If you have a small business, you know how important it is to publish new content on a consistent basis. Blogging is a fantastic way to improve your SEO, reach a wider audience, and build your online authority.
Even today, blogs are alive and well.
409 million internet users read about 20 billion blog pages monthly. In the United States alone, people read blogs three times more than emails.
However, it’s not always easy to write new blog content. If you’ve drawn a blank while staring down an empty page, you know the struggle of producing fresh articles week after week.
One way to beat writer’s block is by identifying a core set of effective topics.
What makes an effective blog topic? A good blog post has these three things:
Interest
It should go without saying that your blog posts need to be interesting, at least to your target audience. Think about your customers’ aspirations, challenges, and fears. Tailor your content to their areas of interest.
On that topic, don’t try to appeal to everybody — you’ll end up truly interesting nobody! Rather than writing to a general audience, identify your niche.
Insight
You want to blow people’s minds with innovative new perspectives whenever possible. Your blog posts should offer a fresh take on an old idea or provide a solution to an everyday problem that maybe no one has thought of before.
Of course, you can’t always be full of fresh hot takes. If nothing else, your articles should leave readers feeling like you’ve shared valuable new knowledge they would have missed otherwise.
Personality
People connect with other people, not with boring corporate voices. Inject your own humor, personality, and quirks into your blog posts. Even if you’re writing about a topic that isn’t inherently humorous, think about how you can add personality.
For example, we recently published an article about website domain names — not exactly the most stimulating topic. But by mentioning domains like apetit.com and penisland.net, we added some comedy to make the post more interesting.
Every small business can write engaging, effective blogs.
No matter your industry, each business is ripe with interesting and memorable blog topics.
Think of your articles as conversations you’d have with customers in your brick-and-mortar store. Picture yourself behind the counter and imagine what you’d talk about — the latest shipment of products you’ve received; the benefits of Brand A over Brand B; when to replace parts or purchase a new service.
15 blog topic prompts for small business owners.
- Share your thoughts on recent industry news or updates
- Share why you started your business
- Showcase one of your customers, especially how they benefited from your service or product
- Write a recap of an event in your industry
- Show pictures and stories from your workplace or store
- Conduct an interview with a prominent figure in your field
- Make a list of the best tools for businesses in your sector
- Review a recent book or movie related to your industry
- Answer frequently asked questions from customers
- Give a behind-the-scenes view of your production process
- Share a collection of customer testimonials
- Review a product or service that your readers care about
- Ask your readers want to hear more or less about, then use the comments to plan future articles
- Profile an employee
- Write about your biggest lessons from the past year
Still struggling to find topics or time for your business blog?
We now provide monthly done-for-you blog services, designed for those who want to partner with someone else to create high-quality content while they continue their own daily tasks.
You pick the schedule — 1, 2 or 4 posts per month. Then you don’t have to lift a finger.
We research, write, optimize, and even publish articles for you.
If you’re ready to reap the benefits of blogging, without the hours of work, get in touch to inquire about current availability.
