Writer’s block can be frustrating, tiresome, and distracting. Once you fall victim, it can be difficult to recover. That is why it is important to avoid it in the first place. Sure, that may be easier said than done, but there are things you can do to stay ahead of the game. More specifically, developing an editorial calendar of blog topics will help you avoid writer’s block for the next year (at least). To help you create that editorial calendar, here are 10 ways to generate new blog topic ideas.
1. Ask Your Co-Workers to Guest Blog
If you typically write all of the company blogs yourself, chances are you’re going to get burnt out sooner or later. Take a break and ask one of your co-workers to guest blog about their area of expertise. If they aren’t big into writing, have them create an outline that you can edit or expand upon.
2. Utilize a Blog Topic Generator
There are a handful of blog topic generators out there to help you come up with enticing titles and powerful topics. All you have to do is enter in a few nouns or keywords and voila! Hubspot has a great blog topic generator to get you started.
3. Review Your Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions are a great resource to consult when coming up with blog topics. The FAQ section of your website represents all of those questions your customers want answers to. Take each individual question and stretch the answer out into one blog post. Then link to each of these blogs from your FAQ section!
4. Re-purpose Old Content
You may have written an outstanding blog on a very important topic two years ago, but a lot can change in two years. Revisit your old blogs and see how you can re-write them or re-purpose them.
5. Use Google’s Predictive Search
Google’s predictive search is the tool that recommends phrases once you begin typing a word in the search box. These recommendations are based on popular searches. By typing in one of your keywords, you will receive a list of commonly searched phrases relating to that particular keyword. And now you have your new blog topic!
6. Relate Your Industry to a Current Event
Take a look at current events and see how you can relate them to your industry. For example, if a major snow storm is forecast to hit the East Coast and you sell snow plows, take the opportunity to blog about the benefits of snow plows!
7. Analyze Your Competitors
It is important to stay on top of what your competitors are doing in all aspects of digital marketing, including blogs. Look at some of their blog ideas and see how you can take what worked for them and make it your own.
8. Read Other Blogs in Your Industry
Keep a list of industry-leading blogs and visit them daily to see what’s new. Use their ideas to fuel your own. But don’t forget to give them credit with a little link juice!
9. Create a Category Guide
Your readers may be coming to your website looking for blogs on a very specific topic. Create various category guides to recap and link to blogs pertaining to certain things. This will allow you to group blog topics that don’t fall into those larger categories on your site.
10. Make Predictions
End-of-year predictions regarding your industry and services are always fun. Make a few predictions and revisit your predictions from the year before to see which ones came true.
If you need assistance with creating a blog schedule or managing your blog strategy, please contact Informatics.
