6 Tips for Creating a Killer Editorial Calendar in WordPress

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1. Create an Editorial Calendar

At WPBeginner and all our websites, we use Edit Flow to manage our editorial workflow. It is a free WordPress plugins with amazing features to manage a multi-author blog. Even if you are running a single author website, you can still use the plugin to maintain a proper workflow.

First thing you need to do is install and activate Edit Flow. Upon activation, the plugin adds a new Edit Flow menu item in your WordPress admin bar. Clicking on it will take you to the Edit Flow’s editorial dashboard where you will see different features of plugins and their configuration settings.

Edit Flow comes with a visual editorial calendar, custom post statuses, email notifications, editorial comments and meta data, story budget and user group features. To learn more about how to use it, see our guide on how to improve your editorial workflow in WordPress.

2. Deciding a Post Schedule

Consistency is essential for your blog’s growth. Publishing at the same time allows your readers to know exactly when to come back.

You can also evaluate your analytics to see what’s the busiest time on your website, and determine your posting schedule accordingly.

Now if your post schedule is in a weird time zone, or for some reason you can’t be there to press the publish button, then WordPress got your back.

WordPress has a scheduling functionality that allows you to schedule posts far in advance. Take a look at our guide on how to schedule posts in WordPress.

3. Browse Ideas

One of the most commonly asked questions by small businesses is how to find new ideas for blog posts? There are lots of tools that you can use to get post ideas. One of our favorite tool to find new post ideas is Twitter Search.

With its huge user base, Twitter is the conversation hub of the web. Search for your products, industry, or keywords related to your business, and you will see thousands of people talking about one thing or another. Many of these Tweets will be questions that you can answer in a blog post on your site.

Google Keyword Tool is probably the most commonly used tool for post ideas. Simply login using your Google account and search for keywords related to your niche. Google Keyword Tool will start making suggestions based on similar keywords and will also show you search volume.

Some other commonly used techniques include making lists of frequently asked questions about your products or services and write blog posts answering them. Debunk some common myths in your industry, interview clients, peers, colleagues, make lists of useful blogs, resources, and social media accounts to follow. Write about your company’s unique selling points and offer users a behind the scenes look inside your business.

You can reuse this strategy as many times as you want to reproduce a never ending list of blog post ideas. Remember that any topic can be reused with some new information and updates.

4. Use Post Status and Editorial Metadata to Set Deadlines

Edit Flow allows you to create custom post statuses and add editorial metadata into posts. Use these features to add new article ideas as pitches. Assign those articles to your team and then use editorial metadata to set deadlines for those articles.

This not only improves your workflow, but also allows your editorial team to collaborate. Following the articles in progress improves the quality of articles while setting reasonable deadlines

5. Write Bylines and Notes

When adding an idea to work on later, make sure to include all the information you have in your mind along with your article pitch.

Sometimes you forget which keywords or ideas to focus on in an article. Use bylines and headings to give your article an outline.

Use editorial comments to leave notes with your article ideas, so the author working on it can see what you had in your mind and can follow the instructions. Editorial comments will also help you review an article when it ready to be published to make sure that it covers the topics you had in mind.

6 Update and Repeat

Keep using these tips and repeat them for all your blog posts. You will soon notice how smoothly your blog goes. These tips are there to run a nice editorial workflow on your blog. You will learn about new tips and tools along the way, implement those in your editorial process.

Remember the goal is to make it easier for you to create helpful and useful content for your blog. If an editorial tip is becoming a hurdle in producing good content, then feel free to stop using it.

We hope these tips helped you create a killer editorial calendar in WordPress. You may also want to checkout our guide on how to manage content progress.

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