Create a blog – tick!
Published ten brilliant blog posts – tick!
Now what?
During the first couple of months, your blog is fun, as your mind is filled with topics. Keeping up this momentum is probably the hardest part. Time flies past, your long list of other pressing tasks take over and before you know it, your blog has now turned into a burden.
It sits on the top of your to-do list and doesn’t move, proud and worrying. Regularly finding clever topics to write about can be hard every week or even every month. Let's get those creative juices firing, because your blogging is important for your company to be considered an influencer in the industry, attract traffic to your website and to rank well on search engines.
What your blog should be
Your blog should cover any questions your audience may be looking for on the internet, helpful information they want to know more about, and material that they didn’t know they needed to know. Write what you are passionate about, what gets you up in the morning and keeps you going.
‘Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart’ William Wordsworth
What your blog shouldn’t be
It shouldn’t be a vehicle to sell your business, products or services. It shouldn’t be about YOU.
Here are some blog writing tips for inspiration–
1. Your employees, your friends, or family
Start in-house. Most of your employees are at the cold face of your customers, they know the questions that are being asked all the time and the information they want to know before they purchase. Take them out for lunch or a coffee and discuss what your customers are curious about. You will be surprised at what they suggest from a different perspective than yours.
Friends and family also have a different outlook of your industry. They may not know about your industry but they will have questions about it that could be used as a blog post.
2. The media
Drawing from trending topics in the media is always a good source of topics. By turning a news or current topic that people are talking about and making it relevant to your business and your audience is a powerful way to capitalise on the popularity of the topic. Make sure you don’t simply re-hash the news or article, link it in with your business or other information. For example, this blog I wrote for a locksmith has used a news story about an ex-criminal who has written a letter to his victims apologising for stealing and gives tips to help protect their home from thieves. Using the handy tips, I wrote about some of the locksmith products that you can use to make your house safer.
3. Think outside the box
Think about the sales process of your customers – what path do they travel to go through before they decide to buy your product or service. For example, this blog post from the paint company, Resene, is about mixing modern and vintage styles together in one room. There is quiet reference to their paint colours throughout the article but also gives great information about styling.
4. Internet forums and comment sections
This is a wonderful source of ideas because you can see exactly what people are asking around a certain topic. You probably are already following the forums and bulletin boards that are relevant to your industry, but read the questions to see if you can create a blog post around them. Also, check out the comments section of popular articles from your industry, to see the kinds of questions and information they want to know about more.
Check out this bulletin board at Vogue. There are boundless ideas here if your business is centred around fashion or women.
5. Book reviews
Chances are the type of books you read, your target audience would like them too. Again, relate the book back to your business, even better choose a great book that is popular at the time to utilise its currency. Review a book that you loved, found inspirational, or changed your life.
Say, you are an interior designer, you could review the new book by Ellen DeGeneres, called Home. Ellen is better known as a comedian, so a book written by her about interiors is unusual and topical.
Basically, just be on the look-out for interesting topics as you go about your day (or night!) and make sure you write the ideas down. So many times I have come up with a great idea whilst food shopping and thought I could remember the topic…..oh well!
If you are still finding your blog a burden, that’s OK, that’s what a copywriter is for. Our blog writing service is what we do all day and can come up with brilliant ideas to provide easy to read and topical blogs targeted to your audience.