Planning Your Blog with an Editorial Calendar

If there’s one kind of planning I’m super passionate about, it’s blog planning. I use my Editorial Calendar on a daily basis to keep track of upcoming blog posts, new content ideas, to do lists, social media strategies, and more. There are a whole host of reasons why you should be using an editorial calendar for you blog, and there are just as many ways to go about doing it.

Why Use an Editorial Calendar?

Well first of all, who doesn’t love feeling organized? That feeling when you know you’ve got all of your blog content for the week planned out, drafted, and ready to go is a great one, and using an editorial calendar only simplifies the process. It’s a way to keep your blog and social media content all in the same place for easy reference, to make posting each day an easy task.

Personally, I use my editorial calendar not only to keep track of my scheduled posts and upcoming content, but also to jot down to do items for my blog and social media, like “research Instagram engagement” and “work on blog branding”. I also use my editorial calendar as a business calendar to track all the happenings in my Etsy shop, from new product listings to sales and shipping dates.

There’s really no limit to what you can organize in your editorial calendar, and your format can be customized to fit the unique needs of your blog.

How Do I Get Started?

There are tons of ways to go about creating your editorial calendar. You can go digital with apps like Evernote or Google Calendar, or you can go the old fashioned pen-and-paper route and use a physical calendar to track your blog content. Or, if you’re like me, you can do a bit of both.

I use an Erin Condren vertical planner to keep track of my blog content and social media schedules; I’ve found that the vertical layout lends itself well to plotting out daily to do lists in a morning, afternoon, and evening schedule. My blog planner is more functional and less fashionable– there’s usually too much going on to have any room for decorative accents like washi tape or stickers (but I still like to sneak a few in when I find space!) I also use the Evernote app on my phone to jot down snippets of content ideas, keep track of my blog stats, and organize my post graphics for social media.

If you’re still feeling stuck, I’ve created a free workbook & guide to help you get started with your editorial calendar– but more on that later!

Best Ways to Use Your Editorial Calendar

Before jumping into your editorial calendar, it’s best to do some research into the inner workings of your blog. Here are a few things you might want to take note of:

• Which posts are the most popular on my blog?
• What are the peak times of traffic to my blog?
• Where is this traffic coming from (Pinterest, Facebook, etc.)?

From here, you can start to develop a planning strategy that will have the most benefit to your blog. It’s also worth noting the generally accepted “best” times to post to social media, which you can find in this handy infographic on Pinterest.

There’s all kinds of blog related information that you can use an editorial calendar to keep organized. Some of the things that I keep track of my in editorial calendar include:

• Upcoming posts on my blog
• Sharing content on social media (when, where, how often, etc.)
• Blog tasks that I need to finish, such as editing my About page, etc.
• Notes on my branding, ideas for boosting post engagement
• Reminders of webinars to watch or podcast episodes to tune into
• New Etsy product listing launch dates
• Etsy orders and shipping dates

It’s so useful to have all of these things in one easy-to-reference place, available whenever I need it.

What Was That About a Free Workbook?

Yep! I’ve created a free workbook & guide to planning and setting up your own editorial calendar, including a calendar template that you can print and use each month.

You can click here to download your free workbook!

If you use my workbook and love it, I’d love to hear about it! You can tag me on Twitter or Instagram, or email me at adoreplannerco@gmail.com to let me know what you think.

Do you already use an editorial calendar? Feel free to share your tips and strategies below in the comments!

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P.S. If you’re looking for a full Blog Planning printable kit, I’ve got you covered! I just released my first full length Blog Planner kit in my Etsy shop, and I’m in love with it! You can check it out here.

Plan With Me // October 17-23

Hello, planner lovers!

I’m so excited to be back in the world of planner blogging– I had missed sharing my planner with you each week. This week I’ve been dividing my time between my perfect-for-Fall Recollections gold striped planner, and my Erin Condren blog planner (which is really more function than fashion, honestly!) I’ve been absolutely loving the Happy Planner stickers by Me & My Big Ideas lately, and I just ordered the cutest set of Autumn themed stickers from Sticker Bloom on Etsy– I can’t wait to share them on the blog once they get here.

As you can see, I’ve been really loving the Happy Planner stickers this week; they’re so pretty and motivational. I used Ban.do floral washi on several of the days to decorate my layout, but I didn’t want to use too much washi this week. I love this planner by Recollections (which you can find at your local Michaels store) specifically because it’s so perfect for Fall– the gold stripes are so pretty!

My kitty Toulouse wanted to keep my blog planner company in this photo! I know, I know, technically this is last week’s page, but my blog planner isn’t much to write home about (and I don’t want to give away any secrets about upcoming posts!) My blog planner is almost purely functional, I don’t spend a lot of time decorating it aside from the odd sticker here and there. Usually I need all the space I can get for blog-related tasks and to do’s!

There is a bit of sad news– I don’t have a Plan With Me video to go along with this week’s post. I’ve been planning to get back to my YouTube channel, but it hasn’t happened yet. If you’d like to see some of my older Plan With Me videos, you can visit my YouTube channel here (and feel free to subscribe, if you like my videos!) More videos will be on their way soon, as soon as I can find a quiet hour to sit down and film them.

I hope you enjoyed this small glimpse into my planner girl life! Plan With Me posts will be posted each Monday, so check back next week for another look into my planners. I love to share planner snippets throughout the week on Instagram & Twitter also, so if you haven’t visited me there you can go take a look.

Want to share your latest Plan With Me post? I’d love to see it! Comment with your links below or tag me (@adoreplannerco) on Twitter or Instagram and I’ll be sure to check it out.

Want to keep up with future posts on Adore Planner Co.?

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Note: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon products. If you make an Amazon purchase from a link in this post, I’ll receive a small percentage of the total cost. This helps to support my blog, and I appreciate any and all contributions.

Getting Organized… And Staying That Way

I would be a completely non-functional person without my planner. There. I said it. Acceptance is the first step to healing, or something like that.. But seriously– if I don’t have at least some kind of calendar to keep a handwritten schedule for myself, then my life devolves into darkness and chaos.

Everyone has their preferred way of staying organized: some people use calendars synced to their email, some use apps like Evernote— I’ve even heard rumors of people who can keep track of their schedule and to-do lists entirely in their head (but I’m pretty sure that’s just a myth..) Personally, I’ve always had a love affair with pens and paper.

For me, planning left the purely functional realm a while ago, and has become something of a expensive obsessive hobby. Honestly, I’ve been using planners for as long as I can remember, but until this past year I never knew there was an entire community made of people who have just as much love for creative planning as I do (thank you, Instagram!) I don’t even remember exactly how I was introduced to “fancy planners”– all I know is that in May of 2015 I stumbled across a photo of a gorgeous kikki.K ring bound A5 leather planner– then with just a quick google search, approximately $200 and three weeks later, the rest is basically history.

This was the first fancy planner I ever owned. /swoon.

The one major drawback to my kind of planning, obviously, is that it can get expensive if you let it. I see cute stickers or washi tape or a beautiful new binder, and the word “no” all but drops out of my vocabulary. But that’s more of a personal problem, really. The godsend of creative planning on a budget? Free printables & Pinterest.

Some of the best inserts I’ve found for my planners are printables, and even if you don’t find a free set that you love, most printable sets on Etsy are often sold in themed bundles for less than $10.

A few of my favorite printable sets on Etsy are from Printable Pineapple:

Her sets are so fantastic– they come with multiple sizes for each design, and usually have a few different color options in each set. I use several of her Daily Planner pages (usually the “get shit done” daily page) to keep track of my tasks each day.

A lot of my favorite free printables are from Day Designer by Whitney English:

Her printables are simple and chic, and so functional. The four pictured above are my favorites out of the 25+ free printable choices she offers: the weekly menu plan, monthly cleaning schedule, daily schedule & to-do list, and weekly priority planner.

Printables are a great option for any planner since they can be printed as many times as you want to use them, so you’re guaranteed to never run out of inserts. For me though, the one (rather large) drawback of printables– even the free ones– is the actual printing part. I’m usually lucky to even have ink in my printer, and that’s assuming that I can get my printer to work in the first place.

So, like anything, printables have their pros and cons. But even a cartridge of ink and a ream of paper is still better than spending upwards of $80 on an elaborate planner system, right? Right??!?! I’m trying to convince myself of this, too.

Honestly, I’d still like learn to use Evernote and a few of the other modern organizing tools– but even so, my planner will always be my bestie. 

What are your tried-and-true planning methods? Do you generally stick with digital planning apps, or are you a fellow pen-and-paper lover?  Comment below or chat with me on Twitter!

Adore Planner Co. Has a New Home

Adore Planner Co. was redesigned today!

My blog was formerly titled For the Love of Planners, and now will be simply known as Adore Planner Co. I’ve been thinking a lot about my blog over the last few weeks, and I’ve been trying to put my finger on exactly what it is that I aim to offer to readers through my blog. Obviously, I’m a planner girl with an intense love for all things planner-related, but when I dug a bit deeper, it really goes beyond just the planners and accessories (although those are always fun!)

I’ve been an avid planner for as long as I can remember– but I’ve often been better at planning than at actually executing my plans. Part of my motivation for starting this blog was to step away from that cycle: to create plans and then learn to follow through with them. When I thought about it, my blog’s purpose isn’t just to showcase the cute accessories that come with planning, it’s really to enjoy and celebrate the process of planning itself. I want to share all I’ve learned about organization, building habits, and managing the details of day to day life through the help of planning, and I want to offer my own insight, in addition to the many resources that have helped me along the way.

My blog will be centered around the ideas of growth, organization, and self-improvement through planning. I’ll be sharing my planners and planning strategies, as well as offering guides and resources to help you on your planning journey. I hope that you’ll leave my blog feeling inspired and encouraged to begin (or stick with!) your own healthy habits & planning.

You can join me here on my blog, tweet to me, or tag me on instragram. I love meeting fellow planner lovers, so feel free to share your layouts & ideas!