Hello Dance Monkey Clients 🙂 It’s time to grow your online business website traffic and results!
To begin the process, I want to discuss having a well-structured monthly marketing calendar for improving your website results. When we look at your overall website and SEO keyword results, it becomes obvious that a well structured plan is necessary to get consistent new growth. Regardless of the industry you are in, an organised and strategic approach to marketing will make a significant difference in driving traffic, engaging your audience, and ultimately achieving your online goals.
In this article, we will explore the key elements of building a monthly marketing calendar to enhance your website’s performance and ensure consistent growth. In our first training at the end of September, we will discuss the patterns and cycles of success strategy in detail with you. For now, let’s get some of the basic ideas on the table so you can see what you are and aren’t doing so you can fortify your marketing plan of action.
The Importance of a Monthly Marketing Calendar
Before delving into the details of creating a marketing calendar, it’s essential to understand why it is so crucial for website success. Here are some compelling reasons:
1. Consistency
Consistency is the foundation of successful online marketing. A monthly marketing calendar helps you plan and execute your marketing activities consistently. Regular, timely updates to your website and social media channels build trust with your audience and keep them engaged.
2. Goal Alignment
A well-structured calendar allows you to align your marketing efforts with your overarching business or website goals. It ensures that every activity you undertake contributes to achieving those goals, whether they involve driving traffic, increasing conversions, or growing your email list.
3. Time Management
Time is a precious resource, and a monthly marketing calendar helps you manage it efficiently. By planning your activities in advance, you can allocate time wisely, preventing last-minute scrambles and allowing for better time management.
4. Adaptation and Optimisation
Regular analysis of your marketing efforts is essential for improvement. A monthly calendar enables you to assess what’s working and what’s not. You can make data-driven decisions and adjust your strategies accordingly, optimising your website’s performance over time.
Building Your Monthly Marketing Calendar
Now that we’ve established the importance of a marketing calendar let’s delve into the steps to create one tailored to your website’s needs.
1. Set Clear Goals
Begin by defining your website’s overarching goals. Are you looking to increase website traffic, generate leads, boost sales, or improve brand awareness? Your goals will dictate the content and strategies you employ in your marketing calendar. It’s important to know that you shouldn’t have more than about two or three goals for the month. Your goals should build across each month to stack your successes and to not reduce the successes for the month.
2. Conduct Research
Research is the foundation of a successful marketing calendar. Conduct keyword research and competitor analysis to identify opportunities and trends in your niche. This information will help you select the right topics and strategies for the month. We will begin sending you a monthly site and SEO report at the beginning of each month, so you can review the current results and make your plan accordingly.
3. Outline Content Strategy
Based on your research, outline your content strategy. Decide what type of content you’ll create, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, or podcasts. Ensure that your content aligns with your goals and provides value to your audience. We suggest you create a consistent pattern of content development. You shouldn;t need more than a few hours each week to begin and the time to build content should reduce as you gain momentum.
4. Create a Content Calendar
Now, create a content calendar that outlines when you will publish each piece of content. Consider the timing and frequency that works best for your audience and industry. For example, if you run a food blog, posting new recipes every Tuesday and Thursday might be a good schedule. Good news! We have secured a social media content management tool that you will be able to access from your marketing dashboard in the backend of your website. We will be doing a training video to show you how to login and how to then access the tools.
5. Social Media Strategy
Because everyone knows social media, we believe you should be Integrating your social media efforts into a calendar, so you can monitor your efforts against your results. Plan and schedule posts that promote your content goals and engage your audience. Use social media management tools to automate posting and track engagement metrics. We also suggest that you consider using UTM codes when putting together a social media campaign, which is a series of posts. [note: this isn’t as effective if you are using a single post strategy]
6. Email Marketing Campaigns
If you have an email list [database], which you should have in Engagebay or in Moosend [which is a new tool we are making available to you in the marketing dashboard], you should be planning your email marketing campaign for the month. These could include newsletters, product announcements, or special promotions. They can also include changes to your delivery process, new people on board or even a client success story. Always, always, always ensure that your email content drives your recipients back to your website. If you’ve not heard me say it before, your website is the hub of all your marketing efforts. All roads should lead to your website, not Rome 🙂
7. Paid Advertising
If your budget allows, consider incorporating paid advertising into your calendar. Allocate funds for platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads to boost your reach and drive targeted traffic to your website. We don’t suggest this as a beginning strategy. If you don’t have a consistent social media, email marketing and blogging strategy yet, don’t do paid advertising.
8. Outreach and Collaborations
Dedicate time for outreach and collaborations. Reach out to influencers or industry partners for guest posting opportunities or co-marketing initiatives. Building relationships in your niche can expand your audience and credibility. An hour a week of reaching out to new people can create so many new connections. Not all connections will yield new opportunities immediately, so it is important to keep your connections and possible opportunities growing.
9. Monitor and Adjust
Around the middle of each month, we recommend you take stock of what is happening because of your efforts. Every two weeks monitor the performance of your marketing efforts. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and email campaign reports to track key performance indicators (KPIs). Are you meeting your goals? What can you further optimise or improve? We’ve learned that if you don’t schedule it, it probably won’t get done.
10. Monthly/ Quarterly Reviews
At the end of the month, conduct a comprehensive review of your marketing activities. Evaluate what worked well and what didn’t. Use this information to refine your strategies for the next month. Each quarter we will meet with you to discuss your site growth and potential SEO opportunities to take advantage of. If you are unsure of how to read your report, we will assist you to make sure you incorporate keywords as part of your monthly content strategy.
Sample Monthly Marketing Calendar
Here’s a sample monthly marketing calendar to provide a practical example of how to structure your activities. It’s a good basic calendar to begin with. Once you have used it for a couple of months, we recommend that you amend it and adapt your own calendar based on your outcomes.
Monthly Calendar:
Week 1: SEO and Content Planning
- Day 1:
- Perform an SEO audit.
- Identify target keywords.
- Day 2-4:
- Plan content strategy.
- Day 5-7:
- Create and optimise content.
Week 2: Content Creation and Social Media
- Day 1-3:
- Continue content creation.
- Day 4:
- Schedule and publish the first piece of content.
- Day 5-7:
- Create engaging social media posts.
Week 3: Email Marketing and Outreach
- Day 1:
- Prepare an email marketing campaign.
- Day 2-4:
- Send the email campaign.
- Day 5-7:
- Reach out to influencers for collaborations.
Week 4: Paid Advertising and Analytics
- Day 1-2:
- Review performance using analytics.
- Day 3:
- Adjust content or advertising strategies.
Finally: Prepare a monthly performance report.
Conclusion
Every business owner wants more business, but not everyone is willing to put in the needed effort. A monthly marketing calendar is your roadmap to simplifying online success.
By setting clear goals, conducting research, and carefully planning your monthly marketing activities, you can consistently improve your website’s results.
Remember that your website won’t build traffic on its own, it is a passive media and needs marketing assistance. You must realise that consistency is the key to momentum.Audiences can be fickle and opportunistic, if they aren’t getting it from you, then they will get it from your competitors. Be prepared to adapt, measure and evolve your strategies as needed.
With dedication and a well-structured plan, your website and business can achieve its full potential and continue to grow past your dreams and goals online.
Great Success,
The Dance Monkey Team
