How to Generate New Ideas For Your Blog

Cross posted from the General Assembly blog.
Essentials-of-blogging-and-content-strategy

One of the most frustrating things about blogging – or writing in general – is coming up with new and fresh topics. You may call it “writer’s block,” and everyone who is even somewhat engaged in creating written content has run into writer’s block at least once.

Well, no more for those of us who blog for our brand! Here are a dozen different ways to help you establish regular topics that you can count on for keeping your blog fresh, relevant, and compelling to your readers.

For more on starting a blog for your brand, check out the first post from this series.

1. Remember why you’re blogging.

Often, taking things back to their most simple form can help regenerate the original purpose of starting a blog in the first place. When all else fails, refer to your original goals for your blog, and start there.


2. Remember for whom you are writing.

Always, always, always try to empathize with your audience, your readers, those who are interacting with your brand. What are they saying? You may find that a reader comment is easily translated into a full blog post.


3. What does your audience need to know?

Consider everything your company is doing right now – all the projects everyone is working on or just completed. Now ask yourself, what do our customers, users, channel, or fans need to know? Tell them!


4. Read other blogs.

For inspiration for content, style, topics, and ideas. Following blogs in your market space also helps you keep tabs your competitors, customers, and the market itself.


5. Every company event is a blog post.

What is your company doing in your community? There’s no better way to gain genuine goodwill and press than organizing a company outreach into your community.


6. Every company success is a blog post.

Every success should be touted from the rooftops as well as the company blog. Did your company raise some money, win a new customer (get permission), do well in a market survey, win an award?  Every company success should be a blog post.


7. Every new product should be several blog posts.

The beauty of the 300-500 word SEO optimization is that you can stretch your content over a series of blog posts.


8. Every new feature is a blog post

Not only because it’s a new feature, but because it’s an opportunity for you to teach your users and/or customers how to use the new feature and why the feature was added.


9. Every company team member is a blog post.

Sometimes, when a team member leaves, it’s a blog post, too, as you fondly remember the team member’s contributions and wish them well in their new adventure.


10. Company news is a no brainer.

Some of the above points may also serve as “news”, but actual news that used to be traditionally shared in a press release should be on the blog immediately after the press release, or, some might argue, instead of the press release.


11. Company history

Detailing your company’s history is a great way to share your humble beginnings, your culture, your team, and generally why your users and customers have stuck with you for all this time.


12. Teach your audience how to use your products

This is a great way to maintain a long series of blog posts, and using video and great images really adds to these posts. Also, your sales and support teams can (and should) refer to these posts for their direct contact with customers.


13. Have your support team answer the most frequently asked questions.

Answering FAQs is a great way to address your customer’s needs, and for your team members to shine in their deep technical knowledge of your offering or the dynamics of your market.

That’s a baker’s dozen ways for you to avoid blogger block, and keep your blog’s content new, fresh, compelling, and relevant to your company culture and your audience.

Explore Digital Marketing at GA

Kevin is a serial entrepreneur and veteran of 7 tech startups. He runs Atlanta Tech Blogs, Pitch Practice, mentors startups and entrepreneurs at ATDC, and teaches Digital Marketing courses at GA.

Comments

Leave a comment

More from Kevin

  • What’s the Best Professional Advice You’ve Ever Received?

    What is the single best piece of professional career advice you have ever received? Here’s mine. Long long ago in a galaxy far far away (Atlanta, 1994), I was working for a startup now known as A.D.A.M. Health. My boss was Cary Chandler. I was fresh out of MBA school, and knew exactly nothing about…

  • Wanna Stay Young?

    Do Hard Things. When I was young, I wanted a life of comfort. I worked hard so I could relax, do nothing, and be comfortable. Somewhere along the line, that changed to wanting to be UNcomfortable. My great Aunt Romie died at 96. My wife’s great Aunt Miriam died at 103. Both had the same…

  • WFH for Govt?

    WFH applied to govt workers as well because of hashtag#covid. Our Federal (and local & state) governments own massive amounts of CRE. We have recently learned that fewer than 10% (it’s more like 1-2%) of civil servants report to an office. That’s great for them, right? Yeah, good for them if they can get the…

  • New Grads: WFH or RTO?

    My daughter just got her first “big girl job” (her words), and the job is a hybrid position. Her new employer has a plan for how to engage brand new college grads as hybrid or remote employees. * She is spending 2 weeks on site in training, learning the job and the systems, tools, and…

  • What are you thankful for today?

    Me:– My God & creator, who has blessed me with this life and all its ups and downs to get me to exactly where I am today– My Proverbs 31 wife of 31+ years, who works part-time and runs her own custom cookie business (https://lnkd.in/ejWS3SGE)– My special needs son, who is excelling in his job,…

  • “Be a life long learner”

    How many times have you heard that advice? Me, too. But how do you do that? I’m sure I’m not alone when I resist learning something because there’s no purpose in my learning it other than to learn it. I need to have a “why” behind learning something brand new. So, when I think I…

  • Search + Rescue

    This past weekend, I joined 21 of my fellow Georgia State Defense Force volunteer soldiers at Camp Merrill for Search And Rescue Specialist II (SARII) training. We slept in tents, enjoying the 36° nights and 70° sunny days in the north Georgia Mountains. We learned. We embraced the suck. We became friends, and leaned on…

  • Amazon Mandates RTO

    Yesterday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy held a meeting to discuss the pending return to office mandate at Amazon. A summary of his defense of the mandate: “This was not a cost play for us. This is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture.” As expected, the response is coming in hot. Now go…

  • Customer Discovery vs. Focus Groups

      During the first night of the Digital Marketing (#DGM4) class at General Assembly Tuesday night, we went down a number of really great rabbit trails. I encourage such Q&A because it really adds to the class and enables us to apply learning to the students’ actual jobs today. One of those quick sessions resulted from a…