September 10, 2010 104 Comments

Use an Editorial Calendar

This is not a paid advertisement or affiliate marketing. I just think this product is really useful.

My friends at STRESSLIMIT have built a really nifty plugin for WordPress called the editorial calendar. It works exceptionally well at a very simple, but useful task. It helps you plan out your content with a very useful drag and drop interface. I checked it out a day or two ago and am already using the heck out of it.

It’s free. You should get it and start using it right away. Here are the features:

Features

  1. See all of your posts and when they’ll be posted.
  2. Drag and drop to change your post dates.
  3. Quickedit post titles, contents, and times.
  4. Publish posts or manage drafts.
  5. Easily see the status of your posts.
  6. Manage posts from multiple authors.

Kind of a no-brainer, right? Here’s the awesome video walkthrough from Zack Grossbart:

The WordPress Editorial Calendar Screen Cast from Zack Grossbart on Vimeo.

I’m using the editorial calendar and you should give it a go. Oh, and I used it to put this post out the day after I wrote it in the afternoon, because I had a slot open for my afternoon content.

To reiterate, I’m not paid or otherwise being compensated to talk about this product. The guys at STRESSLIMIT designed my logo for me, but beyond that, I have no business arrangements with them. They’re just awesome people.

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

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  • http://www.jennszen.com Jennifer

    This is an awesome plugin. I was actually looking for something just like this today. Thanks for being timely (in my universe at least) and mentioning it. :)

  • http://blog.esimplestudios.com Gabriele Maidecchi

    Oh that looks like a very interesting plugin, I am sure it will come handy.
    Thanks for sharing Chris!

  • http://jasonwietholter.com Jason Wietholter

    Rock!

  • http://jasonwietholter.com Jason Wietholter

    Rock!

  • http://ericbrown.com Eric D. Brown

    Very nice. Thanks for Sharing Chris.

  • http://ericbrown.com Eric D. Brown

    Very nice. Thanks for Sharing Chris.

  • http://twitter.com/vascocv vasco vasconcelos

    Really cool and useful! Thanks for sharing!

  • http://twitter.com/vascocv vasco vasconcelos

    Really cool and useful! Thanks for sharing!

  • http://twitter.com/ottawagoodtime Ottawa Goodtime Ctr.

    I have been doing with a physical calendar and this looks like a huge help. Thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/ottawagoodtime Ottawa Goodtime Ctr.

    I have been doing with a physical calendar and this looks like a huge help. Thanks!

  • http://cashwithatrueconscience.com/rbblog Ryan Biddulph

    Thanks for sharing Chris, looks like an awesome plug-in.

  • Olorinpc

    Couldn’t agree more. Just discovered it yesterday, rearranged my whole approach to scheduling posts. Instead of trying to keep up with a physical cal that I tend to either misplace or otherwise ignore, it resides right in my wordpress admin section.

    Great plugin.

  • Olorinpc

    Couldn’t agree more. Just discovered it yesterday, rearranged my whole approach to scheduling posts. Instead of trying to keep up with a physical cal that I tend to either misplace or otherwise ignore, it resides right in my wordpress admin section.

    Great plugin.

  • Kyle

    Consider this used. Thanks for the tip Chris!

  • http://www.getstoried.com/ Michael Margolis

    Great recommendation. Just what the Dr ordered. Thanks

  • http://www.lynetteradio.com/ LynetteRadio

    /screams/ THANK YOU! I set up and keep a custerfook of editorial calendars both on paper and Google/Outlook for myself and clients to do exactly this.

  • http://www.slymarketing.com Jens P. Berget

    Thanks a lot for this Chris. I’ve been looking for something like this. Right now, I’m saving all my new posts on my computer (because I’m writing them OmmWriter and not wordpress). I’ll install it right away and start testing.

    By the way, are you writing all your posts using wordpress or are you using a different software for your writing (and then copy and paste the posts to wordpress once they’re ready)?

  • http://www.igobydoc.com igobydoc

    Thanks for sharing Chris… I am headed to install this right now and try it out.

    Doc

  • http://alexisgrant.com Alexis Grant

    I started using the calendar this week, too, after it was featured on… some tech/social media site that pops up in my Google Reader, can’t remember which one. And it’s been GREAT! I’m a fan.

  • Anonymous

    Chris, this sounds and looks great (just watched Zack’s video), and I can already see how useful it will be for one of my blogs.

    Unfortunately, I’ve just installed the plugin and it’s not working. The dates aren’t showing up, and I can’t move forward or back or add a new entry.

    Maybe Zack will be stopping by and can lend me a hand? Or … my e-mail is bperson – AT – gmail – DOT – com. Thanks!

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  • http://www.chrisljordan.com Chris Jordan

    I’m all over it. This will prevent my streak from ending. :)

  • http://www.chrisljordan.com Chris Jordan

    I’m all over it. This will prevent my streak from ending. :)

  • http://www.flextimeincome.com Spence

    Chris — great plug-in. I can’t wait to check it out. Thanks for sharing.

  • http://www.flextimeincome.com Spence

    Chris — great plug-in. I can’t wait to check it out. Thanks for sharing.

  • Anonymous

    Exactly what I was looking for cheers

  • http://www.PhoenixCommercialRealEstate.com Marc Brodeur

    This is very, very useful. A mini God send…literally. I was just thinking I need something like this. And poof, here it is! Thank you for sharing Chris.

  • http://pixelcurrents.com Annie Boccio

    ooh, me likey! Thanks, Chris!

  • http://www.callummahoney.com Callum Mahoney

    I’m just in the process of launching a new magazine style blog. This plug-in will be a tremendous help. Thanks for the heads up Chris.

  • http://imaginarytrout.com Imaginary Trout

    nice wordpress plugin, thanks for sharing!

  • Anonymous

    I happened across this plugin last week and after using it for a short period of time I don’t know how I ever lived without it. It cleaned up my workflow in a jiffy. When I had a small problem Zack was very responsive. Now instead of staring at a blank page I have topics scheduled out for the next 4 months. Brilliant tool. Bravo.

    • http://www.joshchandlerva.com Josh Chandler

      Dawn,

      You’ve got to love the WordPress developers who offer top notch customer service. :)

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  • http://www.elaunch.com.au/blog Michael

    Interesting, definitely helps keep an eye if you have many posts to be published. I wonder how many posts do you write in advance.

  • http://www.social-discomfort.com Pam Komarnicki

    I just recently started using this plugin too, probably found it through the same source as Alexis. It’s fantastic, and it makes it so much easier to schedule posts and see your posting history.

  • http://www.type-shop.com/blog/ Justin

    Looks really useful, both for your publishing workflow and for planning. This could be especially helpful for getting a visual overview of your blog’s theme and gauging the balance of content you’re providing.

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  • http://twitter.com/retheauditors Francine McKenna

    You’re assuming I run on a schedule like a train or an airline rather than on serendipity and inspiration driven by how the stars align and the Google Alerts roll….

    • http://www.joshchandlerva.com Josh Chandler

      Francine,

      Whilst I would agree with you that we cannot be too accurate in our predictions on what will be great content in the future, it adds an element of safety to the publishing cycle of your blog.

      If you aim to publish a new post every Monday morning and you happen to be stuck in a meeting, where will your readers go for this information? Likely, it won’t be your blog.

  • Shanna

    Chris,

    This is EXACTLY what I need! Simple, clean, and easy to use–what could be better?

    Thanks for the good stuff!

  • http://www.BillHibbler.com Bill Hibbler

    Great suggestion, Chris, and btw, even if this were a paid rather than free plug-in, I wouldn’t mind if you were getting a commission for it. I understand that FTC’s new requirement on transparency and you always label a link appropriately when it’s an affiliate link. Have you been getting flack about this? It seems like you went out of your way, more than usual, to point out that you weren’t being compensated.

  • newmedia

    I knew there was a reason I read this blog all the time. awesomeness

  • newmedia

    I knew there was a reason I read this blog all the time. awesomeness

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  • http://twitter.com/theandroidtips androidtipstricks

    The ease of use is great! Good recommendation, thank you!

  • http://twitter.com/theandroidtips androidtipstricks

    The ease of use is great! Good recommendation, thank you!

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  • http://www.joshchandlerva.com Josh Chandler

    I was watching the video and the moment they showed how you could create “New Posts” on the calendar plugin, I knew I had to have it. :)

  • http://twitter.com/graywolf Michael Gray

    Hi Josh,

    When you look at the calendar view it shows posts that are pending review, since those won’t publish unless someone changes the status it’s not exactly a true view. It would be nice if there was a way to tell that visually. Hopefully that made some sense.

    • http://www.zackgrossbart.com Zack Grossbart

      Hello Michael,

      If you select the Screen Options pull down on the upper right corner if the calendar window it will expand and you can select what fields you want to see in the calendar. If you show the status field then you can see which posts are pending review and which ones are scheduled for publication.

      Is that what you were looking for?

  • http://www.missiondrivenbrand.com rpene

    Dude, this is it right here!

    I think the framework to this plugin will actually get me motivated to start writing :)

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  • http://bridgingcenturies.wordpress.com Bridging Centuries

    I love this idea and went straight to my blog to add the calendar. I discovered that the Twenty-Ten theme does not have a plugin section. Does anyone know what themes do?

    • http://www.zackgrossbart.com Zack Grossbart

      The theme you choose controls how your blog looks to other people, but it doesn’t change the look or functionality of the WordPress admin console. You probably don’t have the Plugins menu item because you don’t have permission to see it.

      Was your blog set up by someone else? Are you an administrator of your blog?

      Thanks for trying it.

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