Check Your Comment Section
When you let people share and comment on your site, you could end up with some great blog post ideas. Your readers might ask for more information about a specific item you didn’t cover clearly in your first post, or they might share their own opinions about the topic, which could make your fingers itch to write. Reading those bits carefully could make your blogging much easier.
Check Out The competetion
According to 2014 stats, more than half of all small businesses don’t have a website. As a result, your top competitor may not have a blog that you can follow. But that same competitor might be active on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. The posts you find there could give you great ideas about topics you should cover.
If you grab an idea from someone else, be sure to tweak it or amend it or somehow make it your own. Stealing outright could get you in hot water, both with your competitors and with Google. But borrowing a good idea could help you to come up with the story idea that’s been eluding you.
Yellow Pages
People with reputation management problems are likely accustomed to the idea of using Yelp as an early warning system. When they see a poor review pop up, they know they must get to work generating content that either refutes or explains the complaint. But Yelp can also help you write blog posts about issues people either like or have questions about.
Read through your reviews and look for items that get a lot of mentions. Not all Yelp comments will contain blog gems, of course. Some might just contain complaints or random bits of praise you can’t build on. But, watching the comments closely could give you some great ideas for writing that will really resonate.
Targeted Keyword Research
And ofcourse, nothing beats good ol' fashioned keyword research. This is a fundamental part of the writing process, as it helps you find the right terms which will perform better on SERPs. But more than SEO, your searches can also help you to find out what people are looking for, and that could give you some excellent blog post ideas.
With Google AdWords‘ Keyword Planner, you can run a simple search on a topic you’re planning to cover. Your results page will give you keywords that are similar to the topic you’ve hit, but they come with just a few changes.
Pair Your Industry Topics With Related
Themes
Think about where your product fits within the wider context of your customer’s life. For example, if you manufacture laminate flooring, you could write about kitchen interior design trends. If you sell garden furniture, why not recommend a selection of white wines to try on a warm summer evening?
Use a tech angle or social media to
spruce up your topic
Curate a list of the best apps available in your sector. For example, if you make medical supplies you could feature or review the most popular health apps available. Search social media platforms to see what people are saying about your topic. A quick search for the word ‘boiler’ on Pinterest turned up a huge selection of interesting images including a boiler that had been converted into a hot tub, creative boiler storage ideas and three examples of boiler rooms that had been turned into tiny, self contained houses. Any of these could form the basis of an original blog post.
Make your own news
Interrogate your own customer data, web analytics data or social media engagement metrics, spot trends and draw conclusions. Are more customers ordering your product in a particular colour or was there a spike in traffic over the weekend? This type of interesting quantitative data is perfect for an infographic too. Do some keyword research (using Google Trends or Keyword Planner) to find out what the biggest movers and shakers in search are for your chosen topics. What were people most interested in?
Feature an employee
It may be a cliché, but people buy from people. Featuring a recent addition to your team or highlighting a loyal employee on your blog will show the human side to any company, as well as demonstrating the wealth of experience behind your brand.
Solve a problem for your target audience
If you can solve a problem with your content, you make that content indispensable. The key to this is having a deep understanding of your target audience, or at least an insight into a specific area of their lives. If you work in the construction sector, you could create a simple “How to” guide or better still, a video demonstrating a particular DIY process. Produce a downloadable template or simply provide a list of useful tips or resources (relevant to your industry or product use) that readers will find helpful.