One of the biggest obstacles to maintaining a blog is finding blog topic ideas to write about. You know that writing content for your readers helps position you as the expert and shows Google that you are worthy of being on the search engine results page…
But what should you blog about?
Here are 5 Popular Ways to Find Blog Topic Ideas
Blogging inspiration can come from many different places. Here are a five of popular ways to find topics to blog about:
- Google Alerts: I set up Google Alerts on specific keyword phrases and names so that I am aware of any new articles or news on that topic as they happen. A trending topic on Google can give you ideas on how to write a new an article with a different spin, give your opinion on the topic, or add your expertise.
Internal Assets: Chances are that you already have many internal assets (brochures, presentations, videos, training manuals, instructions, other documentation) within your company that can be re-purposed into a blog post or social media content. There is nothing wrong with re-purposing content as long as it is still relevant and interesting. In fact, you may find that evergreen content on your blog will bring you web traffic for years to come.- Your Customers: Your customers are one of the best sources to mine blog post ideas. What questions do prospective new customers ask you (think: top of the funnels sales leads)? What questions do the ask you before they are ready to buy (think: bottom of the funnel sales leads)? What do your returning loyal customers and advocates love about you? Think about what people will want to read about at different places during their decision-making process. Customer success stories (testimonials) and interviews also make great blog posts.
- Keyword Research: Writing blog posts around on what keywords or phrases that customers would use to find you online is also a great tactic to work into your blogging strategy. There are some tools online for keyword research that you can utilize. Vivid Image can also work with you to determine what search phrases related to your product/service could also be great blog topic ideas or worked into your website content overall.
- Timely Topics: People want to read about things that are going on now, or right on the horizon. This is where a content calendar is critical in planning out your content strategy over the month, quarter, or even long-term for the year. Vivid Image has monthly “Starter Blog Questions” that our clients can request to be sent to them as a PDF (see sample for July here). These questions help to identify many of the timely topics that may come up and could be an opportunity for a blog.
There are several other sources I use for blog post ideas and inspiration such as industry news sites, competitor research, and social media research. Where do you find your blog topic ideas? We would love to hear more about what inspires your new blog topics. If you are a Vivid Image client and would like to request our Monthly Blog Start Questions, please contact us!
