“I want to start a blog for my company; where do I start?” I’ve been getting that question fairly frequently lately. If you are planning on starting or revamping your company’s blog, here’s your to-do list for success:

Blog Content Strategy Checklist

Blog Content Strategy Worksheet - Pybop(Download the printable PDF version.)

  1. Establish blog objectives with decision makers
  2. Identify core messaging priorities to support objectives
  3. Audit potential content sources
  4. Create editorial guidelines (voice, tone, length, reading level)
  5. Develop editorial calendar (content categories, frequency, topic ideas)
  6. Ensure you have the people resources to support this calendar
  7. Determine which blog platform to use and who will create and maintain it
  8. Establish editorial process to meet deadlines, establish consistency and quality, align with goals
  9. Provide blog post template with formulas to accelerate writing process
  10. Create samples for best practices
  11. Great a governance model for content selection, writing, editing, review, posting, and archival
If you don’t have the resources to set this up, I highly recommend getting a content strategist to help out. Creating exceptional content is a time-consuming activity, and following a process like this one will help in several ways:

5 Benefits of Your Blog Content Strategy

  • Save time and money. If you jump in and have staff or freelance writers start writing without a plan, you are potentially wasting your money and time — and making your brand look bad.
  • Move toward (not away from) your goals. Blog posts are cumulative. Each one builds on your immediate goal to gain new visitors (via SEO, social media) and your long-tail business goals of, oh, perhaps expanding your services. Your plan will make sure you’re on the right road, and you don’t accidentally take a detour to nowhere.
  • Ensure quality and consistency. If you have many people contributing to your blog — let’s say they’re all doctors and researchers — you have a potential mess on your hands without some guidelines in place.
  • Avoid burn-out. The people who are supporting your blog need a system in place to make it as easy as possible to keep the content flowing. Without it, blogging can become repetitive and arduous. They may start slipping in quality or frequency. And a thin or out-dated blog is worse than no blog at all.
  • Measure success. With a plan in place, you’ll know what you are trying to achieve, which makes it much easier to measure effectiveness down the road.
Ready to get started? Download your free printable Blog Content Strategy Checklist. And give us a holler if you need any help.