Create a blog post planner template for purposeful content

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My mind works in stories and so I love putting together a content marketing plan and thinking about the keywords people will use to find it, the stories they need to hear when they arrive on the content and the next steps they need to take in the pathway to become a client.

In this post, I want to step you through how to put together your own blog post planner template, so you know how to organise your blog to get the most out of it.

I’ve previously talked about how there’s a difference between a content marketing strategy and a blog plan. The strategy needs to come first so you understand what you’re doing and where you’re going.

Once you clearly understand your strategy, it’s only then that you should start to put together your plan.

The plan is like the action taking guide that will step you through the elements of each piece of content and how it fits into other pieces you’re creating or have already created.

As you search the web, you might find many examples of blog planning templates. In fact, many I found for planning focused on just one blog post on one sheet. When I plan, I like to focus on the big picture and also know the smaller tasks of a specific blog to make that happen. That’s why I’ve developed my own version in an excel spreadsheet to make it easier to track and actually create the content.

If you don’t want to create a blog post content planner template from scratch, you can just download the one page content marketing plan I’ve already created. It includes a content marketing plan example you can use as a guide.

Download Your Plan

This will help you with your content marketing flow. If you’re wondering if you need a blog plan, that’s something I’ve addressed before on the blog, where I go into the pros and cons of a blog post plan.

Let’s start…

1. Research current keywords

What do I mean by research current keywords? This only applies if you’ve been blogging for a while, but if you have your Google Analytics and Google Search Console set up, then you should be able to find keywords that you’re already either gaining impressions and/or clicks for.

As you scroll through the keywords, you’ll find keywords that aren’t 100% aligned with the content they’re connected to. This is where there’s an opportunity for you to create a new piece of content that people are already searching for.

As mentioned with the content strategy, you need to ensure it’s aligned to what you do in your business and who your ideal client is.

2. Research new keywords

Once you’ve done a blog post audit of keywords to find new opportunities, you can then start researching keywords that you’re not yet ranking for but want to.

There are plenty of SEO tools that will help you discover keywords that are ideal for you. You see, you can’t just pick a random string of words and expect you can rank for it. There are many reasons why you will and won’t come up on page one of Google for a given search term.

You need to find “long tail keywords” that have fewer searches per month, but will be easier for you to rank for due to less competition.

3. Research topics ideal clients are asking

The last part of your keyword research fact finding mission is to look at the topics and questions your ideal client is already asking. If you don’t yet have any customers to ask, then look for people you know who are like your ideal client.

If you’re in a consulting or coaching business, you’ll have a constant stream of questions asked during sessions with clients.

And if you’re still lost after all this, try Answer The Public. It’s a tool that shows what others are asking online. Although, I also don’t mind simply starting to type a question into Google and seeing what Google Suggest… suggests.

4. Put ideas into your content marketing calendar

The blog post planner template is broken into columns to keep your blog post ideas ordered. You can also better see the goals you’ve set for each piece.

The blog post planner includes:

Blog Post Title
Main Keyword
Supporting Keywords
Slug (or URL)
Search volume for the keyword
Competition for the keyword
CPC (or cost per click)
CTA (or call to action
Content Plan
Priority
Good Promotion for (Overall Goal)

You’ve already placed your keyword research into the spreadsheet, which should include the main keyword, supporting keyword, search volume for those keywords, competition for the keywords and cost per click.

Why do you need to know so much about these keywords? Some will argue keywords aren’t as important as they used to be. But keywords still give you a guide as to what people are searching for and enable Google to fully understand what it is you’re writing about.

I talked about “long tail keywords” before, which is where you might find that the keyword has 3+ words in it. It will also have a lower search volume in many cases and the competition for that keyword will be lower, which makes it easier for you to rank for.

It’s like deciding whether you’re going to bake the brownies or the triple-layered honey-infused marble cake. You’ll have a better chance at succeeding with the brownies.

The cost per click depends on the intent behind the keyword. You see, if there’s a monetary figure associated with the keyword, it means businesses are spending money on Google Ads to try and attract leads or sales to their website using that keyword.

The higher that dollar sum is, the more money that generally someone is making from that keyword. If you don’t find a dollar value next to a keyword, it’s not something to be concerned about. Often our blog posts are informational, so they aren’t designed to attract someone who’s going to buy instantly.

5. Come up with headlines based on keywords

The next part of your plan to fill in is the title. This will include the main keyword that you’re trying to rank for. You also want to use these keywords in your slug (or the blog post URL).

Let’s look at a content marketing plan example:

If I wish to go after the keyword “business blog post ideas”, then I might have supporting keywords like “content calendar ideas” and “type of blog posts” and “blog content ideas”.

When I use my SEO tools, I can see what the search volume, competition and CPC is for each of these keywords.

But now it’s time to create a headline from them. If I use the headline “Business blog post ideas to use in your content marketing plan”, then I’ve included my main keyword at the beginning of the title (which is important if you can get it to work that way).

The title or headline doesn’t just need to be SEO friendly, but also needs to be human friendly. A real person needs to see that title in Google search results, on social media or in a newsletter and want to click to read more.

Lastly, you’ll make the URL for the blog post .com/business-blog-post-ideas.

6. Create a blog post structure

You’ll see a column for content plan. This is the outline of your blog post that will help make writing it much easier.

If you list out 3-5 subheadings that cover the main topics you’re going to write about, it will help you achieve your writing goals faster. With our headlines forming a list, we simply need to write 100-200 words for each section to complete it.

This little bit of forward planning can make the sometimes overwhelming task of creating a blog post much simpler and faster. It also ensures you’re writing a blog post that’s scannable for the reader.

7. Your blog post goals

I’m putting the call to action and “good promotion for” sections together, because there should be an alignment between the two.

The first – your call to action or CTA – is the immediate action you want someone to take once they’ve finished reading the post. I’ve discussed different types of call to actions in the last article. Go through these and determine whether you want them to join your email list, message you, leave a comment or book a call with you.

That action then needs to connect to the bigger goal of the piece. Often, that’s the product, program or paid offer you’re wanting to promote. The thing is, directly promoting that in a post often doesn’t result in sales. Our blogs, as mentioned, are usually more conversational. So our blog post planner template needs to include the initial “call to action”, like getting someone to download a lead magnet, that will then nurture them towards your course, service offering or program.

8. Priority of your content

Once you start researching, you’ll soon find yourself with more content than you can find time to write. This is where your need to create either a dated calendar column or a priority column. Which piece will go first, second, third and which pieces connect together and will link from one to another.

Understanding the priority order is easier when you can see everything on one page and understand your blogging goal.

As you can see, having all this information in one page means you can see the bigger picture and pathway someone will take to move from research to investment.

What I mean by that is, for example in our blog post plan example, it might involve:

Reader searches for the term ‘blog post ideas” and can see in the results of Google our blog post called “Business blog post ideas to use in your content marketing plan”.
They then proceed to read through the body of our content, which we formed within our blog planner
The blog post then invites them to download a content marketing plan template, which they pop their email address into and receive the plan. This is how you can grow your email list with a blog post.
We then nurture them through an email sequence that shares more tips and resources that will benefit their blogging
Next, we invite them to work with us in the service we outlined in the “good promotion for” part of our calendar. In this case, it might be 1:1 content marketing coaching.

All of this information is outlined in the blog planner, which makes it easy for you to stay on track when you’re researching, creating and promoting your content.

9. Your content marketing distribution plan

This last step isn’t part of your blog post calendar, but a content marketing distribution plan is important. You may already have another system set up for this and I’ll write more about it later, but for now think about all the areas you might be able to share your content once it’s written. That can include:

social media posts, like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google My Business and Twitter.
email newsletter
other websites

Once you’re clear on this, you can more easily look at your blog post schedule.

Now you have your blog post planner template complete, you’ll feel more confident about the pieces you publish. I’ve seen many blog planners, but this is the best blog content planner for me because it allows me to see the creative content and the strategic keywords and goals I’ve set.

It’s also great if you’re working in a team and need things to flow more easily as people use it as a checklist to ensure all parts of the blog creation process are completed.

How to write your blog

Now you have everything set up, it’s time to start writing. This is something I’ve written about in great detail many times on this site. The key is to simply get started.

Often, we can get overwhelmed by the task of actually creating the content. The fun part seems to be in coming up with the ideas. But there are ways to create content quickly, so you’re not feeling that it’s a chore within your business.

Some simple tips though to get you started are to:

Write during your most creative part of the day. For some people, this means getting up early in the morning when the house is quiet. While for others, it might mean late nights.
If you hate staring at a blank screen, but you’re great at talking, then speak your blog posts. You can easily use transcribing software to change voice to text.
Break the blog post down into sections. You already have this from your plan, so it makes it much easier to write 200-word chunks at a time, without the overwhelm of trying to write an entire 1000-word piece. What you’ll find is that as soon as you start writing the first one, you’ll flow into the next one.

Need a printable blog post planner template to start?

If you’re looking for a blog posting schedule planner that’s already started for you and can be used digitally or printed, feel free to download the one below. It includes all the columns set up, plus an example to help ensure you’re using it correctly.