How to create a content calendar for your small business

You've started a business, you're helping customers, but you want more, and now you're realizing you need to start sending out weekly content, and that might feel a bit daunting. If you find yourself wondering what to write about or struggling to come up with ideas for your content, I'm going to walk you through how to create a content calendar for your small business so that it's a lot easier. You'll never be stuck saying, "I don’t know what to write about" every week again. You'll never have to stare at a blank screen and wonder what the heck to write about today. Trust me, that process is super inefficient. When we try to come up with something on the fly, we often end up with writer's block or are situated firmly in the distraction zone, browsing Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, or whatever other distractions we can find. Having a content calendar for your small business will make life much easier and will turn creating content into an easier, repeatable process rather than a big stressor each week. 

Why creating a content calendar helps your small business

When you create a content calendar in advance, you’re never faced with that awful blank screen. You never have to wonder what to write about. More than that, you don’t end up duplicating something you’ve written before. It also allows you to make sure you're rotating through topics that are interesting and helpful to your audience and will work to bring the right people into your world. It will make your life easier because you'll preplan what you'll create, so you're no longer wasting time trying to make decisions about what to write. 

How do you start creating a content calendar?

My first step is to brainstorm. Have a huge brainstorming session and think about all of the questions your Ideal Customer asks when you speak with them. If you don’t have customers yet, that’s OK. You can do this by thinking about the questions they have that relate to your solution. Make a big list of questions you answer regularly when people are deciding to work with you or questions you think they have when they're trying to figure out the problem that you help them solve. This will work for both traditional SEO and answer engine optimization. We want to have the content that our potential customers are searching for on our small business websites, that's how we can start to build our online visibility. 

For example, if I’m going to brainstorm on small business SEO topics, it might look like this:

• Will SEO work for a small business?
• How do I do SEO on my website?
• How do I know what keyword to use?
• How does Google work?
• What should I do first for SEO for my small business?
• How many keywords should I have for my website?
• What’s most important for small business SEO?
• Do I also need to do SEO for answer engines for my small business? 

Do any of those topics sound familiar? They’re posts I’ve written or considered writing because they’re common questions I get from students and clients. Think about your Ideal Customer and start writing down everything you can think of that they ask. Grab a pen and paper, a stack of Post-its, or open an Excel or Google doc. The format doesn’t matter. Do what works best for you. Personally, I like to have a digital file to work from. Even when brainstorming on pen & paper (often my preferred method), I transfer to a spreadsheet for long-term use. I add new ideas to my spreadsheet very often. You never know when new questions will pop up, and you'll be inspired. It's a good idea to have a note on your phone, or somewhere you can jot down ideas until you get back to your desk and can add them to your official list. 

Next, think about the questions your ideal customer doesn’t know to ask

What questions are tied to your business and would help your customers, but maybe they don’t know to ask yet? What can you teach them?

For this brainstorm, think about what you teach. For example, here are some small business SEO teaching topics.

• Why using your keyword in your image file name helps your SEO
• 3 common SEO mistakes you may be making that are hurting your small business
• How to write an SEO-friendly Title Tag for your small business 
• How to write an SEO-friendly Meta Description
• Why you shouldn’t use the same keyword on every page on your website 
• Why you need to write unique Title Tags and Meta Descriptions for every page of your website

While your Ideal Customer may not know to ask about these topics yet, they will have questions as they learn more. Once they read the “What do I do to SEO my website” post, they’ll learn about Title Tags and meta descriptions, and from there, they’ll want to know “How to write an SEO-friendly Title Tag and meta description.” Meet them where they are and take them where they need to go with your content. You want to tie each post together by linking to it from the other post you create. Help your ideal customer find the information they need when they're visiting your website. Make it as easy for them as possible. 

Repeat the brainstorming process for each area of your business. For example, I teach small business SEO, AEO/GEO for small businessessses, podcast SEO, and online marketing for small business owners. This post is for online marketing but also helps with SEO and AEO/GEO, and it all ties back to small business owners. 

If you have more than one content topic to cover, you’ll want to divide the topics evenly. For example, if you plan on teaching four related subjects, as I shared above, you’d want to create one post for each topic area once a month. Your initial batch should include one or two posts for each area (sometimes called a content pillar). I teach you to choose four content pillars or topic areas to make it easier for you, so that you only have to create one post for each area each month, and you have your weekly content done. 

How do you organize your content calendar?

Once you’ve got your brainstorming session complete and you have a big list of topic ideas for each of your content pillars, go through them and choose up to 12 topics to write about. Create a new spreadsheet tab and add the dates for the next 12 Mondays. Choose one topic each week. This is what you’re going to share for your weekly content. You’ll need to work on writing these blog posts and recording videos or podcast episodes for these topics. Your weekly topic format can be whatever you choose; the content calendar creation process is the same for all. Go back and mark which ones you’re using on your master brainstorm list, too, so you don’t duplicate them later. I like to grey the square out once I’ve selected the topic. I can still see what the topic was, but I know immediately that it’s already been written, so I don’t waste time writing about it again. I personally choose to plan for a quarter at a time. I like nice, clean content calendars, but you don't have to be quite as precise as I am. Do what works best for you. 

Once your content calendar is planned for at least the next month, it’s time to start writing. If you want to learn how to save time by batching content, check out this post. I love batching content. It saves me so much time. It’s easier for me to get into the zone and write multiple posts in one day than to do one each week. This post is the third one I’ve written today, and it’s going to be published in about 12 weeks. I’m currently at the beginning of my next batch. I like to do 12 posts at a time, but I’d start with 4-6 to make it feel more manageable.

I hope this helps make content planning easier for you! Follow this process, add ideas to your brainstorming tabs as they come to you, and you’ll never run out of content ideas. If you're ready to get started with creating content and your content calendar to help your small business, join me in Simple SEO Content, and I'll show you how to figure out exactly what you want to write about to help your ideal customer find your business online, no matter where they're searching.