to create an editorial calendar (Tips, tools, and a free template) //

It can be difficult to create content. It can be difficult to keep up with blog posts, guides and all the other items on your agenda.

Imagine a system that tracks all content you create, the steps involved in creating it, as well as where each piece is at any point during the creation process.

Does it sound like something from a distant future? Well, it’s not. This is called an editorial calendar. In this post, I will show you how to make one.

Read on if you are looking to improve your work flow.

Table of Contents

• 
  What’s an editorial calendar?
  
• 
  Why should you use an editorial calendar?
  
• 
  How do I create an editorial calendar
  
• 
  Free editorial template
  

What is an editorial calendar?

An editorial calendar is not just a list of content. An editorial calendar is a visual tool that allows one person to plan, create and schedule content for the next week, month or year. It also includes due dates, team members, and tasks at each stage.

Why should you use an editorial calendar?

There are many benefits to using an editorial calendar. Here are some:

• You will have more cohesive content. You can plan ahead and organize your content into themes, creating pieces that complement each other every month.
• You can save time. It is easy to know what content you should be working on next. All of your tasks can be streamlined and prioritized. Many editorial calendar tools have integrations that allow you to publish on multiple platforms simultaneously.
• Keep on track. An editorial schedule ensures that each member of your team can follow the project’s timeline and complete all tasks.
• Keep your ideas organized. It is a great way to capture ideas on the move by combining your idea bank and your content calendar, especially if your calendar can be accessed on your mobile device.

An editorial calendar has been a huge help in my work life. I’ve never looked back. When we don’t know what the next step is, we procrastinate and delay our work.

For me, at least, knowing that I only need to complete the tasks on my checklists makes me more productive and reduces procrastination. It can do the same thing for you, I hope!

Continue reading to learn how I can show you how to use a Trello-based template for an editorial calendar.

How to make an editorial calendar

These are the foundational principles that will guide you through this process.

1. Establish a loose content strategy

An editorial calendar is a great tool to help you refine your content strategy. However, it’s important to have a framework in place before you can start to build. Our guide to creating content strategy can be used for more information. However, here are some questions to get you started.

• What are your goals? Do you want to increase organic traffic through blog posts, generate leads using gated content, or produce sales enablement material? The answer to the next question will be clear.
• What kind of content are they creating? To increase organic traffic, you will need SEO blogs. You will need PDF ebooks to create gated content. Slide decks and one-sheets are required for sales enablement. Guest posts are a great way to build brand awareness and increase link building.
• What content are you looking to publish? This will depend on your content type and the size of your team. You should set realistic goals and targets for how much content and when you plan to publish it each week, month and year.

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2. Lay out your work flow

Once you know what content you are looking for and how many, you can plan your workflow. This includes:

• The ideation process. How can you locate, store, and manage content ideas?
• SEO optimizations. Include keyword research, and other on-site or off-site tasks.
• Identify the stages and activities in your workflow and assign any labels, color codes or tags that will help you visualize and keep track of production times.

3. Select an editorial calendar software

Once you have a clear understanding of your strategy, workflow, team size and other factors, you can now determine which software is best for you and/or the team. This is the next section.

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Editorial calendar tools

You have many options and tools to help you create an editorial calendar.

Software for project management

Asana and Trello, two of the most popular project management software, are great for creating editorial calendars. Trello is a great tool that my coworkers and me love. Trello allows you to create boards and create a workspace. You can create boards with cards that contain descriptions, checklists and labels. Due dates, attachments, due dates, and other information are all possible within them. It makes it easy to track various aspects of content creation.

Invite others to join your boards. This is great for collaboration but it’s not ideal for large teams as too many labels and cards can make things messy.

Upgrade to the paid version to get more power-ups or powerful integration features.

Continue reading to download the Trello editorial calendar template.

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet software such as Excel or Google Sheets can also be used to create editorial calendars. However, they are less visual and more manual than other software. To illustrate what an Excel/Google Docs editorial calendar might look like, I created a spreadsheet. You are free to create your own version of this example.

Calendars with regular updates

You can use regular calendars such as Outlook or Google Calendar to visualise and schedule tasks quickly and easily. Plus, you will get reminders. You can also create checklist templates that include specific tasks at each stage of your workflow and then paste them into the note section of the calendar to keep track of what has been done and what is left.

However, regular calendars may not be the best option if you need to keep track in an organized manner and view everything in one place. This is a quick overview of what a month’s worth (in Google Calendar) might look like. The color codes are used to identify content type and status.

Free Trello editorial calendar template

Ok! Let me show you my Trello editorial planner template. It has helped me tremendously in my content marketing funnel building. I’m happy to share it with all of you.

Here’s the link

Trello editorial calendar template

Here’s how it looks:

Here are the three components.

• Lists These lists represent different stages of content from conception to promotion.
• Checklists These checklists can be used to add tasks and cards to your list.
• Labels Colored Labels: These labels are used to indicate statuses such as “Pending review”.

Simply move the content card to the “date allocated” list, and then set a date.

The lists

The Trello editorial calendar board is composed of six lists.

1. Ideas for guest posts: Stores all of your ideas for guest content
2. In-house posting ideas – Stores all of your ideas for content
3. Date assigned Content ideas you have scheduled
4. In Progress – Content currently in development
5. Published– Published content
6. Resources Checklist templates and find other resources.

Each list is made up of cards that are your content ideas. Each card can be given a checklist, a label, or a date.

Checklists

There are several checklists in this editorial calendar that correspond to different stages of content creation. Okay, so what type of checklist am I referring to here? Checklists are useful for every step of the process.

1. Keyword research This is the first thing you do when creating content. You have two options here: the free Ahrefs approach or the paid one. Both methods are used by me. I wrote a post about how to do keyword research.
2. Review Draft Checklist:Title and content structure, call-to-action, images identified.
3. Check out the checklist. This checklist is important when you are editing your draft and getting it published. It is on-site SEO stuff.
4. Publishing and the initial promotion checklist. This checklist is for publishing and promoting your content. This is a list of channels that you can promote your content.
5. Follow up promo checklist. Promotional activities one year after publication.
6. Pinterest publishing checklist Step by step checklist for making pins and scheduling them for promotion on Pinterest.

You can import any one of these checklists onto a card.

1. Navigate to the card where you wish to import a list
2. On the right-hand side of the card, click the “Checklist”.
3. Select “Copy items …”” and select your desired checklist from the menu.

Labels

This template uses labels to indicate content type and status. This helps you stay organized and in control your time.

To personalize it, you can also add new labels. These are the labels that I use to identify content types

• Blog post
• Video
• Subscribe to our email newsletter
• Guest post
• Freebie
• Podcast episode
• Products for passive income

These are the labels that I use to indicate content status

• In progress
• In progress review
• Scheduled (publish date).
• Published

How to download this free editorial calendar template

Here’s how to get your copy:

1. Trello is a great place to start if you don’t already have one.
2. Log in to Trello
3. After you have signed up/logged in, Click here
4. You should now be in the board. Click the icon at the top left with 3 dots and select “More”.
5. Click on “copy board” option
6. Go back to Trello’s workspace overview. There you should be able access your new editorial calendar!

This editorial calendar has some pro tips

Let me end with some tips to make the most of this template.

1. You can customize it to your liking

This editorial calendar can be edited in any way you like. It is better to customize it more. It’s great if it meets your needs.

2. Get Trello for mobile

Get the Trello app for your smartphone and you can use the widget to quickly capture ideas while out and about. Here’s how it works

1. First, download the Trello app from Google Play or Appstore.
2. The second step is to add the widget in your phone’s widget section
3. Wait until you get a content idea. Next, grab your phone and quickly click the “Add card” button.
4. Select the Trello board, and then choose the list you would like the card to be added. This would be one your idea lists. As an example:
5. Click the “Add” button and you’re done! You have successfully added your new idea to your ideas list.

3. Use the power-up calendar

The Trello calendar power-up will be activated. This will make the Trello calendar’s scheduled posts, which can include up to a whole month of content, visible at a glance. Just click the calendar powerup at the top right of your board.

You’ll now see a calendar showing all of your cards at the given date with their labels. To show you what it looks like in Trello, I have shown you some demo scheduling using cards from all the lists.

You can click on the cards to view them in the calendar view. All status labels are visible, giving you an overview of the status of all scheduled posts. Below are more details about the labels and other features.

4. Mammoth

Mammoth.docx is a plugin that allows you to import posts from your writing clients into WordPress.

5. Yoast

You can now just complete the tasks on the checklist and get things done. This list can be accessed via the YOAST SEO plugin.

Start creating your editorial calendar

Every content creator should have an editorial calendar. I hope that you enjoyed this post and found some constructive value.

Enjoy this editorial calendar. It will make a big difference in your workflow efficiency. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will be glad to help!

We are grateful!

About the author

Rene Frydson, a passionate digital marketer, blogger and productivity enthusiast, is 33 years old. He hails from Forde, Western Norway. Rene Frydson has six years of experience in his own online ventures, in addition to his formal education as a marketing manager with a specialization in digital marketing. His experience in the marketing department at a large Norwegian energy company has given him hands-on experience. Join him over at themarketingonion.com where he publishes interesting and informative content within the digital marketing and productivity space.

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