The content creation process can be tricky! It’s normal for people to struggle or feel overwhelmed by it.
But this is easily avoidable. How?
By creating a workflow to:
- Visualize the process
- Keep you organized
- Assign time-bound tasks
I’m going to show you how to do this using Trello.
How To Manage Content Creation
Trello is a simple free tool that helps you keep track of content creation.
It is great because it makes it easy to:
- Collaborate: you can add lots of people to each board
- Visualize: you can see exact stages of your workflow
- Communicate: you can leave comments on each card
- Organize: you can upload files to each card
- Set deadlines: you can assign deadlines to each card
It also comes with a great mobile app so you can access your content creation process on-the-go.
I use Trello to organize my entire life!
(My partner did get mad when I created a Trello board for changing our baby’s nappies, though.)
How Trello Works
Trello works by using “boards”. You create a board for individual projects.
Each board is broken down into individual columns. These are the stages of your workflow.
For content creation, you might use these columns:
- Content ideas: potential pieces from your keywords
- Content specification: create your content spec for this piece
- Writing: the content is in-progress
- Load into WordPress: ready to be added to your site
- Format post: remove bad code, upload images, make it pretty etc.
- Final review: last edit before you post
- Add internal links: link to/from supporting content
- Revision Required: the post is not ready and needs changes
- Done: the post is uploaded and published on your site.
Once you have your columns in place, you can create an interactive card. These cards represent each individual piece of content:
The card needs a minimum of a headline. I recommend you include your target word count in the headline to keep an overview of your current content load!
I also like to put a link to the content specification document for quick reference.
As you progress, you can add:
- Comments
- Relevant links
- Images
- Files
Once you have completed a stage of your workflow, you can just drag-and-drop the card to the next section:
Download The Template
I have created a Trello board template for you here.
To use it you’ll need to create a copy of it. Go to:
Show Menu > More > Copy Board
You can then rename the board for your content process:
Add Your Content
Next you just need to add your content to your copy of the board.
To create a card just click the Add a card button in the column.
Create a card for each piece of content and then paste a link to the relevant content specification document in Google docs into the description.
In the end it should look something like this:
Final Thoughts…
Whether you write the content yourself or outsource it…
You have now built a simple system to help manage and streamline your content creation process.
But let’s take a closer look at how you can outsource all of your content creation because this is often a bottleneck to growth.