Contributed by: Roger C. Parker

In the first two parts of this series, I’ve discussed the importance of creating a content plan for your blog and selecting the days your weekly blog posts will appear. Now, I’d like to discuss the importance of choosing categories of information for your weekly blog posts.

Different information for different days

A successful blog content plan specifies different categories of information for weekly blog posts scheduled on different days of the week. Your goal is to identify broad categories of information your market wants to know, or you feel your market needs to know.

This is a crucial step in your blog content plan. Once you have identified information categories for different days of the week, you’ll find it far easier to select and write about each weekly topic.

Case study of information categories

For example, for over 2 years, at my Published & Profitable Daily Writing Tips Blog, I have been posting 5 days a week. That sounds like a lot, but it’s been remarkably easy to keep on schedule.

Here’s my secret:

• Monday’s posts always address some aspect of planning a book.
• Tuesday’s posts topic always address a writing topic.
• Wednesday’s posts revolve around author marketing and promotion.
• Thursday’s posts discuss topics related to author profitability.
• Friday’s posts describe upcoming events, like teleseminars.

Once I’ve set up my recurring schedule, it becomes increasingly easy to prepare each post. This is because, knowing the categories, my brain is constantly engaged.

Knowing that I have a Friday deadline to begin writing my Monday Planning post, for example, my subconscious brain begins searching for appropriate topics on Thursday. Likewise, on Saturday, my subconscious brain is searching for potential ideas for my Tuesday Writing blog post, etc.

From category to topic

Knowing the category I need to write about each weekday makes it surprisingly easy to select a particular topic for each post and—hence—keep my blog on schedule.

Within each of the 5 categories I have chosen, there’s a broad range of options. For example, here are some potential Monday Planning topics:

• Positioning. There are numerous ways I can address the importance of authors carefully positioning their new books relative to existing books in their field. One option would be to write a “general” post about the importance of positioning. Another option would be to profile Al Ries and Jack Trout’s original book that described the idea of positioning. Finally, I could create a case study profiling an author who has done a good job positioning their book.
• Software tools. Likewise, there are several ways I could address the software tools for authors. I could write about the importance of “the right tool for the right job.” I could discuss the importance of author’s taking full advantage of the capabilities built into their current software. Or I could describe new online worksheets for evaluating book titles or mind mapping templates for creating a book’s table of contents.
• Glossary definitions. One of the easiest categories of blog posts is a series of weekly blog posts identifying important terms that are frequently misunderstood or misused. Each weekly blog post could describe the background and relevance of the term, and show it properly used. The same “one at a time” approach could be used for profiling important leaders or successful individuals in your field
• Mistakes, tips, important events. Likewise, you could any theme includes multiple examples, and create a weekly blog post about it. For example, each week, I could devote a blog post to describing a different mistake frequently made by first-time authors. Or, I could describe a single, actionable, tip or shortcut authors could take. Or, I could take an historical approach and describe an important event in writing history and its relevance for today’s authors and readers.
• New books or upcoming events. Another category approach would be an in-depth review of a book published within the past 30 days, previews of about to be published books, or a weekly blog post devoted to upcoming conferences and teleseminars

As you can see, once you have identified a category for your weekly blog posts, it becomes relatively easy to select a specific topic to write about each week.

Tips for working with categories

Here are some tips suggested by my own experience:

• Long-range view. Increasingly, the most successful nonfiction authors are those who choose their weekly categories based on their upcoming books. These authors choose their weekly post categories in a way that allows each blog post to be included in a chapter in an upcoming book.
• Model your success on others who are successful. Why reinvent the wheel? Analyze the successful bloggers in your field, and see if you can identify repeating categories of information. Go back through their archives of weekly posts, and make a list of the different ways they have approached their categories in different posts.
• Be open to change. Your topic plan doesn’t have to be forever. If it’s not delivering the results you hoped for, after 2 to 6 months, you can choose a different category or begin posting on a different day of the week.
• Track your results. Create a spreadsheet and itemize the comments and trackbacks for your posts in different categories. Note the number of times different categories of posts are referred to on Twitter.

In the next post in this series, I’ll be describing additional ways to leverage your categories and add interest to your blog by choosing the right topics for your weekly blog posts.

In the meantime, visit my Published & Profitable daily writing tips blog where you’ll find other tips for planning, writing, promoting, and profiting from a book that promotes your personal brand.

Author bio
Roger C. Parker is the 32 Million Dollar Author, writer’s coach, and e-course developer. Get his free, 14-page, Write Your Way to Success white paper at Published & Profitable.