Yesterday we talked about using the keyword planner tool to come up with blog post ideas. Today I have another tool/ tip for you. You can use a blogging planner to come up with almost endless blog post ideas and make sure they work well depending on the time of year etc.

One of my favorite blogging planners is the free planner published by Market Right, from BlogEnergizer.com. It’s a cool planning tool and each month you get a list of ideas for things you can blog about that month. And if you prefer a physical planner that has a little luxury while being practical, The Content Planner is indeed for you – I love it. This 15-month tactile tool includes monthly stickers to set up your planner and write in your dates. No more waiting for your start date or wasting pages. Start (or stop) planning anytime.

Of course, you can also come up with your own niche-specific blogging calendar. The idea is to come up with a couple of losing themes for each month, or even each week. To make your own blogging calendar, get out a monthly calendar, or grab a notebook and dedicate a page to each month.

Next, look through your regular calendar and make note of seasons and holidays. Jot down a few blogging ideas for each in the appropriate months. For example, if you’re a food blogger, you may want to plan some grilling recipes for May in celebration of and preparation for Memorial Day and some red white and blue dishes for th^e 4^th of July (in the US).

You can get also find all sorts of funny, interesting, and obscure holidays online. There’s a pancake day, a hot chocolate day and more. Daysoftheyear.com is a good resource for finding wacky holidays you can blog about.

Another great option is to leverage the research magazines in your niche do. Head online or dig out your stack of saved magazines and look at the covers. You can usually figure out general these for certain months. Take note of those themes and see what you can use with your own blog.

The nice thing with any blogging calendar is that you can write it out once and then use it for years to come. Sure, you can add and change things out, but the basic structure is there and if you keep the themes and ideas loose enough, you’ll come up with fresh blog post ideas year after year.

I hope you join me and follow along in this 30-Day Challenge. If you haven’t already done so, you can sign up for the daily emails. I’ll share the day’s post there and some other bits and pieces with you here. And feel free to invite other bloggers who may find this information helpful.