We’re about to begin a new year, full of fresh and exciting opportunities for businesses of all types. One of the biggest opportunities for businesses is to hit the ground running and start blowing competitors away with a content rich blog.
One of the perennial obstacles for most small to medium sized businesses is content ideas. Most businesses I talk to either assume they don’t have content to write about or don’t have time to map out some ideas or a content calendar. To prove that the former point is bull and to provide some help with the second category, I’ve provided fifty blog post ideas. Whether you want to draw inspiration or flat out copy these, let this be a framework for a blog that turns visitors into customers.
1. Describe your goals, milestones, and ambitions for business in the new year.
2. Answer a question about your industry (“How do people prepare for tax filings at the last minute?”).
3. Write a list of how-to’s concerning your industry (“7 Things To Incorporate In Your New Website”).
4. Create a list of how-not-to’s concerning your industry (“4 Ways To Ruin Your Diet”).
5. Write a list of reasons why people benefit from your business (“6 Reasons You Need A New Website Right Now”)
6. Create a day-in-the-life of your business or a particular employee.
7. Ask a question and provide viewpoints that encourage comment discussion. (“Is It Better To Have A Mobile Website Or A Mobile Responsive Website?”)
8. Bring attention to an industry-specific tradition, holiday or event.
9. Highlight an industry news story and provide insightful commentary on it.
10. Create a list of predictions for your industry for the new year.
11. Write a business case study (“How a small indie development team used YouTube to turn an obscure product into a massive cult hit”).
12. Review mobile applications for your industry and whether or not you would recommend them.
13. Answer questions you’ve received through social media channels in more detail.
14. Debunk a myth about your business type or industry. (“The Big Myth of SEO Debunked”)
15. Write about a funny anecdote involving your business.
16. Create a personalized video from you or your boss, post it on the blog, and provide a transcript for people who would rather read.
17. Recount a discussion with a customer or client about a common problem in your industry (get their permission!)
18. Share some insightful, interesting or surprising statistics about your industry.
19. Feature guest posts from thought leaders or simply colleagues.
20. Put a quirky mix on an ordinary blog post if your style allows. (“Six Trends To Watch In HTML5…In Limerick!”)
21. Interview a customer or client in a standard Q and A format.
22. Write about a bad situation that would have benefited from your product or service.
23. Do an FAQ of common industry questions.
24. Explain what a relevant piece of news or an event means to your customers.
25. Write about business updates designed to improve the quality of your services for customers.
26. Write a list of software, products, or services that your customers could benefit from.
27. Curate a presentation or discussion you did by rewriting it as a blog.
28. Recount the experience of giving a presentation or discussion.
29. Connect your content to a well-known figure (“What Bill Gates Taught Me About Time Management”).
30. Create a series of “bite sized posts” that summarize detailed information quickly.
31. Respond to blog comments on previous blog posts with a new blog post.
32. If you have a book or type of paid written content, share an excerpt with a link to buy the full product.
33. Introduce readers to the types of people you work with such as suppliers, manufacturers or contractors.
34. Do a survey. If you track responses, give something away to one random participant as an incentive.
35. Write about your involvement in the local community (“Our Business Attended the Chamber of Commerce Summer Picnic!”).
36. Write about a specific skill your clients can learn on their own (“How To Learn Basic HTML”).
37. Write about a list of relevant upcoming events, webinars or group discussions your clients can attend (not just yours).
38. Write about the story behind a particular or new product. (“See How A Line Of T-Shirts Helps Your Local Food Pantry”).
39. Talk about legal aspects of your business and industry that customers and clients should be aware of.
40. Provide a round up of industry trends for a month or quarter with fresh commentary.
41. Write a direct response – agreeing or disagreeing – to another blog post or a news editorial about your industry.
42. Create a detailed how-to with an accompanying video or screenshots.
43. Do a contrast review comparing two relevant products. (“Hootsuite vs. Sprout Social: Which Should You Use For Social Automation?”
44. Detail on a personal level about how you’re continuing to educate yourself in order to do
better work for your customers.
45. Explain what motivated you to get into your current business and career.
46. Write about a business leader you admire.
47. Create a retro review of how your business operated fifty years ago versus today.
48. Make a list of blogs you read on a regular basis.
49. Create an “open discussion” blog post where people can ask you questions that you respond to in the comments about a particular topic.
50. Write a simple, sincere blog post thanking your customers for all they do to support you.
There you have it: Fifty blog post ideas from which you can draw tons of rich content for your leads and customers. Remember: You have as much content as you decide to have, so hit that keyboard and get blogging!