Getting your business blog ready for next year

Believe it or not, 2014 is less than a month away. While we are all already busy prepping for the holidays, we must not forget to prep our blogs, too. Now you are wondering,”is she kidding? Blog prep this far in advance?” Yes. I am serious. Figuring out your blog strategy in advance is the key to success and avoiding blog stress.

The following are three things you should be doing to get your blog ready for the New Year.

Set new goals

The end of the year is the time to look back, analyze and reset. Take a look at how blogging went for you in 2013 and figure out what worked and what didn’t. Based on what you learn, set some posting goals. For example, if you successfully posted two times a week in 2013, plan on three times a week in 2014; the goal will require extra work, but it is achievable.

Define yourself

Make 2014 the year you truly define your company and your blog. Decide what topics your blog could and does cover really well and make those the topics you focus on this coming year. Next, make a list of 20-ish keywords and phrases based on those topics. Basing all your posts on these topics, keywords and phrases offers your company many benefits. First, your blog looks more professional and credible if it focuses on a few key topics. You can’t be experts at everything, so it is best to simply focus on what you know best. Second, your blog will have better SEO. If all your blog posts contain similar keywords and phrases, your website is going to rank higher on search engines. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, content curation is easier. A narrow scope means you always know what you should be talking about and knowing what should talk about means blog ideas will be more obvious.

Make a content calendar

The final step in getting your blog 2014-ready is to create a content calendar. A content calendar is a document that contains the due date, publishing date, post title, synopsis and keywords for all your future blog posts. The idea behind a content calendar is that advanced planning will prevent many of the common blogging problems such as procrastination and a lack of content ideas. If the due dates and topics are already chosen, you have no choice but to sit down and write those blog posts before the deadline.

Any content marketer will tell you, blogging brings in business. Blogging allows a company to establish a relationship with their consumers and to show off their expertise in their field. BUT any blogger will tell you, blogging is hard because it is so easy to put off. Take the time this month to make a plan and a content calendar for 2014. You will quickly notice how much less stress surrounds the blogging process when you have a plan in place.