This week, the 2011 Wordcount Blogathon launched with some great incentives to start blogging daily! At last count, there were over 200 unique blogs participating in this fun activity. When you think about it, that’s a lot of blog posts!
To start things off right, I decided to be proactive with my own blog and set up an easy editorial calendar using Google calendar. I use this free web-based calendar for so many things in my Charleston copy writing business. From booking private clients and scheduling myself for events, to setting up reminders for project deadlines and important networking meetings – I use Google calendar ALL the time. The cool thing is that it’s not only just a nice web-based calendar, it has a lot of great features such as sending invitations to others for meetings, and text message reminders right to any mobile device! Without this technology wonder, I would be lost most days!
So, when it came down to the Blogathon, I wanted to get myself set up with fresh ideas and reminders for topic days on my Google calendar so I have it all planned out. That way I don’t forget a day or get burnt out on blogging.
Here’s how I set up an Editorial Calendar for the Blogathon:
- Signed into my Google accounts
- Clicked on “Calendar” which took me to another page
- Set up a New Calendar Named “Blogathon”
- Added a Daily Topic for each day of the month of May
- Set up reminders to send me a text and email each day
It really was that easy! Anyone can use this handy FREE tool to create an online editorial calendar to maintain a blog. Try to think of topics that are relevant to your business, what your clients or friends may be into, and in a specific order that makes the best sense. If you have a complex topic, try breaking it up into a series and then writing about it for a few days – expanding on the topic as you go.
Wishing all the participants of the 2011 Wordcount Blogathon the best of success! Looking forward to getting to know others, share some great information and make new friends.
OK now it’s YOUR turn – how are you keeping track of your blog posts??? Please leave comments below!
About the Author:
Tess C. Taylor, Web Copy Writer and Owner of Taylor Resources Writing, has been writing for the web since 2007. After transitioning from a 14 year career in Human Resources, Tess writes on many topics close to the hearts of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Her work has been featured on Yahoo Business, US News and Chamber of Commerce. For more information about Tess, please visit www.trwriting.com
Good one! I’m basically compiling drafts and scheduling them for each of the days of the month that I want them to be posted on. So whenever I have some time or when the inspiration hits, I complete them and set them for publishing
I know its not super efficient but it keeps me on my toes.
It certainly takes some organization to keep up with Blogathon 2011! Like you, I started off by using Google calendar. Then someone mentioned the WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin (if you use WordPress) by Stresslimit. It lets you schedule posts from your Dashboard and it is saving my life! However we do it, staying on top of posts is the most important part. Good luck!
I see a lot of people talking about using google calendar and google docs. I have yet to use either one. I think that I will try the calendar for this month and see if I will help me stay on task and organized.
Thanks for the great post.
Happy blogging,
Jenn
Outlook runs my life so it’s also running my participation in the blogathon. I have a daily reminder set up and special reminders for theme days. Other than that, I’m old fashioned: I have a manila folder for blogging where I keep my ideas and an editorial calendar in list form. When I have time, I type up posts in blogger and keep them as drafts for later publication. Now what I would really need is an electronic editorial calendar plug-in for Blogger as the one you mentioned for wordpress, and I’d be all set.
This is a good idea. I haven’t needed to use a calendar for the blogathon in all my years of participation. But I can see that this would be a great planning tool and probably be kinder to my schedule. I’ll have to consider this in the future for other long-term projects. Using a theme for the month seems to be enough to help me plan out this particular project, though.