How To Generate Great Content Topics For Your Blog
Chad Faith
Director of Content
Most of us know that blogging helps with lead generation as well as other SEO aspects. With a blog, you can attract visitors through social media, share useful information, and keep content fresh on your website. However, you should not write for the sake of writing as you need to create blog posts that are engaging. Your posts should share helpful, entertaining, educational, and quality content. If you have undertaken the task of generating content for your company’s blog, and are struggling to come up with topics on a regular basis – like all writers do, you are not alone. Here are some tips to help you create stellar content topics:
Stay Up to Date with the Latest News
Depending on your industry, certain stories featured in recent news can relate to your target audience. Go ahead and use these trending topics to create interesting content and engage both potential and existing customers. Let’s say that there are new homes and estates being built in your area and you are a real estate agent. You can offer tips on how to market one’s home, what to look out for when buying a new home, and more. As long you keep your eyes and ears open, it is possible to continue finding content that can be used for your own blog. Apart from browsing through your local news outlets, you may also check out what your friends are discussing about on Facebook or keep track of the things that are trending on Twitter.
Repurpose Content from a Different Angle
If you have been blogging for awhile, now is a good time to look through content from the past to see how they can be updated and what new ideas it sparks. Even past internal communications, handouts, videos, and brochures can become share-worthy ideas and thoughts. Since your target audience may not know much about your internal processes, quality control, checks and balances, etc., you can share with your audience how you are doing great things for them every day. You may even talk about how your technicians, consultants, company representatives, etc., aim to impress your customers at every appointment.
Explore Different Ways to Structure Your Content
In order to provide helpful information, you must first understand what kinds of information your readers are looking for. From there, you can start thinking of varying formats to publish your content. Some ways to structure your content include:
- Videos
- Infographics
- Tips and tricks
- Do’s and don’ts
- Opinion articles
- Mistakes to avoid
- News
- Events
- Myths about a certain topic
- Q&A pieces
- How-to articles
- Listicles
Focus on a Different Audience from Time to Time
It is common for a company to have more than one persona to target. You need to keep in mind who you are speaking to as it will affect your message. For instance, you are writing for an educational institution and aiming to increase student enrollment for next year. Sure, you could write articles to potential students and give them information about the institution, but you can also at the same time focus on their parents (especially if your article is directed to high school kids or younger). You can do something like “Top Tips to Saving for Your College Education” and another one about “Grants and Scholarships Every Parent Should Check Out for XYZ University Enrollment.”