Just 5 Steps: Create a Content Plan
Topic -> Subtopics -> Blog Posts-> Monetization Pages -> Interlinking
Today, I’m sharing how I create a plan for my blog content: how I decide on the specific topics and posts to write. This is the third tier of my blog-building process.
The foundation of my content planning is the blogging approach (first tier) and the strategies (second tier), both explained in previous newsletters or in this blog post.
The approach helps me figure out the types of topics and posts to focus on moving forward. Quick recap: evergreen content, problem-solution, experience-based, and content that can’t be produced by AI.
The specific topics, voice, tone, and format of each post are shaped by the goals and audience of each strategy.
If that sounds confusing, below is an organized representation:
Approach:
Strategy 1: Affiliate marketing (Tone: enthusiastic; Voice: online travel guide; Format: guides, maps, etc.)
Content Plan A: Destinations in the Philippines
Content Plan B: Life as a content creator
Content Plan C: Christian values for business
Strategy 2: Services and partnerships (Tone: helpful; Voice: content creator companion; Format: case studies, thought leadership, etc.)
Content Plan D: Online business
Content Plan E: Blogging
Content Plan F: Personal branding
Strategy 3: Subscription and sales (Tone: encouraging; Voice: friend; Format: essays, confessions, etc.)
Content Plan G: Lessons throughout the years
Content Plan H: Freedom
Content Plan I: Clarity and meaning
*The specific details above are just examples.
So far, I’m currently in the middle of the execution of my first content plan under the first strategy. It’s focused on Sagada, a place in Northern Philippines.
My latest posts are: Waterproofing is Non-Negotiable: A Must-Have for Sagada Trip and Avoiding Problems Charging Your Gadgets During a Group Trip.
In the planning stage, I listed 8 new blog posts to write, 6 pages for my main affiliate marketing efforts, and 3 more pages that will serve as download pages for files included in some posts. In total, there’ll be 17 new directories added to my blog after I finish the plan. By the way, I already had 3 existing blog posts about Sagada before creating the plan. Since they still add a lot of value, I included them, bringing the total to 20 directories for this mini project.
Now, let me discuss to you how I exactly created this content plan.
But before we start, you should know something.
I didn’t use a content calendar when I created this plan.
In fact, I might not need to use one at all. Why? Two reasons.
First, I focus on evergreen content.
Second, the topics I want to write about are mostly not seasonal.
What I’ve focused on (and will keep focusing on) is building a topical cluster where blog posts are interlinked whenever there’s a close relation. This is very important for two things.
First, it helps the reader discover more of your content and get the sense that your blog is actually useful.
Second, when readers click those links, it signals to search engines that your content is engaging. That gives your blog a better chance to rank higher if posts are grouped and well interlinked.
Now, let’s go through the main steps I followed when planning my content. I have five main steps for this.
First, identify the topic that will be the center of the content cluster.
Second, determine the subtopics that will be the subject of the blog posts.
Third, write the blog post titles.
Fourth, figure out the pages that will be used for monetization.
Fifth, arrange the blog posts and pages to form the interlinking web.
Topic
The topic is the first thing we need to determine.
This step is simple: choose a topic you’re genuinely interested in writing about and one where you have experience or expertise. The last two are important because you need to offer something new.
Subtopic
Choosing the subtopic can be done in different ways. You can ask AI, or you can do the traditional keyword research using SEO tools like Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, and similar platforms.
In my case, for my content planning efforts for Sagada, I used AI.
I chose AI because keywords are starting to lose relevancy as people now search for content online in a more conversational way.
I also used AI because it works as an LLM, which means it runs on an algorithm that selects words based on their closest probability or strongest relation to another word, in this case, the topic I want to write about.
During my topic research, I asked AI to act as my content strategist and planner. I asked what aspects, elements, or factors (whichever is appropriate) I should cover in my blog posts if I’m going to write about a topic. I also asked it to filter out non-commercial topics since they usually have low or no return on investment.
Since my topic is about a travel destination, AI told me I should write about planning, accommodation, transportation, and activities related to that destination.
After that, I asked AI to tell me the commonly met problems under each of those aspects. I focused on commonly met problems because those are the topics that people will surely read.
AI suggested hundreds of subtopics, but I only selected the ones where I could share an opinion based on experience.
That’s how I determined the subject for each blog post.
Blog Post Title
Now that we have a subject for each blog post, coming up with a title based on that subject becomes necessary at this point. This helps you shape the structure of the content cluster you’re building.
And if you can already tell exactly what the blog post will contain, even better. In my case, knowing what each blog post will include also helped me figure out the monetization pages, which is the next step.
Monetization Pages
I try to keep the monetization part separate from the blog post as much as possible.
Sales copy for affiliate products (or your own) shouldn’t be mixed into the main content because it brings down the quality. Imagine you’re the reader and instead of getting useful information, you keep running into stuff that’s clearly trying to sell you something. That’s frustrating, right?
So I let the monetization pages handle the job of promoting products and services instead.
The great thing about doing it this way is you only need a few pages focused on monetization, and you can link to them from different blog posts. That gives you multiple chances to earn by funneling readers from blog posts to these pages.
Interlinking
A content plan isn’t complete without mapping how your blog posts will link to each other. By creating an interlinking map, you’ll be ready to write content that naturally connects with another post or your monetization pages.
This also helps you avoid using things like “related: <title of another blog post>” which probably doesn’t get any clicks anyway.
Wrapping Up
That’s it! This is how I plan content for my blog.
What do you think? Did I miss anything?
In the next issue of my newsletter, I’ll explain the structure of my blog posts. I’ll show you how it aligns with my approach, strategy, and planning.
Thanks for reading!