Start a blog (tick).
Write regular blog posts (tick).
Get a few readers (tick).
Share blog posts on social media (tick).
Write more blog posts (tick).
Win a blogging award or suchlike (tick vg).
Get lots of regular readers (tick).
Totally run out of ideas for blog topics (er…tick.)
Starting a blog is fun. It’s easy. You have loads of ideas, you work through your ideas, until you suddenly don’t have any ideas left. The funky music grinds to a halt and you think: CRAP, what am I going to write about this week?! In fact, you think that every week. Writing a blog is NOT fun any more. It’s a tedious, brain-itching, teeth-grinding exercise.
Well, never fear – The Marketing Architect can help.
Before the practical help though, the first thing to say is: don’t feel bad. This happens to blog writers ALL the time. You may be worrying that your creativity has dried up, or you just aren’t interesting any more, or you’ve forgotten to write, or you should never have started in the first place, etc, etc. Those worries are the confidence gremlin, handing out stupid advice to try to protect you from failing. Ignore.
The second point to make is that, if you are running a business blog, it has a job. That job is being found by prospects, educating them on the need for your product and selling your services. Every blog post should provide excellent, high-value content that solves problems for your ideal customer and answers their questions.
When you are doing this, your content is highly searchable and easy to find via the awesome power of Google.
Think about this while you go for a walk.
Been for a walk? Now, try one of these five ways to generate some new topics.
I’ve organised them by the amount of time they take, so whether you’ve got five minutes, or a whole hour to spare, you can have a go at one of them. These are the techniques I’ve relied on time and time again to dream up fresh content for ghost writing my clients’ blog posts.
Five-minute fix:
- Review your recent enquiry emails and identify the common questions you get asked by your customers and prospects. Make one of these questions the title of your next blog post and answer it in the text.
Twenty-minute blitz:
- Check out Buzz Sumo. It’s a great resource for content creators. Buzz Sumo is a searchable database that you can use to identify the subject areas of content which perform best in your industry or sector. What’s trending, which topics are the most read etc. Research here and wait for a few lightbulb moments. Start writing.
Half-hour hit:
- Review your back catalogue of blog posts. Somewhere in there are subjects that could be expanded upon, or focussed in on. This is called the ‘Zoom-in, Zoom-out’ technique.
As an example: say your blog posts are all about oral hygiene. One of your past posts covers flossing techniques. If you zoom out on this subject you could write a new post all about flossing through the ages, or flossing techniques in other countries (not something I’d want to read, but you get the idea). By zooming in, you could do a review of different types of floss available on the market and which is the best, or how to keep the habit going.
One-hour wonder:
- Ask your audience. Hop on whatever social media platforms you are active on and ask your readers what they’d like to know about. When you’ve done that, pick up the phone to one or two well-loved customers and ask them the same question. Quiz them on what their current burning issues are and how you could help them in the form of a 600-word essay.
If you’ve got more time:
- Think of something different and fun to do this week. This could take the form of a question and answer session with a business peer or client. Or, create a composite blog by asking a group of peers a question relevant to your industry and creating a blog out of all their answers. Ask your contacts in complementary businesses if they’d like to provide (or swap) a guest blog.
Need some advice on creating content or marketing your business?
Book yourself in for a free, no-obligation, but lots of questions asked consultation here, I’d love to help.
