Welcome to the very last part of our content calendar series! If you’ve completed and applied (the most important part!) all the actionable content, then you’re leaps and bounds ahead of others and on your way to content scheduling success!

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We’ve covered a lot of ground in this series! Part 1 looked at how creating a content calendar benefits you and your business. Part 2 was filled with in-depth insight about how it will benefit your audience. Part 3 got us halfway through the series talking about how you can better understand your ideal client or target audience by creating avatars. Part 4 studied how you take a first-time visitor to a loyal customer and referral. While our last article, Part 5, led you through the process of transforming dreams into reality by plugging your goals into your calendar.

Now we’re on our last part, and I’ll be sad to see you go, but am excited at the prospect of your success through better planning (literally, planning makes me giddy)! So today we’re going to get to the nitty-gritty of creating a content calendar that works for you, your lifestyle, and your business.

The Beginning Of The Last Part

Write this down on a sticky note: The only way your content calendar will work for you, fit your lifestyle (without burning you out), and benefit your business is if it is REALISTIC.

This means, if you’re content calendar is burning you out with pressure to publish 3 high-value articles all by yourself every week, it’s not realistic.

This also means that if you’re content calendar is not benefiting your business, you need a re-think, because it’s not realistic (at least for your business goals).

So let’s look at this word, “realistic.” Merriam Webster defines it as understanding “what is real and possible in a particular situation.” Another word I like synonymous (to me) with ‘realistic’ is ‘practical.’ In planning, you need to be practical if you want to meet deadlines and reach goals. That’s why when people give advice on how to write your to-do list they always tell you not to overwhelm yourself with 20 things in one day, because it’s not realistic (unless you wake up at 4am, accomplish one thing every hour, don’t eat, never talk to anyone, and finish at midnight).

Your Realistic, Practical, And Super Helpful Content Calendar

So what does a realistic content calendar look like for you?

Would you hit me if I told you I don’t have a one-size-fits-all answer? [big goofy grin] There are so many factors to consider in order to make your content calendar work for you, your circumstances and daily demands are completely unique. What works for Sally might not work for you because maybe she is single and has no kids and you’re married (husbands need attention too!) and have children. Even someone whose life is a near duplicate of your own won’t be able to attend to a content calendar the same way you do because of personal preferences, different strengths and weaknesses, personality, etc.

So here are some questions to seriously consider when trying to make your calendar fits your needs:

• How many hours do I work in a week?
• How many hours of free time do I have in a typical week if I want to be in bed at a decent hour? (aim for 8 hours of sleep)
• How many hours of my free time should then be spent doing errands, chores, having precious family time, staying fit, etc.?
• Am I serious about blogging? Is it just a hobby or creative outlet for friends and family, or am I looking to monetise my blog as a small business or side hustle?
• How many hours a week can I dedicate to outlining, writing, proofreading, graphic creating, social media posting, etc. in a week?
• Do I have finances to outsource some of the above steps (proof reading, social media management)?

After you answer those questions and break down the hours to say, three hours a week for posting high-value content, then you’re looking at one article per week. If you have less responsibilities, and tons more free time then you could be looking at two or three. Maybe you quit your job so you could make high-value content your new job and be your own boss, then you’ve got even more time.

One example: Lauren from Elle & Company is a graphic designer, but posted incredibly valuable content five times a week because she was monetising her blog to garner more clients. Lauren slots out time in her day so she could make this possible. It was realistic because this was her job, and she planned really well.

Another example: Mariah from Femtrepreneur posts amazingly this-should-be-sold-but-it’s-free content once a week because she focuses on building in-depth e-courses and webinars. She’s in a relationship, but doesn’t have any children, but because she knows how much time she has to write high-value content, she sticks to once a week. She’s being practical.

The same could be said about Regina of ByRegina (no kids, but works hard on scalable content, Periscope, and e-courses)!

How To Break Down Your Content Calendar

One of the best ways you can work is to block out time every week to do one certain task all in one go. So rather than sitting down to outline your post, write it, make the graphic, schedule it on social media, etc., all at once, you might look at it like this:

Mondays – outlining (you could outline multiple posts, aim to be ahead by a couple weeks, or a month!)

Tuesday – writing (sit down, tune in to your ‘zone,’ and shut out distractions)

Wednesdays – graphics (for Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or whatever it may be)

Thursdays – proofreading/editing (this could be outsourced and give you more free time! Note that I scheduled it two days after writing because it gives you a fresher perspective)

Friday – scheduling on social media platforms (a.k.a social media management)

So you can really get into the mood, get on a roll and not have to keep switching up tasks. You get to stay focused, and I believe you’ll get more done!

So figure out your week the way you like it. I’m super busy on Saturdays, and Sunday is a rest day for me, so I made the above example work in the days I wanted it to. Maybe you’re swamped at the end of the work week, use a smidgen of your weekend and the beginning of the week to fill it in. Do what fits YOU, and YOUR lifestyle.

Tip: If you've never posted your work consistently aim for once a week for a month to start. You'll quickly figure out if you could be doing more with your day as they pass by. You might notice you find yourself sitting around kind of bored, or you might notice that once a week works super well with you, or maybe you'll have to settle for bi-weekly because you're a crazy busy individual.

Other Elements To Consider For Your Content Calendar

Besides scheduling in your writing tasks, depending on your needs you might also like to include:

• Draft Deadline (this helps make the deadline legit if you make that commitment!)
• Publish Date
• Topic or Category
• Format (will it be written? an infographic? a video?)
• Keywords to include
• Call-to-Action
• Names of Guests or Collaborators
• Webinar Dates (to remember from others, or you own!)
• Channels (social platforms) you will publish on that day
• Twitter-chats (ones you don't want to miss or if you're hosting!)
• Newsletter Writing Day
• Newsletter Distribution Day
• Content/Traffic Goals

Tip: If you want to save time and super simplify the decision-making process, theme each month for one year and then you can stick to your theme when outlining and writing content. However, if you're running an online business, that might not be your best route since some of your content might be educational (a.k.a why they need your solution to their problem) or promotional.

A wild suggestion, have more than one content calendar! One where you see an overview of the topics and categories you have planned broken into weeks and days. Then another one where you can see smaller tasks (like working on your newsletter, Twitter-chats, goals, and webinars that don't necessarily need to be in your CONTENT calendar).

TAKE ACTION: If you haven't read the series, make time for it, I promise you'll gain new takeaways!

If you've read Part 1- 5 then I'm sending you a virtual five five!

1. Answer the questions above regarding how much time you can realistically carve out to work on your content
2. Choose which tasks/reminders you may need from the list above, or make your own
3. Decide whether you want everything on one calendar, or you'll make two (one for just content, the other for tasks, reminders, goals, etc.)
4. Decide whether giving each month a theme would help you in simplifying the decision process or not
5. FILL IN YOUR CALENDAR! Google or search on Pinterest for inspiration. You can keep it written, or you can use Google Docs or Excel. Do it as soon as possible, commit to do it right now if you have the time (meaning you have nothing urgent to do).

Lastly, comment below, take 30 seconds to tell me what you learned, ask a clarification question, or get in touch with me if your need guidance (I don't charge a cent, and I won't try to sell you anything)!