Developing a Time-Saving Affiliate Marketing Blog Editorial Calendar

Whether you’re a solo blogger or part of a team, staying organized and focused is crucial to success as a content creator. A clear plan can make multiple tasks, deadlines, and creative affiliate marketing ideas manageable. That’s where a blog editorial calendar comes in handy. It’s not just a tool; it’s your trusty sidekick in the ever-evolving world of affiliate marketing content creation. Let’s dive into why a blog editorial calendar is essential and how you can tailor it to suit your needs.

Why Is a Blog Editorial Calendar Important in Affiliate Marketing?

Picture this: You wake up on a Monday morning, ready to tackle the week ahead. But as you sit at your desk, you realize you have no idea what to write about for your next blog post. Panic sets in, and before you know it, you’re spiraling down the rabbit hole of writer’s block.

Does this scenario sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. Many affiliate marketing content creators need help with consistency and staying on track with their content schedules. That’s where a blog editorial calendar swoops in to save the day. How?

1. Consistency Breeds Success

Consistency is the backbone of any successful affiliate marketing content strategy. Whether you aim to attract new readers, engage with your existing audience, or boost your SEO efforts, publishing regular, high-quality content is vital. A blog editorial calendar keeps you accountable and ensures you’re consistently delivering valuable affiliate marketing content to your audience.

2. The SEO Advantage

Ah, SEO – the holy grail of digital marketing. It’s no secret that ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs) can improve your website traffic. But here’s the catch: Google loves fresh, relevant, dated content. By planning your blog posts, you can strategically incorporate keywords, optimize your affiliate marketing content, and increase your chances of ranking higher in search results.

3. Team Collaboration Made Easy

If you’re part of a content team, you know how challenging it can be to keep everyone on the same page. With multiple projects in the works, communication can quickly become chaotic. A blog editorial calendar provides a centralized hub where team members can cooperate, share ideas, and track improvement, fostering a sense of unity and purpose.

So, What Should I Include in My Editorial Calendar?

It’s easy to think of your editorial calendar as a regular calendar. However, if you do this, you will be disappointed with the results.

Certain non-negotiable elements exist for this calendar to work well for you and your team. Here are the sections you absolutely must include in your calendar for it to work:

1) Blog Title

Your blog title should be laid out to help focus your writing. In addition to highlighting the title for each post, it helps to have a brainstorming section where you and your team can add title ideas as they come to you.

To develop the perfect blog title, start with a popular keyword. Each keyword you use can generate several blog titles.

For example, let’s assume you own a flower shop and run a blog that teaches people how to care for their plants. The keyword “gardening tools” can branch out into many blog titles.

As shown in the Google Trends search below, other related keywords also famous for this search include “gardening tools for kids” and “gardening tools names.”

So, if you start with “gardening tools” as a keyword, you can generate at least two other blog titles. However, your creativity should continue where Google Trends suggestions continue. You can also write a blog post about “gardening tools for the winter,” for instance. Or “easy-to-use gardening tools.”

If the original keyword “gardening tools” is included in your blog title, your posts about gardening tools will likely be recommended by Google to people searching for “gardening tools.”

As you can see, once you start with a focused and popular keyword, the possibilities for blog titles are endless. This is just one way having an editorial blog calendar should streamline your affiliate marketing teamwork.

With this brainstorming process, you can wave goodbye to the days when you used to wrack your brain for something to write about. As long as you have a permanent section of your calendar dedicated to brainstorming blog titles, you won’t run out of things to write about anymore.

2) Keywords

Speaking of keywords, each blog post in progress should have a corresponding keyword assigned to it. This helps the author refine their writing according to expectations.

As with the blog titles, it’s also a good idea to have a running list of keywords to add to as you go. Seeing all the keywords you can use in one place helps you avoid writing one article after another with the same keyword, which can get very tiring—both for you and your audience.

If you can see all your keywords in one place, you can offer your audience some variety by switching from one keyword to another as you write subsequent blog posts. You can also increase your domain authority over time by writing about various topics.

3) Blog Post Status

Your editorial calendar should also have a section for each blog title that indicates the status of that content piece. Is it pending approval, or has it already been approved? Is it under editing? Has it already been published?

Highlighting this information will save time and help everyone on your team to be on the same page. If you can see the status of each piece of content, you no longer have to keep pinging your affiliate marketing content creators to find out how far along they are in the process.

4) Deadlines

To optimize teamwork, you must include multiple deadlines for each piece of assigned work in your editorial calendar.

You should have approval, editing, and publishing deadlines. Highlight the stages of your blog post before it’s live on your site.

While assigning these deadlines, you should remember that some tasks—like editing—require 2-3 days’ lead time. It would be unfair to write the first draft of your blog article and then expect your editor to have it done within an hour, especially if they’re multitasking.

Be fair with your deadlines so that everyone on your team can do their best work.

5) Links to Assets

Once you’ve written and submitted the first draft of a blog article, it’s helpful to the rest of the team to share any links to media you used within the article. Dedicating a section of your calendar to this will help save time when the final article is being pulled together or repurposed later.

6) Repurposing Opportunities

Summarizing your blog post in a different format, such as an image or video, can help drive traffic to the original post.

After you’ve published each blog post, it can be helpful for the other content creators on your team to brainstorm creative ways to reuse this content for your social media channels.

Deciding how to repurpose each original piece of content can help you add some variety to your social media content calendar template later.

7) Publishing Platforms

So, your blog post has passed through the approval, writing, and editing stages and is ready for publishing.

Where do you plan to publish it?

Once you decide where each affiliate marketing content will be published, indicating this on your calendar is essential.

Getting the placement of your content right is crucial to ensuring your target audience sees it after you’ve worked so hard. For this reason, you don’t want any confusion about where to publish your blog post when it’s done and where it will be shared.

Highlighting the platforms in your calendar will help the person in charge of publishing and sharing each piece of content put it in the right place at the right time.

What Types of Blog Editorial Calendars Can I Use?

A few options are available, from DIY content calendars to comprehensive project management solutions. Let’s review the types of calendars you can use with your team.

a) Excel or Google Sheets

Excel or Google Sheets are an excellent option for people who would like to be involved in creating and developing their calendars. Both allow you to get hands-on and create your calendar from scratch or download a pre-designed calendar and adapt it to fit your team’s needs.

Image source: Vertex 42

b) Kanban Board

A Kanban board is a style of editorial calendar that offers users interactive cards that can be dragged to different sections as required. This is an ideal solution for a team of highly visual people. Trello and Asana are good examples of this.

Kanban board for blog editorial calendar

Image source: Book Bumblings

c) Project Management Tools

Sometimes, you should skip designing your calendar and use a comprehensive project management tool to manage your team’s workflow. Editorial calendars help everyone see what stage each affiliate marketing content piece is at, the assigned teams, and a priority list of upcoming content.

Once you’ve updated the calendar, it is easy to transition to the writing process using the powerful content editor built in. A project management solution can help you manage all the content for your blogs under one roof.

Putting It All Together

A blog editorial calendar is more than just a tool – it’s a roadmap to success. By incorporating the human element into your content planning process, you can stay organized, inspired, and focused on creating affiliate marketing content that resonates with your audience. So grab your calendar, gather your team, and start crafting your next masterpiece. Your readers are waiting.

Remember, it’s not about quantity; it’s about quality. So take your time, unleash your creativity, and let your voice shine in every blog post you create. Happy blogging!