How to come up with enough topics to fill your calendar
As we’ve discussed in previous posts, business blogging is a valuable tool for companies to establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry, drive traffic to their websites, and generate leads. But in order to really gain these benefit from your blog, you have to post frequently. You might be wondering how in the world you can come up with enough blog topics to fill up your content calendar, let alone making those posts engaging and unique.
In this blog post, we'll explore some strategies for ideating content for business blogging.
1. Define your target audience and their pain points. I can’t stress enough how important this is as a first step of any content creation. Many businesses want to start right away talking about all the cool features of their product or service. But content that your potential customer does not see as valuable will not gain traction. To create valuable content, it's essential to know who you're creating it for. Write a few customer personas for your business, using as much data as you can from your website and social media analytics, focus groups, surveys, and other buyer feedback.
Next ask yourself what their challenges and concerns are, and create content that addresses those needs. Make a list of issues that your product or service solves. Make another list of questions potential customers may have about the specifics of your product. When you solve problems or answer questions for your customers, you will establish your business as a trusted resource for solutions to their problems.
2. Write for the different stages of your customer’s journey. Potential buyers use Google to ask questions that will help move them along in their journey from awareness to discovery to decision. If all your blog posts target customers in the discovery phase, and you haven’t written any blog posts to draw them in during the awareness phase, you will be leaving money on the table. Put yourself in their shoes. Make a list of questions a customer might ask during each stage, and answer each with a blog post that helps move them to the next phase of their journey.
3. Analyze your competitors' blogs. Keeping an eye on your competitors' blogs can help you identify gaps in their content that you can fill with your blog posts. Analyze their blog posts and identify topics that they've overlooked or only briefly covered. You can also take inspiration from their successful posts and create similar content but with your own unique spin.
4. Conduct keyword research. Keyword research is essential for discovering topics that your target audience is interested in. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to identify popular search terms and phrases related to your business. Longtail keywords in the form of questions are typically best for blog post topics. If using these keyword-finding tools is too daunting for you, simply go to Google and type in a question. Then, look down to Google’s “People Also Ask’ section to gain insight into what customers are searching for. Use these keywords to generate ideas for your blog posts.
5. Look for inspiration from news and trends. Current events and industry trends can be great sources of inspiration for business blog posts. Keep an eye on industry news, subscribe to newsletters, and follow industry influencers and relevant hashtags on social media. By staying up-to-date with the latest developments, you can create timely and relevant content that your audience will find valuable.
6. Share your expertise and experience. As a business owner or professional, you have unique expertise and experience that your audience can benefit from. Sharing your insights, advice, and knowledge on topics related to your business will establish you as a trusted expert. Don’t think about this as “tooting your horn.” Think about it as offering valuable knowledge to your customer. A smart consumer is much more likely to buy from someone who knows their product or service inside out.
7. Use customer feedback and FAQs. Your customers are an excellent source of inspiration for blog post ideas. Collect customer feedback and look for patterns in their questions and concerns. Use their feedback to create blog posts that address their needs and provide solutions to their problems.
Once you’ve brainstormed several ideas for blog posts, it’s time to create your content calendar. I’ll share my tips for creating a calendar you can actually follow in another post. But, keep in mind that you’ll need to vary your posts based on the type of content (educational, inspirational, entertaining) and also which phase of the customer journey you are targeting.
Good luck, and happy blogging!
P.S. If you have tips you'd like to add, comment below.
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