A 7-Step Process for Building a Blog Content Backlog

Blogging is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your website, establish thought leadership, and generate leads for your business. In fact, marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to see positive ROI (HubSpot).

However, consistently publishing high-quality blog content is easier said than done. According to HubSpot, 60% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority – but many struggle to maintain a steady cadence. Without a clear strategy and pipeline of ideas, it‘s easy to fall into the trap of scrambling for last-minute topics or letting your blog sit dormant.

The solution is to proactively build up a robust backlog of blog post ideas and content assets. By planning ahead and developing a streamlined process, you can ensure a steady stream of valuable posts that drive results.

Follow these seven steps to fill your blog content backlog and take the stress out of publishing:

1. Set Strategic Goals for Your Blog

Before diving into content creation, take a step back to define the overarching goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) for your blog. What are you ultimately trying to achieve? Common objectives include:

• Driving organic search traffic to your website
• Attracting your target audience and building brand awareness
• Generating leads and moving prospects through the marketing funnel
• Establishing thought leadership and credibility in your industry
• Educating customers and providing helpful resources

While you may have several goals, try to prioritize one or two to really hone your focus. For example, if lead generation is your top priority, you‘ll want to skew topic ideation toward keywords and subjects that attract buyer-ready traffic.

Use the S.M.A.R.T goal framework to establish concrete, measurable targets. A sample goal might be: "Increase organic blog traffic by 25% in Q3 by publishing 2 keyword-optimized posts per week and improving average time on page by 30 seconds."

2. Audit Existing Content for Insights

With goals crystallized, turn your attention to your blog‘s current state. A thorough content audit will help you understand what‘s working, what‘s not, and where there are opportunities for improvement.

If you‘ve been blogging for a while, dive into your analytics to determine:

• Your most trafficked posts and pages
• Posts and topics that generate the most conversions
• Content with high engagement rates (comments, shares, backlinks)
• Top performing keywords you‘re ranking for
• Posts that are ripe for updating or repurposing

Tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can give you a data-driven look at content performance. Within Google Analytics, look at metrics like:

• Pageviews and unique pageviews
• Organic search traffic
• Bounce rate and time on page
• Conversion rate and goal completions

Look for trends and commonalities across your top performing posts. What formats, topics, and tactics seem to resonate most with your audience? For a hypothetical SaaS company blog, maybe detailed how-to guides with screenshots tend to get shared most on social. Or perhaps thought leadership around industry trends drives the highest newsletter sign-ups.

On the flip side, an audit can uncover content gaps and areas for improvement:

• Posts that are outdated or thin on information compared to competitors
• Topics or keywords your audience is searching for that you haven‘t covered substantially
• Content and media types you could expand into based on search data (videos, infographics, etc.)

Let‘s say a SaaS company is targeting the keyword "customer success metrics" but doesn‘t have a definitive piece on the topic. Identifying that gap early allows them to prioritize it in the backlog.

3. Brainstorm and Organize Topic Ideas

Armed with insights on past performance and opportunities, you‘re ready to start ideating the topics that will fill your content backlog. Think of the backlog as an idea bank you can continuously add to and draw from over time.

Aim for a mix of topics mapped to different stages of the buyer‘s journey:

• Top of Funnel (TOFU): Broad, informational topics that help your target audience get to know your brand and build trust. Examples: industry trends, thought leadership, how-to guides
• Middle of Funnel (MOFU): More focused topics that speak to a specific problem your product or service can solve. Examples: case studies, product overviews, comparisons
• Bottom of Funnel (BOFU): Content that directly supports prospects in the decision stage and nudges them to convert. Examples: demos, free trials, buyer‘s guides, customer stories

There‘s no shortage of ways to come up with potential blog post ideas. Some tactics to try:

• Keyword Research: Use SEO tools to find relevant keywords and questions your audience is searching for. Prioritize topics that have decent search volume with lower competition.
• Sales and Customer Service Insights: Tap into the knowledge of your front-line teams. What questions, objections, and pain points do they hear most often? These can seed highly relevant topics.
• Competitive Analysis: Without copying, look at what competing blogs in your niche are writing about. Tools like BuzzSumo can show you their most shared content for inspiration.
• Industry News and Trends: Stay on top of the latest happenings, product launches, and hot topics in your field. Newsjacking can attract timely traffic and position you as a go-to source.
• Customer and Audience Research: Gather voice of customer data through surveys, interviews, and focus groups to understand their top challenges and desires. Scour niche forums and social media to see what people are talking about.
• Team Brainstorms: Hold regular content brainstorms with your marketing team and subject matter experts. Bounce ideas off each other and riff on angles you could take.
• Content Refreshes: Dive back into older posts that performed well but may be outdated. Could you expand on them or repurpose into a new format like an infographic or video?
• Editorial Calendar Themes: If you plan editorial themes or campaigns in advance, generate topic ideas that align with and support those broader initiatives.

Keep a running backlog of ideas in one centralized place, like a spreadsheet or Trello board, so everyone can contribute. Encourage team members to jot down content ideas as they come up in research, conversations, or daily work.

4. Prioritize Topics for the Editorial Calendar

By this point, your backlog should be well-stocked with potential topics – but they‘re not all created equal. Prioritize the ones that will have the greatest impact on your goals with the least effort.

One way to do this is with a simple scoring system. For each topic idea, rate it on a scale of 1-5 for criteria like:

• Relevance: How closely does this topic align with our target audience‘s needs and interests?
• Search Potential: What is the estimated search volume for this keyword/topic? How competitive is it to rank for?
• Funnel Alignment: Does this topic support our core marketing and sales funnel? Will it attract qualified leads?
• Brand Fit: How well does this topic showcase our unique value proposition and brand voice?
• Timeliness: Is this a newsworthy or trending topic that we should cover ASAP?
• Ease of Execution: How much research, expertise, and production will this topic require? Do we have the resources to do it well?

Add up the scores to see which topics rise to the top. You‘ll want a mix of timely and evergreen content, as well as topics across the buyer‘s journey.

Slot prioritized topics into your editorial calendar, aiming for at least 1-3 months worth of content scheduled in advance. Be sure to align posts with relevant marketing campaigns, product launches, and tent-pole events.

5. Determine Resource Allocation

With a prioritized list of topics and a calendar taking shape, it‘s time to figure out how you‘ll actually create all this content. Unless you have an in-house team of dedicated writers, you‘ll likely need a mix of resources:

• In-House Marketers: Tap your core content team to own high-priority, brand-sensitive pieces. Play to each person‘s strengths and subject matter expertise.
• Internal Subject Matter Experts: Enlist your executives, product managers, salespeople, and other internal experts to contribute thought leadership and how-to content. Provide ghostwriting or heavy editing support to polish their insights.
• Freelance Writers: Outsource writing to skilled freelancers, especially for more general topics. Over time you can build up a stable of go-to writers who know your brand voice and audience.
• Guest Contributors: Occasionally accept guest posts from outside experts, influencers, or even customers. This can help fill your pipeline while diversifying your content with fresh perspectives.
• Content Agencies: If you have the budget, hire an agency to support content planning and creation. They can be a good solution for specialized topics or ongoing support.

Be realistic about capacity and aim for a manageable mix of resources. A small team might aim for 1-2 in-house pieces, 1 freelance article, and 1 guest post per week to start.

6. Assign Posts and Manage the Pipeline

With resources lined up, clearly assign owners for each post and set expectations for delivery. A typical process might look like:

1. Outline key talking points and target keywords for the writer
2. Writer submits first draft by agreed-upon due date
3. Editor reviews and provides feedback
4. Writer revises and resubmits
5. Editor gives final approval or requests additional edits
6. Post is scheduled for publish and enters promotion workflow

Use a project management tool like Asana or Trello to keep content moving through the pipeline. Set up recurring tasks and reminders for each stage to avoid bottlenecks.

The clearer your content brief and requirements are upfront, the smoother the process will be. Equip writers with:

• Target word count and outline
• Suggested title and header structure
• Keywords and links to include
• Desired tone and brand voice guidelines
• Formatting and image requirements
• Deadlines and delivery details

Hold a kickoff meeting or video call for bigger projects. A little extra communication goes a long way in aligning expectations and getting strong first drafts.

7. Edit for Quality and Consistency

Editing is where good blog posts become great. Before hitting publish, put every post through a rigorous quality check:

• Does the post comprehensively answer the topic and deliver on the title‘s promise?
• Is the writing clear, concise, and easy to follow with logical headers?
• Does the voice and tone align with our brand‘s style guide?
• Are key points supported with examples, stats, quotes, or other proof points?
• Is the post free of typos, grammar errors, and factual inaccuracies?
• Are links to authoritative sources included where appropriate?
• Does the post end with a relevant call to action (CTA) and next steps for the reader?
• Is the post optimized for target keywords without feeling spammy?
• Do images, screenshots, and other visuals enrich the reader‘s understanding?

Create an editorial checklist that covers your core quality criteria. Train your team on brand voice and style guidelines to minimize heavy rewriting.

Rather than making changes directly, use collaborative editing tools like Google Docs or Microsoft Word to suggest edits and leave comments for the writer. This streamlines version control and helps writers learn your preferences over time.

Provide feedback that acknowledges strengths and offers specific ways to improve, like: "Great job summarizing the key benefits in this section. I‘d love to see a customer quote or case study to really drive the point home."

Once a post is polished and approved, upload it to your CMS and optimize the meta title and description. Double check formatting and add tags or categories to keep your blog organized. Schedule the post to publish on your planned date – and crack open the champagne!

Bonus: Amplify and Repurpose Content for Maximum Reach

Publishing your post is just the beginning. Put as much energy into distribution and promotion as you do creation. Some ways to extend the reach of your blog content:

• Share on your brand‘s social media channels (multiple times)
• Include new posts in your email newsletter and relevant nurture campaigns
• Encourage employees to share posts on their own social accounts
• Engage communities like Reddit, Quora, and LinkedIn Groups with relevant excerpts
• Republish on sites like Medium or LinkedIn for increased visibility
• Pitch guest post condensed versions to other blogs and publications
• Reach out to experts quoted or mentioned in the piece to share
• Run paid social ads or use content discovery platforms like Outbrain
• Optimize for SEO to attract organic search traffic over time

You can also repurpose high-performing blog content into other valuable formats like:

• Downloadable guides or ebooks
• Social media graphics
• YouTube videos or webinars
• Infographics or data visualizations
• Podcast episodes or interviews

By putting a system in place to consistently fill your content backlog and promote posts after publish, blogging can become your most powerful channel for attracting an audience and driving measurable results.

"The key is to have a good mix of content that‘s relevant to your audience at different stages of the buyer‘s journey," says Jane Smith, Content Marketing Manager at Company X. "Having that balance of topics planned out in advance allows you to show up consistently while still being nimble enough to react to timely opportunities."

Start building out your blog content backlog using this framework and you‘ll never sit staring at a blank editorial calendar again. Your future self – and your engaged readers – will thank you.