Do you have big goals for your blog or YouTube business this year? Are you having trouble setting up a system for staying on top of your content and creating a strategy for growth? Look no further! These strategies to set up your blog planner for success will help you get organized!
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Why Do I Need a Content Planner?
A content planner is really just a schedule that helps you plan out your blog posts, YouTube videos, and anything else you create. Staying consistent with your content can be difficult when life gets in the way. One of the things that help me the most with staying on top of creating content is scheduling all my content ahead of time.
Usually, I am writing, designing, and scheduling my blog posts and YouTube videos at least a few weeks ahead of time. Have a planner where you can write out your strategy ahead of time will help you stay organized and on track.
What Type of Planner Should I Use?
There are so many different methods for planning that you can use. You can use a paper planner (like me!), a spreadsheet, a digital calendar… whatever works best for you. I’m a paper person, so I use an Erin Condren Deluxe Monthly Planner. I’ve seen other bloggers use spreadsheets, or there is even special software you can get that will help you layout a content plan. Whatever you choose, make sure you’re able to use it to effectively break a full-year business strategy into a monthly plan.
How to Plan Content Ahead of Time
Like I mentioned before, I plan all my content and get it done and scheduled ahead of time. You can schedule just about anything… blog posts, Instagram photos, Facebook posts, YouTube videos. This makes things so much easier on me, especially when I get really busy.
This also helps me plan content for the best time for it to be indexed by Pinterest and SEO. Most bloggers schedule posts about 6-8 weeks before the season for the pin. So I schedule Valentine’s day posts in early January at the latest. Having a planning system can help you ensure you aren’t forgetting to schedule your posts at the optimum time.
How to Set Goals
One of the main things I use my content planner for (besides planning content…lol) is setting up my goals for the year. Nobody likes to set goals and not achieve them, so I have a specific method for setting my goals for my business. Check out this blog post to get the details on exactly how I set my goals!
I have a page to list out my overall goals. I also have a breakdown of each month and what I need to be focusing on for each month to push my business further. This plan includes how many videos and blog posts I want to put up, what topics I need to write about to post at the optimum time, and what courses or products I need to be working on. This helps me make sure I don’t miss anything important throughout the year!
How to Track Business Statistics
Business statistics can give you SO MUCH valuable information about your business. I don’t have enough room in this post to discuss all the details about blog statistics, but there are a few main things I like to track. I look up all my blog statistics through my google analytics. This is an extremely helpful tool, so make sure you are able to use this tool for your business!
If you have a blog, page views and users will be important to track. The number of page views you have will dictate what ad networks you are able to apply for. In general, the more page views you have, the more ad revenue you will be able to make.
If you have a YouTube channel, the two main statistics that matter for monetization are subscribers and watch hours. You can find both of these on your creator dashboard and under the “monetization” tab. You have to hit certain thresholds to have ads placed in your videos, so these are great to track as well.
There are other stats you might find useful for your specific business. You can set trackers for these up the same way you would for any other stat I’ve mentioned!
Track Your Income and Expenses
You definitely want to be keeping track of the income you bring in from your blog or business. Not only is it exciting to keep track of, but this will also be important information you’ll need to do your business taxes. It will also help you know what funds you have available to invest in new equipment or products to grow your business.
While we’re on the topic of taxes, also be sure to keep the receipts from all your business expenses throughout the year. Keeping track of your expenses is also important so you have an idea of what it really costs to run your business. Understanding the finances of your business is important, especially if you’re one day hoping to run your blog full time.
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