How To Set Up A Blogging Planner

Over my past three years of blogging, I've tried numerous ways to organize my blogging ideas in the best way that works for me... and let me tell you, this has been full of trial and error. My original blogging notebook didn't seem to work, and my second blogging notebook didn't seem to work either. I hate being in a blogging rut, which I had been in for the last couple of months in school. I knew that when I graduated and summer started, I really needed to buckle down and get a grip on my blog!

For me, I need to see lists and schedules in front of me to truly feel motivated. I knew that I needed to find a way that would work best for me when it came to keeping track of everything having to do with my blog. I have finally come up with the perfect method -- third time's a charm, right?!

I use a large planner that's about the size of a notebook for scheduling blog posts. I wanted something big because I need a lot of room to write down everything I need to include in each blog post. Plus, this agenda is pink and gold -- the perfect color combo to stick out to me!

The agenda is divided into two parts: a monthly overview and a weekly overview. There are gold tabs on the side with each month, making it easy to quickly find the month you need. I like to use the monthly overview and weekly overview for two different purposes so that it's not repetitive -- plus, the more excuses to use this agenda, the better!

The monthly overview contains general things that would affect my blogging life. I love to use brightly colored pens on the monthly overview to really make each note stand out. In this section, I include the dates of sales, tasks I need to complete, and important dates. I always like to write a blog post about my favorite items from a sale, so as soon as I find out about a sale, I write down its start date and draw an arrow to its end date. This allows me to see which date I should post about the sale before it ends. The tasks I need to complete are planning social media posts, planning pictures for blog posts, and scheduling blog posts. Reserving these tasks for certain days allows me to devote time for getting things done! I also write down important dates. For example, I wrote on Monday, 8/10 that my giveaway ends that day. Or if I'm attending a blogger event, I'll write that down. If I'm working with a brand, I'll write down the deadline of that collaboration. It all depends on what I find is necessary!

The weekly overview is more specific to my blog posts. In the first line of each day, I write the blog post title and highlight it. Below the title, I write important points to include in the post and notes to myself about the post. This is really beneficial to me because I can see a week's worth of posts that I need to write.

Along with using my planner to write down my blog posts, I use Google Calendar. My Google Calendar is very broad -- I only write the title of each post of each day. This is really helpful for when I'm on-the-go! Because my planner is so large, I'm not always able to carry it everywhere with me. My Google Calendar syncs to my phone so that when I come up with a blog post idea on-the-go, I can write it in my calendar and quickly transfer it to my planner when I get the chance. And when I have my laptop but not my planner with me, I can use Google Calendar to see which blog posts I need to write next when I have the chance!

I'm amazed at how well this method has worked for me. It may not work for everyone, but it has definitely helped with my blog, especially after rebranding!

How do you use your blogging planner?