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I’ll be the first to admit that I think there are way too many free blog planners out there today. And all of them – especially the free blog planners – make the same promises. Use us, they whisper, and we’ll help you crush your blog goals. Make more money. Even organize your entire life. Sure, it sounds good. Good enough that I’ve downloaded more than my share of free blog planners. Whether it was a weekly planner or a blog schedule planner – I’ve even downloaded a homeschool planner – I wanted to see how these planners could help me out of my creative and organizational rut.
HINT: DOWNLOAD MY FREE 35+ Page 2020 BLOG PLANNER !!
“Help me!” I begged them. “Help me make sense of what needs to go on my blog, and what I can do to grow it even more!” But without fail, each blogging planner would let me down. It took me a while to figure out why every planner for bloggers failed to live up to its promises. But eventually, I got there. And now I’m here to tell you why every blog planner template is letting you down – and what you can do about it.
4 Reasons Why Every Blog Planner Template Was Letting Me Down
1. It does nothing to stir up creativity.
One of the things that drove me nuts about using all those blog planners is that they actually did nothing to help me understand what I should be writing about. Some of them boasted about being the best printable 2017 planner or the best blog planner notebook! Yet, when it got down to it, they were nothing more than a blog planner in Excel.
And let me tell you, nothing erases creativity more than an Excel doc!
2. It removes the focus from your audience.
Sure, it’s important to get organized around your life. After all, if you’re not consistent with your posts, how are you going to get visitors, build up consistent traffic, and eventually monetize your blog?
But here’s the thing I noticed about all the blog planners I was downloading: they made most of the focus on me, to the point where I forget who I was actually writing for. Yes, the most successful blogs are consistent, but they also keep the reader front and center at all times. Using the wrong planner for bloggers may make you see your blog as nothing more than a daily calendar planner, rather than a source of inspiration, content, and community for your readers.
3. It can cost time before you realize it doesn’t work for you.
I found that, in my experience, a lot of blogging planners had a lot to them. But when I dug into the planners in an effort to actually use them, I found that there wasn’t a lot of substance there.
The only problem is, by the time I actually figured that out, I had used up a lot of my precious time and resources. And when you’re on the quest to launch a blog that drives thousands of clicks and puts money in your pocket, that’s a lot of time you can’t afford to waste.
4. It wasn’t actually personalized to me.
Here’s the thing: No matter how good a blog schedule planner boasts to be, 99% of the time it’s not going to be effective unless it’s personalized to your blogging needs.
Here’s an example to help highlight what I mean by that. Let’s say you’re more of a writer than you are a planner. You’ve got a gift with words, and whenever you post on your blog, your content really resonates with your audience. So, you figure if you can get more disciplined with your blog, you might actually end up making some solid revenue.
Part of that discipline involves finding a printable planner, so you start downloading planners that everyone seems to be talking about. Before you know it, you’ve downloaded a free printable weekly planner in Excel.
The only problem is, you don’t really know how to use Excel. But people seem to really rave about this blog planner template in Excel, so you stick with it. You fuss with the cells, you struggle with formatting, and you really try to deep dive into how to step up a sheet to reflect your plan for the week.
Learn how to plan your blog content for an entire year. Click here.
The Problem with that free blog planner
The only problem is, all that time you spent in Excel is time you could have spent investing in content for your blog.
While I’m not trying to beat up on Excel – in fact, I happen to love it – my point here is that not every blog planner is right for your working style. And sometimes it takes a while before you figure out that you’re using a post planner that really isn’t doing you any favors.
But enough about me. How can you tell if your cute planners or those best planners aren’t working for you?
Get access to my FREE 35 + Page Blog Planner by joining our Free Resource Library, just click below!
How to Tell If Your Plan is Holding Your Blog Back
It’s okay to admit that not every blog planner out there is right for you. But, as I’ve mentioned before, the process of finding the right one for you can be pretty tedious.
The best blog plans are the ones that are tailored to your learning style, your blog goals, and your schedule. So how can you tell if your plan is hitting that mark – and what are the signs that your plan is holding your blog back?
It’s hasn’t been “clicking” for you.
It takes time to adjust to a new blog plan. But there’s a difference between an adjustment period, and using a blog that just really isn’t “clicking” for you. That sign can be different for everyone, but if you find yourself growing frustrated with your planner or frequently abandoning it, it’s probably time to move on to something different.
It holds back your brainstorming
A lot of blog planners really emphasize scheduling and publishing posts. Don’t get me wrong, that’s absolutely an important part of running a successful blog – but what about the time it takes to actually brainstorm what you want to write about?
It doesn’t accommodate your actual schedule
There’s a reason why there are some planners meant for students, and others meant for moms. Everyone has unique scheduling needs, so it makes sense that the best blog planners will accommodate those needs. Whether you’re using a study planner or printable planners, you should be 100% picky about finding a planner that works best for your specific needs and lifestyle.
Okay, so I’ve talked a lot about signs that a free blog planner isn’t working for you. But what about the planners that really do work? And when it comes down to it, what’s the best free blog planner of 2019?
So What Is the Best Free Blog Planner of 2020?
Not to brag here, but when it comes to the best free printable blog planner of 2019, I’ve got them all beat. HINT: DOWNLOAD MY FREE 35+ Page 2020 BLOG PLANNER !!
You see, I learned a lot from downloading the so-called “best planners” and every planner out there on the market. I’ve used them all – from the best free printable blog planner of 2018 to a student planner and even a mom planner – so I had a lot to work with when it came to developing my own planner. Although, I will say that these planners are pretty good for free ready-made planner templates.
I studied what worked for me. What didn’t work for me. And how the other bloggers’ planner offerings limited me from achieving the results I really needed to see. And I compiled all of those lessons into my own free blog planner, which I’m delighted to offer to you now.
Here’s what’s so different about my blog planner: It combines the benefit of a daily planner and an organizer planner with the brainstorming prompts you need to unleash your most creative blogs ever.
Because let’s face it: No matter how well you plan blogs or schedule your posts, you’re not going to achieve success if you don’t have the creative and strategic juices to actually make them good.
Your readers are busy. And whether you’re launching a financial blog or need a mommy planner for your mommy blog, you need to create posts! The kind of posts that actually speak to the audience you’re reaching out to. That’s the secret sauce to the most successful blogs out there. They’re not just scheduling and publishing posts; they’re brainstorming amazing posts, and they’re measuring data to see what’s working! Then, they’re using this information to continue creating a lucrative and crazy-viral blog.
That’s why I’ve created a blog planner that truly recognizes the unique needs that bloggers have when it comes to:
- Brainstorming posts
- Creating posts
- Scheduling posts
- Tracking posts
- Amplifying posts
- Measuring the success of posts
Think of my blog planner as a tool that covers the whole journey that it takes to build a successful blog. It’s not just about scheduling and planning posts! In fact, it’s about planning out the posts that are actually going to make a difference in growing your blog.
How to Use My Planner
Whether you’ve just downloaded my blog planner or you’re curious about how it works, here are a few steps that can help you make the most of my planner:
1. Turn it into an hourly planner, daily planner, weekly planner, or even a monthly planner.
My blog planner can be customized so that it can be whatever you want it to be. Want to get super-granular and break down your blog by the hour? No problem – you can do that.
Want to get a monthly or even yearly view of how often you’ll publish content, including how to schedule posts for any special events or big announcements you’ve got planned? No worries there, either; my free blog planner can do that as well.
No matter what timeline works best for you, I wanted to make sure that my free printable planner can be tailored to your exact work style.
2. Schedule time to dive into brainstorming.
Brainstorming is just as important as scheduling your posts, but a lot of planners really don’t emphasize taking this time to sit down and unleash your full creativity. Plus, when I’m referring to brainstorming, I’m also including the time it takes to measure the data coming back from your blog (like site visits, engagement metrics, time on site, etc.) and figure out ways to use that data to grow your online presence.
Without this time, it’s easy to get sucked into tasks that don’t actually make a difference for your blog. That’s why I ensured my blog planner accounts for that precious time, and then some!
3. Use my blog post planner template to save time.
You’re busy. I’m busy. We’re all busy. Why use a blog post planner template that really doesn’t work for you?
My blog planner takes on a templated approach, so you’ll never experience a curveball while using it. Once you get into the swing of things, my blog planner will seamlessly integrate with your daily work.
4. Develop a sales plan that will help you track revenue
A lot of blog planners focus on the “before” part of writing for a blog – writing, scheduling, and posting. But what about that crucial “after,” when you need to learn if your blog is actually making you some money?
My blog planner not only helps you identify your most successful blog posts, but it also helps you amplify those posts so you can get as much traffic (and sales) as possible. From amplifying content on social media and tracking affiliates to developing newsletter campaigns for your blog, my planner helps you maximize and monetize every single word that you’ve ever written on your blog!
5. Take advantage of my printable planner.
Remember how I said that your blog planner should work for you, whether you’re a fan of Excel or like something a little more visual? That’s why my blog planner is also available as a printable planner. You can print out your hourly, weekly, monthly, and even yearly goals, so you’ll always have something to look at to remind you of the steps you need to take to achieve success.
My ultimate goal was to create a blog planner that was simple to use, easy to integrate into anyone’s lives, and could help pinpoint the exact steps needed to amplify and monetize a blog.
And if you love using printables, also think about creating them to grow your blog. Check out this article on printables that will grow your blog fast!
Download my free blog planner for yourself and let me know what you think!
Need a Little More Help with Your Blogging Business?
Sometimes a blog planner just isn’t enough to help you figure out how to turn your blog into a booming business.
Or maybe you haven’t started your blogging business yet, because you’re stuck in what I like to call “analysis paralysis.” You know you want to start a blog, but you’re not sure what you should write about. Then you may wonder who your audience would be. Or what domain name you should grab.
I get it. I had a lot of questions about starting my own blog – and the answers didn’t come easily to me. But soon, I got the hang of it. Now I have a huge blog that brings in hundreds of thousands of visitors each month – and that has created some life-changing revenue for me.
This experience and know-how took years to build and test. But right now, I want to offer you this very experience and know-how that helped me build my massively successful blog I run today. I’m starting up a new coaching business! One where I’m planning on taking on a few bloggers and offering them 1 on 1 coaching until they build and launch successful blogs of their own.
I haven’t started taking on students just yet, but reach out if you want to learn more. You’ll be the first to know when I’m ready to be your coach!
Get access to my FREE 35 + Page Blog Planner by joining our Free Resource Library, just click below!
HAVE YOU EVER USED A FREE BLOG PLANNER? DID YOU FIND IT USEFUL? LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET’S CONNECT! I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
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