Creating a high quality business blogging editorial calendar is a more complex exercise than might first appear, involving a number of often conflicting elements, which need to be brought together. Here we outline the key points to include within an editorial calendar for your business blog.
Editorial Calendar Essentials:
1. Brand messages
The business has a commercial drum to bang of course so a clear idea of the brand’s key messages and values need to be woven into the blog. Business blogs should in some way be contributing to the brand’s marketing and overall business objectives.
2. Persona targeting
In order to create content your customers will read, it’s important to understand who they are, what their concerns are and what they are likely to want to read. Your blog should be addressing your target audience with information relevant to them.
3. Topical industry subjects
Being at the leading or even ‘bleeding’ edge of industry, with posts that offer new light on topical subjects will increase the likelihood of them being read.
4. Keywords
Keywords should always be included in the title of your blog posts to optimise them for organic search. A keyword discovery exercise also reveals what information people really want to know about in your sector, removing the guesswork and tapping into a stream of traffic.
5. Social share potential
Blog titles are critical to whether your blog will be shared, along with other considerations like layout, format and photography. To maximise the chances of content being shared, it must be made to look and sound compelling.
6. A call to action
All blog posts should offer a call to action aimed at capturing an email address. Either a related eBook or an email newsletter sign-up should be offered so that content can start pushing potential new customers into the sales funnel.
Photo: Jean-Baptiste Maurice/flickr cc
