“I don’t know what to write about.”
Every blogger occasionally faces writer’s block (funny, most humans never face “speaking block” or “thought block”, but anyway…). Sometimes tips for choosing blog post topics come in handy.
Know this: Blogging aimlessly is as bad (or worse) as not blogging at all. If you have a business blog, you may end up putting off your customers and prospects.
Building a successful blog is a commitment that requires both time and effort. By providing your audience with interesting, up-to-date, useful information you can keep them engaged and create opportunities to build relationships.
Here are 4 tips for choosing a topic for your next blog post:
1. Identity your goals
First, ask yourself about the goal of your blog. Is it to generate leads? Create awareness about your products and services? Drive traffic to website? Engage with your customers? For the sake of demonstration, let us assume the blog is to drive traffic to your website. For this, you will need a list of keywords relevant to your buyer personas and target market. These keywords form the basis of what to write about, improve your SEO rankings, and help bring targeted leads to your website.
Here are a few questions to ask when selecting keywords:
- What keywords are your customers searching for?
- What words relate to your business?
- What subjects do you cover in your blog?
Make a list of these phrases so you can refer to them during planning.
2. Search the web and news sources for your blog topic
The Internet is a great source for content ideas. Once you have identified your keywords, sign up for Google Alerts for these words/phrases. For instance, if you are selling vacation rentals in Canada, you can set up a Google alert for “Canadian travel”. Google alerts will mail you the latest articles, posts and press releases about the topic directly to you. Similarly, you can enter any other keyword you wish to monitor in the search field and decide how often you want to receive notifications. You can also choose to receive updates via email.
3. Choose a topic you are not sensitive about
If you’re maintaining a business blog, choose a topic that is culturally neutral and not liable to promote misunderstanding. The blogoshpere is made up of people from all walks of life with varying opinions. As your blog grows, more and more people will find it, and you have to be sensitive to differences.
4. Choose a topic that will help you build a community
The best business blogging topics are educational. When choosing a topic, think from your readers’ perspective and see what areas they need help with. This is the best way to position yourself as a thought leader.
