calendar for Your Newsletters and Blog

A common mistake some marketers make is failing to create and work from a content calendar. It often leads to too many articles related to some topics and no attention at all devoted to others. That can make for a poor visitor experience and a less than stellar presence in Google search engine results.

While it definitely is an investment of your time upfront, the extra effort will be worth it in the long run. If the idea of mapping out your content for months and quarters at a time seems overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. Here are a few tips for outlining and creating a custom content calendar.

Suggestions for Creating a Content Calendar

• Review past and future events: Sit down with your team to look at what events and activities you already have on the books for the months ahead. Also take a look back at the past years’ activities to see what events you remember being successful.

• Check the analytics: If you have the ability, look back at your website’s analytics for the last year or so. Do the same for your Facebook page and any email campaigns you sent out. This information can give you a good sense of what topics your members and visitors are most interested in.

• Outline the big picture: Create an overarching list of ideas and topics based on upcoming center events and those that were popular in the past, as well as content that has a history of engaging. This will provide a broad outline of what the upcoming year could look like. Also, if you haven’t already done so, create categories for your blog.

• Get down to details: Next, it’s time to break topics down into quarters, months, and weeks. This is where the details matter. Conduct some online research to see what your competitors have been talking about online. For any topic you are considering, do a Google search to see what’s already been written. Then try to come up with working titles — you can finesse them after the articles are written.

• Mix it up: An ideal content calendar will be a mix of evergreen topics (i.e., senior-friendly fitness activities) and seasonal or trending topics. Many content marketers find it helpful to plug evergreen and seasonal topics (i.e., preventing dehydration during the hottest days of the summer or preparing your house for winter) into their content calendar but also leave openings for trending topics that pop up.

We hope these tips will allow your team to work more efficiently while also capturing more online attention and ranking higher with Google.

Resources for Content Marketers

Finally, if you are trying to piggyback on some of the media attention garnered by special months and themed days, we have some resources that might be useful in your planning. We also have a couple of websites that might help polish your content if you can’t afford a professional editor.

• Crestline: This great site highlights awareness months, weeks, and days for 2022–23. It will give you plenty of ideas for marketing events and topics ranging from Rubber Duckie Day in January to Older Americans Month in May.

• Wikipedia: The List of Month-Long Observances on Wikipedia outlines both serious topics and more fun ones. You’ll find everything from American Heart Month (February) to Mustache March and National Pizza Month (October).

• WeCreate: All of your communications will likely need images so, save yourself some time and use the resources in WeCreate — our art and content library. We have thousands of assets, created specifically for centers and communities to use, ready for you to download and place directly into your content. 

• Grammarly: Earning plenty of positive reviews, this site touts itself as a writing assistant. It offers features such as grammar check, writing suggestions, and spell check. Both free and premium plans are available.

• ProWritingAid: Many consider the ProWritingAid site to be a step up from Grammarly. Users have access to proofreading, spell check, vocabulary enhancement suggestions, style improvement recommendations, and more. It does have a free trial, but the premium version is pricier than Grammarly.

If you’ve found this article useful, we encourage you to bookmark the LPi Community blog and visit often. We regularly share information and tools designed to help your nonprofit become a valued resource for your area.

Updated on 03-25-2024