What separates true rock stars from one hit wonders? The answer to this question is clear and simple- consistency. In the world of blogging the same rules apply. Having your content go viral will bring you a ton of traffic, but after people figure out that you are not posting the content of same or similar quality regularly, they are bound to lose interest. Like in retail, your goal is not to make people come to your store (blog), but to make them come back time after time. This perhaps shows the full importance of content calendars in blogging. While on this topic, here are few tips that may help you thrive and prosper in this area.
1. Don’t Do It Too Often
The first rule of business is that of the supply and the demand. Posting too often will make your team completely exhausted and your readers oversaturated. Not only will this make your blog diminish in quality, but also make people take you less seriously.
Keep in mind that building up the expectations is usually half the game which makes posting every day an ineffective strategy. On top of it all, making your blog updates less frequent means you will have more time to focus on other issues.
2. Weekly Report
One of the best ideas when it comes to content calendar is to set apart one or two days during the week, when you are going to post new content. This way, your audience won’t have to check out your blog few times a day and get disappointed every time they see there is no new content.
Right now, some of you are surely shaking their heads in disbelief, saying: “don’t we want people to come as often as possible?” Well, both yes and no. You see, by wasting your audience’s time you are diminishing their overall user experience, which doesn’t look good for your expansion prospects. On the other hand, by giving them the exact dates to look forward to, you are only helping hype your content. While you are at it, just make sure it lives up to the expectations.
3. Big Dates
Every industry has few big dates on a yearly basis. If you are a tech-oriented website, then the release of a new gadget, software or video game represents a big event for your readers. This is an ideal opportunity for you to go viral, by reviewing the thing everyone wants to know more about.
Still, keep in mind that your content calendar can’t just state that this particular item was released. In order to write a review, you will need some time, which is another thing you need to take into consideration. Unfortunately, the time is not always on your side since if you take too long, it may already become a piece of old news.
4. Quality is Key
In this rush to get your content out there in time, bloggers sometimes forget about the most important thing, the quality. As gaming industry titan Shigeru Miyamoto once said: “A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever.” Same goes for your content. Even if you are a day or two late, your audience is bound to forgive you if your content makes up for it. Keep in mind that the quality of your blog is what needs to separate you from the rest of your niche and if you fail in this field, even your most loyal fans won’t tolerate you for long.
5. Make Some Ground Rules
Finally, it is highly unlikely that you will be the author of all content on your blog, which means that you may need to employ guest bloggers or contributors. In order to uphold some quality standards, you need to set some ground rules everyone should adhere to. More importantly, you should never upload a content before you (or someone you trust) have checked it out.
Even contributors you work with for ages can make a mistake that can cost you dearly. Still, in order for this to work, you need to set some clear deadlines. If the content is not delivered by then, you should outright refuse it, if for no other reason than to send a message. Remember that your blog is not a hobby but a business and you need to treat it as such.
As you can see scheduling your posts properly can significantly improve its overall quality. First, it affects the expectations your readers have towards it and makes your relationship much more open and frank. Second, it gives you some pointers about your future activity and how to make the most out of it. Finally, it also affects your relationship with guest writers and contributors, by making it much more objective and professional. All in all, this kind of strategical thinking may be just what you need in order to join the big-league.
