There’s no doubt that blogging can be a great way to promote your business and attract new customers. But if you’re not used to writing, or if you’re not sure where to start, it can be a daunting task.
Luckily, I’ve got 5 tips that can help you get started and make sure you have an endless supply of blog topics to write about.
- Consider goals
- Brainstorm ideas
- Organize topics
- Create a editorial calendar
- Bonus tip – Look for inspiration
Let’s look at these in a bit more detail.
1. Consider what you want to achieve with your blog
Before you start writing, you need to decide what your goals are with your blog. Do you want to get your visitors to your website, attract new leads, or build deeper relationships with existing customers?
If you’re not sure what your goals should be, take a look at your website and marketing materials. What message are you trying to get across? What do you want people to know about your business and the types of problems that you solve for your clients?
Once you know your goals, you can choose topics that will help you achieve them. For instance,
- If you’re looking to get your visitors to your site, you need to look at improving your SEO, choose topics that are relevant to your keywords and focus on creating helpful, informative content.
- If you’re attracting new leads, on the other hand, focus on topics that will interest your target audience and include calls to action that encourage readers to contact you.
- And if you’re looking to build deeper relationships with existing customers, write about topics that will resonate with them and offer valuable insights into your business.
2. Brainstorm ideas
Brainstorming is a tried-and-true method for coming up with ideas, and it’s especially useful for businesses who need to regularly generate new content.
To brainstorm:
- Start by making a list of potential topics.
- Expand on each topic by thinking about what else you could write about
- Consider questions that customers often ask you, problems they need help solving, or topics that are relevant to your industry.
By taking the time to brainstorm, you can ensure that you always have a stockpile of fresh content ideas. Plus, if you find yourself struggling to come up with ideas, brainstorming can jumpstart your creativity and help you get unstuck.
3. Organize topics into groups or categories
Breaking down your content into categories and sub-categories is a great way to organize your thoughts and make sure you’re covering all the bases.
By looking at the broad topics you’ve come up with, you can start to identify ways to group them together. This will make it easier to plan your content and ensure that you’re including everything that’s relevant.
In addition, subdividing your content into smaller categories will help you to better focus your writing and keep your readers engaged.
While typical content strategy would have you define your categories first and then brainstorm topics that fit and align with those categories, it can be overwhelming for beginners. If you’re new to blogging, waiting until after you’ve done your brainstorming, assessing all your topics you’ve come up with and then sorting them into categories can be a much easier approach.
For instance, if you want to write about content marketing, you could have categories like “Content Strategy,” “Content Creation,” and “Content Promotion.
These categories carry over to your website and are used for content organization and help readers to find the information they need. It also helps with Search Engine Optimization and it helps the search engines understand more about the content and what it’s about.
So, if you’re looking for a way to streamline your content planning, consider breaking down your topics into subtopics. It’s a simple but effective way to get organized and make sure you’re on track.
4. Create an editorial calendar
Once you’ve got your topics grouped together, it’s time to start planning out when you’ll publish each piece of content. This is where an editorial calendar comes in.
An editorial calendar is a tool that helps you plan, schedule, and track your content and helps eliminate writer’s block. It can be as simple as a calendar or spreadsheet, or you can use online tools to help manage your editorial calendar.
Whichever method you choose, an editorial calendar will help you stay on track with your content strategy. Plus, it’ll make it easier to measure your results and ensure that your content is aligned with your business goals.
5. Bonus Tip – Read other blogs in your industry for inspiration
Reading blogs in your industry can be a great way to come up with content ideas. By reading other blogs, you can get a sense of the topics that are being talked about and the different ways businesses are approaching them. You can also use other blogs as a source of inspiration for your own content.
When you’re reading, pay attention to the format of the posts and the types of topics that are being covered. If you see a blog post that’s particularly well-written or informative, consider writing something similar for your own blog. If you come across a topic that you think could be approached in a different way, make a note of it so you can write your own take on the issue.
While watching what others are writing about and gaining inspiration, it’s important to stick to your own voice and perspective. Take a look at the headings used on the page and not so much the content within the paragraphs.
Wrapping up…
When you’re first starting out, creating content for your business can seem like a daunting task, but it’s essential if you want to keep your customers engaged and drive traffic to your website.
By following these 5 tips, you can make sure you always have fresh content ideas, and you can start to develop a system for creating and publishing your content. With a little planning and effort, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a content creation pro.
If you’re looking for help with your business’s content, consider working with a content marketing agency. A good agency can help you develop a content strategy, create high-quality content, and promote your blog or website.
Learn more about how I can help you grow your business with content marketing.
