Blogs are a great way to communicate with your audiences and demonstrate your expertise online. Blogging can increase your credibility and reputation and also develop expand your network. Blogging can be made easier if you have a good plan.

A blog plan enables you to use your time effectively and ensures that you create a successful blog. A blog plan can help you to be proactive and plan ahead of time. You can craft your ideas and topics for blog post in a calendar format.

When writing your blog plan, consider the following:

  1. Conduct research

It is a good idea to do some research and take a look at blogs in your area of expertise, blogs you’ve read before and blogs you currently read. Look up your competitors’ blogs and people you admire in your industry to get an idea of what they are publishing and how their readers interact with them.

  2. Set a posting schedule

Just like a magazine or newspaper, your blog should be planned out ahead of time and have a publishing deadline for example, every Tuesday at 11am.

If you set a posting schedule and a deadline you no longer have an excuse to not regularly publish content on your blog. It is also a good idea to schedule a time for writing your blog to help create a routine and ensure you never miss an opportunity to connect with your audience.

You may also think about writing your blog posts in batches and scheduling them to publish on your website. Some website platforms, like WordPress, allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time. This is a great time saving tool and it helps to take the chore out of writing each week.

  3. Creating content

When thinking about what to write, consider creating blog posts around your area of expertise and trends in your industry.

Planning ahead of time also means you can identify and capitalise on key business events, such as conferences and launches, and post about the events in the lead up or to source available resources such as eBooks or infographics to share.

To help get you started, here are a few blog post ideas you can include in your blog plan calendar:

• Highlight special products and services.
• Meet someone interesting at an event? Interview them via email and blog about it.
• Read something you don’t agree with? Write a blog post about it.
• Note down everything you do in your role. Tell your readers about how you do each task.

Here are more tips for writing great online content.

  4. Create a blog calendar

Plan ahead and map out a blog content schedule for 6 – 12 months in a blog calendar. A blog calendar should include:

• Blog post titles and ideas
• Themes
• Topics
• Dates

This can be done easily in an Excel spreadsheet or Google calendar and is a great way to avoid repeating the same topic. Planning your activities and updates will enable you to share fresh content and ideas with your audience.

It also means you can plan and promote your blog posts ahead of time. For example, promoting and publishing a five part series on leadership over a five week period.

Blogging allows you to control the message, connecting with your audience on a personal level. It provides a platform for you to inform and position yourself as a thought leader and expert in your industry, but in order to successfully position yourself as an expert using a blog, you need to plan ahead.

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Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more PR tips see www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au