According to Content Marketing Institute, 68% of companies think they don’t have the right technologies to adequately manage content across their platforms. What if we told you you can avoid this problem using our simple FREE website content plan template?
Building a website that not only attracts visitors but also keeps them coming back requires strategic planning. A website content template will be your main asset for organizing the website content planning process and optimizing content for success in 2025 and beyond.
Whether you’re a marketer with years of experience, a small business owner, or someone who writes on WordPress, you need a good content plan. It’s not just nice to have anymore – it’s something you really can’t do without. Whether you decide to go with one of the content planning tools down the line, this free template is a good start to get your blog on the right track.
Let’s dive into why you need one and how it can transform your website.
What is a website content plan template?
At its core, a website content writing template is a structured document that outlines the organization, creation, and presentation of content across your website. Think of it as the blueprint for your blog content strategy.
Here’s what makes it a must-have:
- Organizational Power: It clearly maps out what content goes where, ensuring nothing is overlooked.
- Quality Control: By sticking to a plan, you can maintain a consistent tone, voice, and style throughout your site.
- Strategic Excellence: It’s not just about organizing content; it’s about planning content that aligns with your goals and resonates with your audience.
When done right, a website content plan template saves you time, eliminates guesswork, and improves the overall content creation process, helping your team create content that shines.
Why is it important to have a website content plan template?
Imagine building a house without a blueprint, it would likely end up disorganized, chaotic, or worse, unfinished and crumbling under your feet. The same goes for your website.
A website content plan template is important because it:
- Ensures every piece of content has a purpose and place.
- Provides clarity for teams so everyone knows their role in content creation and publishing.
- Creates a seamless experience for visitors, improving both usability and engagement.
This kind of website content planning template isn’t just beneficial; it’s essential.
Benefits of using a website content strategy template
If you’re not convinced yet, let’s break down the key benefits of using a website content plan template:
1. Saves time
A website content plan template eliminates the guesswork from content creation. Instead of wasting hours brainstorming topics, deciding on headlines, or figuring out where content fits on your site, a template provides a clear structure and roadmap.
Each piece of content is pre-planned with details like target audience, publishing schedules, and SEO requirements. This upfront clarity allows teams to focus on executing tasks rather than debating the next steps.
For businesses with multiple contributors, a centralized content plan also reduces time spent answering repetitive questions or addressing miscommunications; everything your team needs is documented and accessible.
Instead of scrambling to find gaps in your content strategy, you can use your content plan to identify opportunities at a glance, ensuring deadlines are met without unnecessary stress.
2. Content quality
Website content template acts as a quality assurance tool, ensuring all pieces meet your brand’s standards for tone, style, and value. Without clear guidelines, content can feel inconsistent, disjointed, or off-brand. A structured plan defines essential elements like tone of voice, target audience, and key messages, helping your writers stay aligned with your brand’s vision.
By having this structure in place, you also minimize errors and inconsistencies across your website. Over time, this consistency translates into a stronger brand identity and builds trust with your audience.
3. Helps teams plan and organize
A collaborative content plan is like a playbook for your entire team. Writers, editors, designers, and SEO specialists all have access to the same roadmap, which reduces confusion and ensures everyone is aligned. This is especially valuable for businesses with remote or cross-functional teams, where clear communication is essential.
For instance, if a designer knows when a blog will be published, they can prepare visuals in advance. Similarly, editors can schedule time for review without overlapping with publishing deadlines. With a detailed content plan, your team can track progress, identify bottlenecks, and address potential delays proactively.
4. Consistency in content creation and presentation
When your website content follows a cohesive structure, tone, and style, it creates a seamless experience for your audience. This consistency builds credibility, makes your brand more recognizable, and fosters trust.
A content template ensures that everything from blog posts to landing pages and product pages feels unified. Using the same framework for headlines, meta descriptions, and internal links creates a more professional and polished site. Visitors are more likely to explore additional pages if the navigation and presentation feel intuitive and familiar.
Moreover, consistent presentation improves internal efficiency. With a pre-defined style guide and structure, team members spend less time reinventing the wheel for each content piece.
5. Improves search engine rankings and user experience
Search engines prioritize websites with well-structured, high-quality content, and a content plan helps you deliver just that. By pre-defining your primary and secondary keywords, meta descriptions, and internal linking strategy, you optimize your content for better visibility in search results as part of your seo strategy. This approach ensures every page is aligned with SEO best practices, helping your site rank higher for target keywords.
Also read: How to add keywords in WordPress
From a user perspective, a content plan enhances the overall experience. Visitors are more likely to stay on your site if they can quickly find what they’re looking for, thanks to well-organized and strategically placed content. For example, a structured plan can help ensure your most important blog posts are easy to navigate, linked to related content, and optimized for readability. These improvements result in lower bounce rates, higher engagement, and ultimately, better conversions.
By combining SEO optimization with user-centric design, a content plan becomes the backbone of a website that performs well for both search engines and enhances your marketing efforts to reach your audience.
Essential elements of a website content strategy template
Each website and business is unique, and will contain special elements in the website content plan—but there are elements that should be present in every content plan to ensure it is both comprehensive and effective.
These elements are evergreen and improve overall organization, SEO performance, and content creation efforts and output quality in general.
Article number
Assign a unique article number to each piece of content to simplify tracking and organization within your editorial blog calendar.
Publishing month
Clearly define the month each piece will be published to align content production with your marketing schedule and seasonal trends.
Writer
Assign a specific writer to ensure accountability and maintain consistency in tone and quality across your content.
Headline
A well-thought-out headline that engages readers and improves click-through rates. Your headline should be concise, attention-grabbing, and include target keywords to attract both readers and search engines.
Page URL
A clean, keyword-rich page URL that makes it easy for search engines to understand the destination of the page. A good URL structure improves SEO while making your content more accessible and understandable for users.
Title Tag
A title tag that makes the headline clickable on SERPS and is important for organic ranking and user experience.
Meta description
A meta description that provides a quick summary of the web page and helps users decide whether the content is relevant to them.
Content brief
A content brief for writers is a detailed document that outlines the key requirements and guidelines for creating a piece of content. It acts as a roadmap, helping writers understand the purpose, tone, target audience, and other crucial aspects of the content they’re tasked with creating. It gives them specific instruction on how to write content.
These are the elements of a content brief:
- Content title or topic – Clearly define what the content piece is about.
- Target audience – Describe who the content is for, including demographics, interests, and pain points.
- Content goals – Specify the purpose of the content—what you want it to achieve.
- Tone and style guidelines – Indicate how the content should sound, such as formal, conversational, or authoritative.
- Word count or length – Provide a target word count or length for the piece.
- Key points to cover – Outline the main topics or sections the content should include.
- SEO guidelines and checklist – Include relevant keyword research, meta descriptions, and internal/external links to use.
- Reference materials – Share any research, links, or resources to guide the writer.
- Call-to-action (CTA) – Specify what action readers should take after engaging with the content.
- Deadline – Provide a clear deadline for when the content needs to be submitted.
- Comment – Leave some space for contributors’ comments, in case there’s something you need to pay special attention to, fix, or investigate.
Primary keyword
A primary keyword that helps search engines understand what the page is about. This is the main keyword or phrase your content is targeting, guiding search engine algorithms to rank the page for relevant queries.
Secondary keywords
Secondary keywords are related terms or phrases that support the primary keyword, providing additional context and helping content rank for a broader range of search queries. Include related keywords or phrases to provide context and help your content rank for additional search queries.
Status
Track the progress of each content piece, such as “Draft,” “In Review,” or “Published,” to maintain an organized workflow. Here’s how simple it is to set a status with Strive on your WordPress website:
And here’s how nice it looks in the built-in post calendar for your blog posts:
Check out these calendar plugins for WordPress
Draft link
Provide a direct link to the working draft, allowing easy access for collaborators and reviewers during the editing process.
Other links
List any internal or external links to be included in the content, supporting SEO and user engagement by providing valuable resources.
Word count
Set a target word count and an appropriate page title to ensure your content is detailed enough to cover the topic but concise enough to maintain reader interest.
Comments/miscellaneous
Add notes or comments for the writer, editor, or other team members, including special instructions or additional context for the content piece.
Website content planning template
Here’s an example of an essential website content plan: use this free template as an inspiration and customize it to your liking:
| Article Number | Publishing Month | Writer | Headline | Page URL | Title Tag | Meta Description | Content Brief | Primary Keyword | Secondary Keywords | Status | Draft Link | Other Links | Word Count | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
This is a blank template for you to fill in the necessary details.
Conclusion
A website content plan template isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a cornerstone of effective content strategy and creation. By organizing your content ideas, timelines, and essential details in one place, you can ensure consistency, maintain quality, and streamline your workflow.
When you follow the essential elements of a content plan, like setting clear goals, optimizing for SEO, and tracking progress, you’re setting your business up for success. A well-thought-out plan doesn’t just make life easier for your team; it also delivers a better experience for your audience and improves your website’s performance.
Ready to supercharge your content planning? Use the Strive Editorial Calendar Plugin to seamlessly organize, plan, and execute your content strategy right from your WordPress dashboard. Start creating content that resonates with your audience and achieves your business goals today!