Major General Darius N. Couch - Civil War

Major General Darius N. Couch - Civil War Darius Couch - Early Life Career: The son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Couch, Darius Nash Couch was born in Southeast, NY on July 23, 1822.   Raised in the area, he received his education locally and ultimately decided upon pursuing a military career.   Applying to the US Military Academy, Couch received an appointment in 1842.   Arriving at West Point, his classmates included George B. McClellan, Thomas Stonewall Jackson, George Stoneman, Jesse Reno, and George Pickett.   An above average student, Couch graduated four years later ranked 13th in a class of 59.   Commissioned as a brevet second lieutenant on July 1, 1846, he was ordered to join the 4th US Artillery. Darius Couch - Mexico Interwar Years: As the United States was engaged in the Mexican-American War, Couch soon found himself serving in Major General Zachary Taylors army in northern Mexico.   Seeing action at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, he earned a brevet promotion to first lieutenant for gallant and meritorious conduct.   Remaining in the region for the remainder of the conflict, Couch received orders to return north for garrison duty at Fortress Monroe in 1848.   Sent to Fort Pickens in Pensacola, FL the following year, he took part in operations against the Seminoles before resuming garrison duty.   As the early 1850s passed, Couch moved through assignments in New York, Missouri, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.    Possessing an interest in the natural world, Couch took a leave of absence from the US Army in 1853 and conducted an expedition to northern Mexico to collect specimens for the recently-established Smithsonian Institution.   During this time, he discovered new species of kingbird and spadefoot toad which were named in his honor.   In 1854, Couch married Mary C. Crocker and returned to military service.   Remaining in uniform for another year, he resigned his commission to become a merchant in New York City.   In 1857, Couch moved to Taunton, MA where he assumed a position at his in-laws copper fabrication firm. Darius Couch - The Civil War Begins: Employed in Taunton when the Confederates attacked Fort Sumter beginning the Civil War, Couch quickly volunteered his services to the Union cause.   Appointed to command the 7th Massachusetts Infantry with the rank of colonel on June 15, 1861, he then led the regiment south and aided in constructing defenses around Washington, DC.   In August, Couch was promoted to brigadier general and that fall received a brigade in McClellans newly-formed Army of the Potomac.   Training his men through the winter, he was further elevated in early 1862 when he took command of a division in Brigadier General Erasmus D. Keyes IV Corps.   Moving south in the spring, Couchs division landed on the Peninsula and in early April served in the Siege of Yorktown. Darius Couch - On the Peninsula: With the Confederate withdrawal from Yorktown on May 4, Couchs men took part in the pursuit and played a key role in halting an attack by Brigadier General James Longstreet at the Battle of Williamsburg.   Moving towards Richmond as the month progressed, Couch and IV Corps came under heavy assault on May 31 at the Battle of Seven Pines.   This saw them briefly forced back before repelling Major General D.H. Hills Confederates.   In late June, as General Robert E. Lee commenced his Seven Days Battles, Couchs division retreated as McClellan withdrew east.   In the course of the fighting, his men took part in the Union defense of Malvern Hill on July 1.   With the failure of the campaign, Couchs division was detached from IV Corps and sent north. Darius Couch - Fredericksburg: During this time, Couch suffered from increasingly ill health.   This led him submit a letter of resignation to McClellan.   Unwilling to lose a gifted officer, the Union commander did not forward Couchs letter and instead had him promoted to major general to date from July 4.   While his division did not participate in the Second Battle of Manassas, Couch led his troops into the field in early September during the Maryland Campaign.   This saw them support VI Corps attack at Cramptons Gap during the Battle of South Mountain on September 14.   Three days later, the division moved towards Antietam but did not take part in the fighting.   In the wake of the battle, McClellan was relieved of command and replaced with Major General Ambrose Burnside.   Reorganizing the Army of the Potomac, Burnside placed Couch in command of II Corps on November 14.   This formation was in turn assigned to Major General Edwin V. Sumners Right Grand Division.   Marching south towards Fredericksburg, II Corps divisions were led by Brigadier Generals Winfield S. Hancock, Oliver O. Howard, and William H. French.   On December 12, a brigade from Couchs corps was dispatched across the Rappahannock to sweep the Confederates from Fredericksburg and allow Union engineers to construct bridges across the river.   The next day, as the Battle of Fredericksburg commenced, II Corps received orders to assault the formidable Confederate position on Maryes Heights.   Though Couch vehemently opposed the attack feeling that it would like be repulsed with heavy losses, Burnside insisted that II Corps move forward. Advancing early that afternoon, Couchs predictions proved accurate as each division was repelled in turn and the corps sustained over 4,000 casualties.          Darius Couch - Chancellorsville: Following the disaster at Fredericksburg, President Abraham Lincoln replaced Burnside with Major General Joseph Hooker.   This saw another reorganization of the army that left Couch in command of II Corps and made him the senior corps commander in the Army of the Potomac.   For the spring of 1863, Hooker intended to leave a force at Fredericksburg to hold Lee in place while he swung the army north and west to approach the enemy from behind.   Moving out in late April, the army was across the Rappahannock and moving east on May 1.   Largely held in reserve, Couch became concerned about Hookers performance when his superior appeared to lose his nerve that evening and elected to shift to the defensive after the opening actions of the Battle of Chancellorsville.    On May 2, the Union situation worsened when a devastating attack by Jackson routed Hookers right flank.   Holding his section of the line, Couchs frustrations grew the following morning when Hooker was rendered unconscious and possibly sustained a concussion when a shell hit a column he was leaning against.   Though unfit for command after awakening, Hooker refused to turn full command of the army over to Couch and instead timidly played out the battles final stages before ordering a retreat north.   Quarreling with Hooker in the weeks after the battle, Couch requested reassignment and left II Corps on May 22.   Darius Couch - Gettysburg Campaign: Given command of the newly-created Department of the Susquehanna on June 9, Couch quickly worked to organize troops to oppose Lees invasion of Pennsylvania.   Utilizing forces largely comprised of emergency militia, he ordered fortifications built to protect Harrisburg and dispatched men to slow the Confederate advance.   Skirmishing with Lieutenant General Richard Ewell and Major General J.E.B. Stuarts forces at Sporting Hill and Carlisle respectively, Couchs men helped ensure that the Confederates stayed on the west bank of the Susquehanna in the days prior to the Battle of Gettysburg.   In the wake of the Union victory in early July, Couchs troops aided in the pursuit of Lee as the Army of Northern Virginia sought to escape south.   Remaining in Pennsylvania for most of 1864, Couch saw action that July when he responded to Brigadier General John McCauslands burning of Chambersburg, PA.          Darius Couch - Tennessee the Carolinas: In December, Couch received command of a division in Major General John Schofields XXIII Corps in Tennessee.   Attached to Major General George H. Thomas Army of the Cumberland, he took part in the Battle of Nashville on December 15-16.   In the course of the fighting on the first day, Couchs men aided in shattering the Confederate left and played a role in driving them from the field a day later.   Remaining with his division for the rest of the war, Couch saw service during the Carolinas Campaign in the final weeks of the conflict.   Resigning from the army in late May, Couch returned to Massachusetts where he unsuccessfully ran for governor.   Darius Couch - Later Life: Named the customs inspector for the Port of Boston in 1866, Couch only briefly held the post as the Senate did not confirm his appointment.   Returning to business, he accepted the presidency of the (West) Virginia Mining and Manufacturing Company in 1867.   Four years later, Couch moved to Connecticut to serve as the quartermaster-general of the states militia.   Later adding the position of adjutant general, he remained with the militia until 1884.   Spending his final years in Norwalk, CT, Couch died there on February 12, 1897.   His remains were interred at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Taunton.   Ã‚   Selected Sources Blue Gray Trail: Darius CouchUS Army History: Chancellorsville Staff RideAztec Club: Darius Couch

Answers to Questions About Possessives

Answers to Questions About Possessives Answers to Questions About Possessives Answers to Questions About Possessives By Mark Nichol Here are three queries from DailyWritingTips.com readers about pesky apostrophes, followed by my responses. 1. Please tell me the proper placement of an apostrophe when making possessive a singular abbreviation that ends in an s. In other words, for â€Å"Office of Financial Services,† should it be written OFS’s or OFS’, or something different? Either form is correct, depending on which style you use. Associated Press style, for example, which prevails in newspaper journalism and other less formal contexts, requires the possessive form for the spelled-out name as shown here: â€Å"The Office of Financial Services’ report has been delayed,† so the abbreviated form is â€Å"The OFS’ report has been delayed.† However, The Chicago Manual of Style, which prevails in book publishing and other more formal contexts, and similar style guides recommend, for example, â€Å"The Office of Financial Services’s report has been delayed.† The abbreviated form is â€Å"The OFS’s report has been delayed.† I recommend this style. (Note that an s follows the apostrophe even when a word or an abbreviation ends in s, such as in â€Å"Thomas’s report has been delayed.†) 2. I edit corporate documents that use this rule: The first time a government name appears in the document, spell out the name for example, National Institutes of Health and follow it in parentheses with its acronym (NIH). But when the name’s first appearance in the document is in the possessive form, do I use the possessive form in the parentheses? For example, should it read, â€Å"The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) new mandate is clear† or â€Å"The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) new mandate is clear†? The Chicago Manual of Style does not cover this issue, but its website recommends what I suggest to resolve the related issue in this post: Recast the sentence to avoid the possessive form (â€Å"The new mandate of the National Institutes of Health is clear†). 3. The title of a brochure I’m designing is â€Å"Wholesale Buyer’s Guide.† Is the possessive apostrophe needed on Buyer’s, or is it just â€Å"Wholesale Buyers Guide†? Or, perhaps, â€Å"Wholesale Buyers’ Guide†? â€Å"Buyers Guide,† â€Å"Buyer’s Guide,† and â€Å"Buyers’ Guide† are all common, and they all have some merit, though I favor the latter. In â€Å"Buyers Guide,† Buyers is an attributive noun one that serves as an adjective (just like school in â€Å"school bus† or window in â€Å"window seat†). It means, essentially, â€Å"guide of the buyers,† which I don’t think sufficiently expresses that idea that it’s something offered for someone’s use. â€Å"Buyer’s Guide† suggests that it’s for one person technically correct, but the guide was created for all buyers, not just one, so I think â€Å"Buyers’ Guide† is the best option. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:When to Use â€Å"That,† â€Å"Which,† and â€Å"Who†Yay, Hooray, Woo-hoo and Other Acclamations10 Varieties of Syntax to Improve Your Writing

Espionage during the Cold War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Espionage during the Cold War - Essay Example s had a secret service that was quite developed and the ancient Chinese treatise on the art of war throws light on deception and intelligence gathering and says that all war is based on deception. Political espionage gained importance during the Middle Ages. Joan of Arc was betrayed by Bishop Pierre Cauchon, a spy employed by the English, and Sir Francis Walsingham is credited with developing an efficient political spy system for Queen Elizabeth I. In the modern age systematized espionage became an essential part of government in most countries. Joseph Fouchà © developed the first modern political espionage system, and Frederick II of Prussia is considered the founder of modern military espionage. Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold became famous spies during the American Revolution. During the U.S. Civil War there was considerable use of spies and by World War I, all big powers except the United States had elaborate espionage systems. After World War II, espionage activity increased co nsiderably especially during the cold war between the United States and the former USSR. It has not stopped with that As Stephen Dalziel (2000) says â€Å"Anyone who thought that the end of the Cold War a decade or so ago would mean the end of espionage has received plenty of examples to show them that, Cold War or not, the worlds states want to know more about each other.† Though the Soviet Union was a temporary ally of the United States during World War II, things changed after the dropping of atomic bombs and by the late 1940s the Soviet Union and the United States became ideological opponents both striving to gain political, economic, social, and cultural dominance in the world. This non military rivalry came to be known as the â€Å"Cold War.† The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was unlike traditional wars where armies are used and shots are fired. It was a rivalry that was both tense and competitive. The war was a long war, lasting from 1945 to 1989.

Cross Cultural Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cross Cultural Management - Assignment Example The Interactive Ochre –Newsflash not only increase but also promote cultural awareness of the people in the Aboriginal culture and issues as one of Australia’s indigenous cultures. Nevertheless, a lot of effort needs to be emphasized based on beliefs and culture, even though countries have come a long way to go. Considerably, it is necessary to look at the beliefs, values, ideas, and attitudes that the Aboriginal people indigenous cultures think about as members of society. In addition, to the material object of their cultures that finally shape up the normative patterns of Aboriginal people behavior more specifically the Anangu people. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park holds a traditional belief system of the Anangu people as it remains one of the most visited parks in Australia. Even though, Anangu is an Aboriginal community that resides next to and within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, they hold closely to their cultural tie with the park as they pay extra attention to anything that happens within the park as they remain as custodians (Australian Government, 2006, p.11). As taught through the lyrics they respect the park as stipulated by their ancestors through the Tjukurpa as they seek not to be judged from the color of their skin but from knowing more from the beauty within their heritage in the park. More so, for the Anangu community some of the cultural elements as they work and interact with non-Aboriginal people is characterized and guided by their beliefs, values, ideas and attitudes that have a long history from their ancestors Tjukaritja. As a result, some sensitive cultural issues are evident that affect the existence of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in present-day society. Through the culture of the Aboriginal community, an individual is able to identify the heritage and worldview of the Anangu people based on the conservation of the park. Most of the practices carried out by the Anangu people are influence d by their culture that they adopted from the ancestors. As the custodians of their ancestors who have lived in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park area for at least 22,000 years, they learn about aspects of their culture that they have never seen or heard. More significantly, individuals from the Anangu people follow the example of their elders, as they remain associated with various ceremonies attributed to various types of plants and food (Holden, 2011 p. 105). As a result, they exalt Tjukurpa who are the community founders. All plants are linked to ancestral beings that are used for several purposes including food, firewood, medicines, tobacco, and making ornaments (Thomas, 2008 p. 153). More importantly, the Anangu people ensure that wrong people including both the non- Aboriginal men and women do not get access to sacred sites. As a result, they give warnings through their newsflash lyrics that people should not walk in places where angels fear to tread signifying the upholding of beliefs (Australian Government, 2006, p.11).

Environmental pragmatism Essay Example for Free

Environmental pragmatism Essay Pluralism, environmental pragmatism and eco feminism represent differing perspectives on the subject of moral ethics. The paper seeks to look into the details surrounding some of these issues and comparisons between them will be made. Major principles As the name suggests, eco-feminism refers to a merger between feminism and environmentalism. In other words, the term refers to a social movement that connects female oppression and the degradation of nature to similar attitudes that are related to masculine domination. The latter principle asserts that there must be some sort of interrelation between women, race, class and the environment. While the oppression of women may be the main concern within this field of study, eco feminism asserts that environmentalism, animal rights, class struggles, age oppressions, human supremacism and racism all have one thing in common; they all signify oppression driven by the same social mentality. (Thoma-Slayter Rocheleau, 1995) One of the most interesting aspects about eco feminism is that this particular movement has merged thoughts and views in seemingly different fields to come up with a comprehensive analysis of current environmental problems. Eco feminists assert that male land ownership has led to patriarchy hence resulting in a manifestation of the following environmental problems †¢ Viewing animals and land as material resources †¢ Abusing land †¢ Exploiting people †¢ Overgrazing †¢ Excessive food export even when local residents lack adequate food The latter adherents also propose that this abuse of land and environmental degradation has eventually led to female oppression. Such an assertion was made by Thoma-Slayter, B. Rocheleau, D. (1995) in their book â€Å"Gender, Environment and Development in Kenya† McMillan. The latter authors illustrated how exports in this East African country have been driven by a capitalist culture that has led to soil erosion, deforestation, excessive pesticide use and less productive land. In the end, families have been forced to move from such areas and this is especially visible among the women. Other authors claim that the reason why nature has been undergoing excessive degradation is because nature has been treated as something that is only valuable if it has material benefits. Again, such proponents claim that this is the same view held about women; that they have little value since they are not the major wealth creators. However, eco-feminists assert that such beliefs are quite misleading owing to the fact that nature is still useful even without man’s interference. An example of such a perspective is when one analyzes a forest. The former attitude would assume that a forest is useful for fuel, food and the like. However, even without tampering with it, a forest can still be useful in terms of protecting ground water, circulating oxygen or providing a habitat for other animals. On the other hand environmental pragmatism is founded on the beliefs held within pragmatism; that there is no absolute truth in the process of seeking for knowledge. Instead, pragmatists assert that there are only relatively stable ones that assist people in the process of making sense of their world and their surrounding. Experience plays a central role in pragmatism because through it one can either affirm or reject previously held beliefs about how their world works. Given this background, then it is possible to understand some of the perspectives put forward by environmental pragmatists. The latter school of thought put forward the idea that the environment forms a central part of our experiences. Consequently, it needs to be held in high regard. It asserts that every part of the environment needs to be treated with as much seriousness as the next. For instance, oceans are jut as important as deserts or just as important as buildings and bridges. (Lucas, 2002) Environmental pragmatism rejects the notion that man can dominate the earth. Since nature is an important part of one’s experience, then it is essential for man to look for the most feasible ways of co-existing with nature. In fact, adherents to this philosophy claim that understanding or cultivating meaning in the earth is quite crucial, however, imagining that man can do anything with nature without dealing with any consequences is self defeating. Additionally, the latter adherents put forward the notion that exerting care within the environment is a crucial element in preserving it. They claim that in the process of determining what constitutes good things or what constitutes right things, it is indeed necessary for human beings to implement environmental ethics through the foundations of certain beliefs and ideas. One can therefore assert that environmental pragmatism has elements of interrelatedness with other concepts. In this regard, there is a connection between eco feminism and environmental pragmatism owing to the fact it refers to the concept of caring for one’s environment. Environmental pragmatism also brings in new concepts of environmental philosophy owing to the fact that it opposes the notion of trying to decide constituents of value. In other words, the latter adherents claim that it is impossible to determine whether man holds greater precedence over nature. Instead, both issues need not be treated as mutually exclusive as they both need one another. (Lucas, 2002) Pluralism on the other hand refers to the acceptance of diversity of thought within ethical endorsements. Adherents to this school of thought claim that it is possible for different perspectives to exist within a particular ethical system owing to the fact that morality is an ensemble of many things. This means that nature as it is cannot provide an underlying and thoroughly conclusive explanation for things; consequently, it is best to settle for a series of explanations that can provide a more comprehensive framework for these matters. In this regard, pluralism can be related to eco feminism owing to the fact that the latter theory attempts to merge concepts from different fields. Additionally, environmental pragmatism is another form of pluralism because in the former philosophy, there is the belief that there is more than one way to understand nature. Pluralism can occur in three forms i.e. †¢ First order †¢ Second order †¢ Third order In first order pluralism, environmentalists believe that the value in something can be described in more than one way i. e. beauty, diversity etc. In second order pluralism, there is the belief that nature can be described in so many ways that there is no single method that is appropriate. In third order pluralism, there is the belief that other views should be tolerated because it is almost impossible to account for forms of value within nature. In this regard, pluralism advocates for an overlap of explanations. (Lucas, 2002) Conclusion Eco feminism is the view that falls in line with my belief system owing to the fact that it is the most practically rooted environmental theory. Additionally, its interrelatedness with other concepts is less abstract than in pluralism or environmental pragmatism. The latter two theories are quite related because of their adherence to multiplicity of beliefs. References Lucas, P. (2002): Environmental ethics – between inconsequential philosophy and unphilosophical consequesialism; Journal of environmental ethics, 24, 353-369 Rocheleau, D. (1995): Gender, Environment and Development in Kenya; McMillan.

Radio Station Research :: essays research papers fc

Table of Contents Introduction  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 Scope of the Study  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3 Methods Used  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3 Results  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5 Age  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5 Time of Day  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6 Location  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8 Recommendations  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  10 Target Format  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  10 Target Location  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11 Bibliography  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  12 Appendix  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  13 Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Music is a general love of almost every college student. Many develop their personalities, profiles, and various other tastes based on their listening choices. In general, many college students acquire the same spectrum of listening values. If a radio station, one that wishes to target the college student population, can discover the musical preferences of the general population of students, they will be able to grow within the specific market.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since the target market is of a personality of the student, generally a crowd that has the same likes and dislikes as his/her peers; the target musical format should be fairly easy to determine. Unlike the 25-33 crowd or 40 and up crowd, where their musical preferences range far and wide, each college student has almost the same understanding of their values. Possible reasons for this may be peer pressure or self-morale gains, yet it still exists among the college crowd. Thus, a common format may be simpler for a station targeting the college format.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The station will be able to gain knowledge for its possible advertisers by analyzing its target population’s needs and wants. Plus, they will be able to acknowledge the possible locations of the students, where they go and what they do. The ultimate goal is to find out where the students are spending their money, so advertising can be solicited into purchasing radio time. Advertisers wish to have some â€Å"concrete† data when analyzing which station they wish to spend their money on through airtime. The purpose of this study is to give the possible clients the facts placed in front of them as well as educate them as to where our target is going and the possibilities of gathering our target audience to their place of business.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Consumer behavior will come into play in the study, since part of the goal is to gather information on the needs and wants of the consumer, or radio listener. Analysis of behavior is more difficult to determine, because the data collected is based on values and personal judgment. Little data collected will be concrete, since the student will be revealing based on opinions, not facts. However, opinions sometimes hold strong enough to reach a borderline to fact. Scope of the Study   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The study was a descriptive design with an emphasis on the listening preferences of college students. Data was acquired as to which brand of music, or radio format, is most appealing to college students, such as alternative, rock, country, R&B, etc.

Is It Easy to Be Young

Is it easy to be young? It’s set in humans nature that he is always dissatisfied with things that he has. Every age has its own difficulties and for me this is a hard question to answer since I have only been young. I haven’t experienced the difficulties that older people have but from what I have experienced until now I think that being young has its positive and negative sides. One of the young persons problems is to find his place in the world where there is an order which he has to obey.Lots of young people have problems with finding themselves because they think that they know best and they don’t want to live by the rules that they haven’t tested. Youth is time to try new things and experiment to create new experience. Sometimes a bad company can make a unhealthy influence and encourage to try out things that looks good and fun but actually they are bad. As a result these experiments leaves a bad effect to the rest of the persons life. At the same tim e being young is easy because it’s easier to adapt to new things.Young people doesn’t have self-rebukes about unfulfilled life and unused opportunities – whole life is ahead of them. Youth is time to improve, set goals, hope and try. And all of the hope and dreams gives so much strenght to work! I think that being young is both easy and difficult. Youth gives so much opportunities that any other age will never give. Young people just have to learn how to balance them with the „side effects† and then I could already say that being young is easy.

Olivier Panis Essay

In der film ‘Der Promise’ gibt es viele eregnisse wie kommt zwischen Sophie un Konrad, zum biespiel. An der anfang das film, konrad zi gert wann Sophie und ihre freunde geht in der Abwasserkanal. Konrad war der eignisse leute wie geht nicht in der Abwasserkanal und war bei der Deutchse Armee ertappt. Das war nur der beginne auf der probleme wie kommt zwischen Sophie und Konrad. Konrad war aufgezwungt bei ihre vater der Deutsche Armee eintreten. Konrad war ein Wandschutze. Wann Konrad der Armee verlassen hat, er ihre Ausbildung fortgesetzt. Wi hrend das Sophie fur ihr Tante arbeitet. Ihr Tante arbeitet als eine Kleider Verki uferin, fi r reich leute. Spater in das Film, Sophie und Konrad andgeordnet in Prague zu Treffen. Sie mit einander sehr gut auskommen. Sophie kleide schwanger. Aber wann der Russe Armee eindrignt Prague, dann Sophie zuri ck nach Deutschland verschwindet. Konrad besucht Sophie und ihr neue Mann, und er auch besucht ihre Kind, heisst Alex. Er war 10 jahre alt. Aber Konrad auch hat ihre eigen neue familie. Aber wir als die Beschauer, kann sehe als sie mochtet zusammen sein. Die leben aus Konrad un Sophie ist wie die leben aus Berlin. An der Anfang, Berlin war zusammen, es was nur ein Stadt heisst Berlin, aber es war abgetrennt und so war Konrad und Sophie. In der Meinung auf die groi ji hrigkeit aus der Ureinwohner, Berlin sollte als nur ein Stadt bleiben, aber die Regierung sagt als es war erforderlich. Der abgang aus Berlin auch abgesondert Sophie und Konrad.

How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template)

How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started? How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started? How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started?

How to Plan for College in 11th Grade 8 Expert Tips

How to Plan for College in th Grade 8 Expert Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips For many high school students, junior year causes tremendous anxiety because of its importance in the college planning process. Students are generally aware that what they do in the th grade matters to colleges, but they don't know exactly how to plan for college. In this article, I'll thoroughly explain everything you should be doing in the th grade to plan for college. If you're organized and equipped with this knowledge, you'll be able to successfully complete your junior year and increase the likelihood that you'll reach your college goals. Furthermore, I'll discuss aspects of college planning that you don't have to worry about in your junior year. This Isthe Most Important Year for College Planning Because your junior year is your last full year of school before you apply to college, it’s the most pivotal year in the college planning process. Your junior year grades are the last full year of grades colleges will see before they make admissions decisions. It’s the last complete academic year you have to learn about colleges and the financial aid process before deciding where you’ll attend. How to Make Your Junior Year Less Stressful Many students become incredibly anxious and stressed out during their junior year because they realize the stakes and feel overwhelmed by all their responsibilities.You can minimize your stress in th grade and reach your college goals by following our complete college application timeline. If you start working on your college planning in 9th grade, you’ll have much less to worry about and do when your junior year rolls around. Also, if you’ve excelled academically in your freshman and sophomore years, you can be confident in your abilities to do well in your junior year. What Do You Need to Do? All college-bound juniors have a number of responsibilities during their junior years. Here are eight tips onhow toplan for college and maximize your options. #1: Take the Right Classes The classes you take will greatly influence your college options. You should have been taking a college prep curriculum during your first two years of high school. If you didn’t, talk to your counselor about what you should do to become eligible for admission to college. You may have to take additional courses at your high school, online, or at a local community college. You can look at college websites to view their requirements for admission. Colleges will evaluate you based on the classes you’ve taken. Colleges, especially selective colleges, want to see that you’re challenging yourself and taking some of the hardest classes that are offered at your school. You don’t have to take every single honors or AP class, but to get into elite schools, you should demonstrate that you can do well in the most difficult classes. I recommend taking honors or AP classes in the subjects you're best at and the subjects you're considering studying in college. Here's an example of a good junior year schedule for a student who wants to be competitive for selective colleges. Note that this is just a rough guide, and you can take a more or less challenging schedule depending on your skill level and the courses offered at your high school: AP Biology Precalculus Honors American Literature AP US History Honors French III PE Elective Ultimate Goal: Have a schedule of challenging classes you can do well in. Tribesports/Flickr #2: Get Good Grades Not to put too much pressure on you, but your junior year grades are the most important for college admissions. They’re the last full academic year grades colleges will see before they make admissions decisions; colleges may not even get to see your first semester senior year grades, especially if you choose to apply early. If you didn’t do as well as you wanted in your freshman or sophomore year, you can use your junior year to demonstrate your improvement and show that you’re capable of succeeding in college. Learn how to get a 4.0 and better grades. If you don't do as well as you'd like in your junior year, it doesn't necessarily mean that your college dreams are shattered, though. You can make up for lower grades with higher test scores and exceptional achievements in your extracurricular activities. Additionally, if there's some extenuating circumstance that causes a dip in your junior year grades, you can explain the situation on your college application. Ultimate Goal: Get the best grades you can. #3: Get/Stay Involved in Extracurriculars Other than your grades and test scores, your extracurricular activities probably have the biggest influence on the quality of your college applications. Colleges want their students to have exceptional achievements outside of the classroom, and they’re looking for individuals who use their leisure time to pursue their passions. Some students believe they need to be well-rounded and do a ton of extracurriculars; however, to get into elite colleges, it may be more advantageous for you to develop a â€Å"spike† and exhibit excellence in a particular activity or field. If you play a sport, you can focus your energies on reaching the highest level in your sport and becoming a recruited athlete. If you excel in science, you can use your time outside of school to prepare for and compete in science fairs and competitions. Additonally, you can take extra science classes at a community college or volunteer to help a professor with research. Colleges prefer to see a sustained commitment to your activities, so if you participated in extracurriculars in your first two years of high school, you should try to stick with those activities, if possible. If you were part of a club, try to get a leadership position in that club. If you wrote for the newspaper, maybe you can become an editor. It's more impressive to show growth and accomplishments in the same activities than it is to start doing a bunch of activities in your junior year. Colleges want to see commitment and demonstrable achievement. Learn about the best extracurriculars for your college applications. Ultimate Goal: Demonstrate excellence in your extracurricular activities. Iqbal Osman/Flickr #4: Prepare For and Take Standardized Tests Ideally, you’ll be able to finish your standardized tests for college by the end of your junior year. That will free up time in your senior year to focus on your college applications, schoolwork, and extracurriculars. If you’ve been on top of the college planning process, you should have done some studying for the SAT/ACT in 9th and 10th grade. The SAT/ACT is an important component of your college applications. Figure out your target score, and if you’re trying to get into elite colleges, learn how to get a perfect score on the SAT or ACT. We recommend taking the SAT/ACT for the first time in the fall of your junior year, and, if you don't do as well as you'd like, you can retake the test in the spring or in the fall of your senior year. If you haven’t done any preparation for the SAT/ACT before your junior year, you can spend the fall studying and then take the test in the winter or spring. However, if you wait to take the SAT/ACT, then you'll have less time to retake it if you don't get your target score on your first attempt. Also, if you're intersted in qualifying for a National Merit Scholarship, you should take the PSAT NMSQT in your junior year. Furthermore, if you're considering applying to any schools or programs that require SAT Subject Tests, you should take those at the end of your junior year. Assuming you do some basic preparation and take the tests right after you finish related courses, you should do very well. For example, if you take the SAT Subject Test in chemistry in May while you're taking AP Chemistry, you shouldn't have too much difficulty with that Subject Test if you're doing well in your AP Chemistry class. Finally, especially if you're hoping to get into selective colleges, you should take Advanced Placement tests in the spring. Often, if you’re taking an AP class, you’ll be required or strongly encouraged to take the AP test for that class. If you elected not to take an AP class or are at a school that doesn’t offer AP classes, you can still self-study for AP tests and take AP exams. Doing well on AP tests demonstrates your readiness to do college-level work, and you can receive college credit by passing AP tests. Ultimate Goal: Achieve your target scores on the SAT/ACT, SAT Subject Tests, and AP tests. #5: Do Extensive College Research You should have a good idea of which colleges you want to apply to by the beginning of your senior year. Therefore, you should do extensive college research in your junior year. You need to ensure you’re aware of all your college options and figure out exactly what you’re looking for in a college. Do you want to go to a big or small college? Do you want to go to an urban, rural, or suburban school? Are you interested in a party school? An Ivy League school? A Big Ten school? A conservative school? A liberal school? You can use college finders, college search websites, guidebooks, ranking lists, and college fairs to get a better idea of your college options and narrow your college search. Also, you may want to take college tours to check out different college campuses, learn more about the schools, and get a feel for colleges in person. Additonally, if college representatives visit your school, you can speak with them and learn more about the schools they represent. Consult with other people who are knowledgeable about the college application and selection process. You can talk with your counselor, teachers, parents, college alumni, or current college students. Ask about specific colleges or the application process; if you're talking to somebody who knows you well, you can seek advice about which schools may be a good fit for you. Ultimate Goal: Figure out what you're looking for in a college and create a preliminary list of schools to apply to. #6: Learn More About Financial Aid Definitely, if you need financial aid to afford college, you should become knowledgeable about the financial aid process in your junior year. Furthermore, as you’re researching colleges, you should inform yourself about each school’s financial aid. Learn which forms are required and use websites like College Scorecard and FAFSA4Caster to get a rough idea about how much you’ll have to pay to attend each school. At this point, I recommend not disqualifying a school from consideration based on its cost or the financial aid you think you'll receive. You may end up getting scholarship money or receiving a more generous financial aid package than you're expecting. Educate yourself about how to save and pay for college. Involve your parents and learn about financial aid with them. Ultimate Goal: Know how to apply for financial aid and get a rough idea of how much the schools you're considering will cost you. #7: Apply for Scholarships If the cost of college is a concern for you or you just want to alleviate the impending financial burden of paying for college, you can apply for scholarships in your junior year. Check out our expert advice on how to find scholarships. Also, learn about the best scholarships for juniors. Most scholarships require an application and an essay, but you may be able to use the same essay for multiple scholarships. If you apply for more scholarships, you’ll have a better chance of winning some scholarship money. You can qualify for specific scholarships based on your background, extracurricular activities, or academic achievement. Ultimate Goal: Apply for four to fivescholarships by the end of your junior year. DigitalRalph/Flickr #8: Ask Teachers for College Recommendations It’s a good idea to ask your teachers if they’ll write your college recommendations in the spring of your junior year. By asking them early, they’ll be more likely to agree before they start getting tons of requests in your senior year. Furthermore, you’ll give them more time to consider what they’re going to write. Before asking, make sure you know which teachers to ask. Also, learn how to ask for recommendations. Generally, it’s best to ask teachers from your junior year, and ideally, at least one of your recommenders should teach a subject related to what you want to study in college. Most colleges that require recommendations want at least two from core academic subject (math, science, English, history, or foreign language) teachers. Ultimate Goal: Get your teachers to agree to write your college recommendations by the end of your junior year. What Not to Worry About While you should be doing thorough college planning in the th grade, you don’t need to have everything figured out by the end of your junior year. Here are some specific aspects of planning for college that you don’t need to stress about in your junior year. Picking a College Even though you should be narrowing your college search in your junior year and start thinking about how many colleges you’re going to apply to, you don’t need to have a dream school or top choice by the end of your junior year. At this point, it’s best to think about the qualities that your dream school would possess and keep a list of schools that could potentially be good for you. Also, for the schools you’re interested in, you can use the PrepScholar admissions calculator to get a rough idea of your chances of getting accepted to each school. Just google â€Å"prepscholar (name of school) admissions† to find the profile for each school and use the admissions calculator. With the calculator, you can plug in your GPA and standardized test scores to get an estimate the percentage chance you have of getting into that school. Based on your odds of getting accepted, you can start dividing your list into reach, target, and safety schools. Completing Your College Applications You don’t have to start working on your college applications and college essays in your junior year. If you want to be ahead of the game and make your senior year easier, it’s not a bad idea to start working on your college application essays in the summer before your senior year. However, even early application deadlines usually aren’t until the beginning of November of your senior year. If you start working on your applications at the start of your senior year, you should have ample time to write and revise your essays, complete your applications, and send your transcript and test scores to colleges. What's Next? Are you planning on going on a college tour? Know great questions to ask. Are you interested in selective colleges? Find out about the most selective colleges and how to get in. Are you relying on ranking lists to make your college decision? Learn why using ranking lists may not be the best way to determine the best college for you. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: