Managing content calendars

Content calendars organize your publishing schedule with specific article topics, target keywords, and deadlines. They turn your content strategy from a plan into an actionable timeline that keeps your content creation on track.

What content calendars include

Each calendar shows:

Article entries - Individual pieces of content to create. Publish dates - When each article should go live. Target keywords - Primary keywords each article should rank for. Article titles - Suggested headlines (editable). Topics - Which content topic or cluster each article belongs to. Priority - Which articles are most important to publish first. Status - Whether content is planned, in progress, completed, or published. Assignments - Which team member is responsible (if applicable).

This gives your entire team visibility into what content is coming and when.

Accessing content calendars

Content calendars are generated when you complete the content strategy wizard. To view them:

1. Go to Content Hub in the main navigation
2. Select Content calendars
3. Browse your existing calendars
4. Click any calendar to open the full view

View your content calendars

Each content strategy creates one calendar. You can have multiple calendars for different strategies or purposes.

Calendar views

View your calendar in different formats:

Month view

See the entire month at a glance with articles on their publish dates.

Best for:

• High-level overview
• Spotting gaps in publishing schedule
• Understanding publishing frequency
• Coordinating with team calendars

Week view

Detailed view of one week with more space for article details.

Best for:

• Current week planning
• Day-by-day scheduling
• Coordinating multiple publications per day
• Team workload balancing

List view

All calendar entries in a sortable table.

Best for:

• Filtering by topic or keyword
• Sorting by priority or status
• Bulk editing
• Exporting data

Topic view

Calendar organized by topic clusters instead of dates.

Best for:

• Ensuring topic coverage balance
• Planning topic-focused campaigns
• Seeing which topics have most content
• Identifying underrepresented topics

Switch between views using the buttons at the top of the calendar page.

Working with calendar entries

Click any calendar entry to see full details:

Article information:

• Suggested title
• Target keyword and alternatives
• Recommended word count
• Topic cluster
• Search intent
• Keyword difficulty and volume

Content brief:

• Outline suggestions
• Key points to cover
• Competing content to reference
• Internal linking opportunities

Production details:

• Assigned to (team member)
• Due date for draft
• Review date
• Publish date
• Current status

Actions:

• Start writing with AI
• Generate outline
• Assign to team member
• Change dates
• Mark complete

Creating content from calendar

To write an article from a calendar entry:

1. Open the calendar entry
2. Click Start writing
3. Choose how to proceed:

- AI-generated draft - Full article written by AI (costs credits) - AI outline - Structured outline to write from (fewer credits) - Manual - Blank document to write yourself (no credits)

1. Review and edit the content
2. Publish to your platform

The calendar automatically updates the entry status as you progress from draft to review to published.

Editing calendar entries

To modify an entry:

1. Click the entry in the calendar
2. Select Edit
3. Make changes:

- Change title - Adjust target keyword - Move publish date - Update priority - Reassign team member - Add notes

1. Click Save changes

Drag and drop: In month or week view, drag entries to new dates to reschedule quickly.

Adding custom entries

To add articles not suggested by the wizard:

1. Click Add entry on the calendar
2. Choose date for publication
3. Fill in details:

- Article title - Target keyword - Topic (select from existing or create new) - Priority level - Assignment

1. Click Create entry

This is useful when:

• Timely topics arise that weren't in the original strategy
• You identify new keyword opportunities
• Seasonal content needs to be added
• Client requests or business needs change

Tracking progress

Calendar entries have status indicators:

Planned (gray) - Not started yet. Still on schedule. In progress (blue) - Someone is working on it. Draft in development. Review (yellow) - Draft complete, awaiting review and edits. Ready (green) - Approved and ready to publish. Published (green check) - Live on your site. Links to published URL. Overdue (red) - Past publish date but not completed.

The calendar shows progress at a glance and helps identify bottlenecks or delays.

Team collaboration

For teams, the calendar enables coordination:

Assignments - Assign entries to specific team members. Workload view - See how many articles each person has assigned. Notifications - Team members get alerts for their assignments, deadlines, and reviews. Comments - Leave notes on entries for collaborators. Status updates - When someone changes entry status, everyone sees it. Shared deadlines - Everyone works from the same timeline.

Set team permissions in Settings → Workspace & team to control who can edit the calendar.

Publishing frequency

Adjust how often you publish:

1. Open the calendar
2. Click Settings at the top
3. Choose frequency:

- 1 article per week - 2 articles per week - 3 articles per week - Custom schedule

1. Calendar redistributes entries based on new frequency

Considerations:

• More frequent publishing requires more resources
• Less frequent publishing takes longer to see results
• Quality matters more than quantity
• Consistency beats intensity

Find a pace you can sustain long-term.

Seasonal planning

To account for seasonal topics:

Holiday content - Add time-sensitive entries for holidays, events, or seasons relevant to your business. Lead time - Schedule seasonal content 4-6 weeks before the event so it has time to rank. Annual refresh - Plan to update last year's seasonal content rather than creating new each time. Seasonal keywords - Adjust calendar to target keywords with seasonal search patterns.

Mark seasonal entries with tags to track this content across years.

Integrating with workflows

Connect calendars to automated workflows:

Auto-generation - Schedule AI to automatically create drafts on specified dates. Review reminders - Send notifications when content is due for review. Publishing automation - Auto-publish approved content on schedule (requires platform integration). Social promotion - Trigger social media posts when new content publishes.

Set up workflows in the Workflows section to automate calendar execution.

Exporting calendars

To use calendar data elsewhere:

1. Click Export at the top of calendar
2. Choose format:

- CSV - Import to Excel, Google Sheets, or project management tools - iCal - Add to Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, or Outlook - PDF - Printable calendar for meetings or wall display

1. Download starts immediately

Exports include all entry details, dates, assignments, and status.

Multiple calendars

Create separate calendars for:

Different content types - Blog articles vs. social content vs. email campaigns. Different audiences - B2B calendar vs. B2C calendar. Different timeframes - Q1 calendar, Q2 calendar, etc. Different campaigns - Product launch calendar, seasonal campaign calendar. Different team members - If writers manage their own schedules.

Each calendar can have different settings and assignments. View all calendars together or separately.

Calendar analytics

Track calendar performance:

Completion rate - Percentage of planned articles actually published. On-time percentage - How often content publishes by target date. Time to publish - Average days from planning to publication. Topic balance - Whether all topics get equal coverage. Team productivity - Which team members complete assignments on schedule.

Use analytics to:

• Identify bottlenecks in your content process
• Adjust publishing frequency if completion rates are low
• Recognize top performers
• Improve time estimates for future calendars

Best practices

Be realistic - Don't schedule more content than you can actually create. Build in buffer time - Add a few days between completion and publish date for reviews and revisions. Mix content types - Balance long-form pillar content with shorter cluster articles. Follow topical maps - Ensure calendar reflects your topical map structure. Update status regularly - Keep status current so everyone knows what's happening. Review weekly - Check progress and adjust as needed rather than letting the calendar run on autopilot.

Troubleshooting

Can't keep up with schedule

• Reduce publishing frequency
• Increase use of AI-generated drafts
• Add team members
• Repurpose or update existing content instead of creating new
• Focus on higher-priority entries first

Content quality suffers

• Slow down publishing pace
• Allocate more time per article
• Improve review process
• Invest in writer training
• Use AI for outlines but human writing for drafts

Topics aren't balanced

• Manually adjust entry distribution
• Add entries for underrepresented topics
• Remove or delay low-priority topics
• Review topical map for issues

Team misses deadlines

• Set earlier internal deadlines
• Improve communication about priorities
• Reduce workload per person
• Identify blockers in process
• Adjust expectations for completion time

What's next

After setting up your content calendar:

• Generate content
• Manage published articles
• Track content performance
• Create automated workflows

Questions about content calendars? Use the chat widget in the bottom-right corner or email support@convertmate.io.