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Have you ever sat in front of your computer, screen blinking with the cursor on an empty page, completely devoid of blog post ideas?
It is called a writer’s block and it happens to most writers, if not all, at some time or the other.
It may also happen when you find that the content you have previously posted has not generated the kind of response you expected.
Coming up with engaging blog post ideas day in and day out is certainly not easy but following a simple strategy will get you past the writer’s block.
There are a few steps that you have to follow and you will land up with dozens of blog post ideas that will keep you engaged for weeks if not months.
Posting great content relevant to the product you are trying to market or sell will make your audience want to read your content.
This will lead to higher traffic, better engagement, more lead generation and greater sales.
So how do you find newer ideas for blog posts?
Define the persona
Understanding the persona that you are addressing is the basic strategy of any good blogger.
You have to understand their needs and identify the problems your prospective audience may be facing.
Once you have done that you have to address those problems and offer solutions to the persona you have chosen to address.
You have to understand the demographic of the audience that will need your product or services and will have to address their concerns about buying one.
A young couple who is trying to set up a new home might be different from a middle aged couple who is looking to upgrade their kitchen.
While the former couple might be looking for a budgetary solution, the latter might be looking to solve their problems once and for all.
Show empathy to the customer’s problems
Remember that before buying your product or service, a prospective client will want to know what kind of set up he or she needs to have in order to get full value from your product or service.
That will give your ideas to get prospective customers early in their search. It will also give you an idea of what keywords they are likely to search on the internet.
Concentrate on providing answers to questions a prospective buyer would ask, even before they consider your product or service.
What other products will a person setting up a new home be interested in? What will a customer looking to upgrade his kitchen or house be looking for?
What questions were you most frequently asked in your previous blogs?
If you do not have enough interaction on your blogs, go to the content your competitors have posted and find the questions that need to be addressed.
What are your prospective customers’ doubts and apprehensions that might prevent them from buying your product or service?
Look for answers to these questions and you will land up with dozens of ideas and greater footfalls on your website.
Providing information is the key to winning audiences. You can then tempt them towards positive action.
The most basic information a customer will seek can be answered by answering the five Ws and one H. They are who, what, why, where, when and how.
These or a combination of these questions have to be answered before you can generate meaningful engagement form your audience.
Show empathy and you will win over an audience that accepts you as one of their own.
Generate ideas with targeted keywords
Do keyword research on any of the several keyword search apps.
In the keyword phrases generated, you will get hundreds of ideas on questions asked by prospective buyers.
Study the content posted by your competitors and look at what keywords they are using that are more successful than your content.
Find questions you need to answer to your keyword by using tools like ‘Answer the Public’.
Type in your keyword and you will find at least 50 questions you need to answer to address the concerns of your audience.
Look for trending topics
You can break the monotony of your marketing blog by giving your audience an update on a trending topic.
Reddit, BuzzSumo, BuzzFeed are all great sites to feed your audience some interesting content that is different from your routine marketing blogs.
Sign up to a free RSS aggregator like Freereader and keep up to date with content posted on competitors’ sites and the latest news in your niche.
These should give you enough blog post ideas to keep you busy.
Blog post ideas
Now that you have defined a persona, have researched the keywords and know how to find the questions that you have to answer, we will take a look at how you will write your content.
Give some time to each of the ideas listed below and come up with some titles to the blog posts you are going to write.
The ideas are listed under several subheadings. They are:
- Basic post ideas
- Make your audience smile
- News update posts
- Posts about self
- Controversial Posts
- Engaging the audience posts
These ideas are not in a particular order.
While most of your posts will be based on the basic ideas and engaging audience posts you will have to use the other types of posts based on your familiarity with your audience.
Use your judgement and intersperse your posts accordingly to keep your audience engaged as well as entertained.
Basic post ideas
Most of your posts will be based on these basic ideas. Intersperse these posts with other posts based on the ideas listed below these.
1.” How to …” posts
You will be writing how-to posts very often. They are useful when telling your audience how to use your product, get access to your service and to take care of the product.
You may also want to write a post on how to choose a product or service. There are many how-to posts you can write that your audience will find useful.
You can augment your audience’s understanding by using images audios/ videos in the posts. Such posts will result in greater engagement and queries.
2. Listicles
What you are reading now, N Blog Post Ideas’, is a listicle. Listicles are a great way to get audiences to read your content.
Listicles give your audience an idea of what to expect and how much time they may have to devote to reading it.
You can create a list on any interesting topic and write content on it. You are sure to get a fair bit of engagement if not more.
3. Highlight problems and offer solutions post
This is the most important content for a marketer. You have to highlight the pain points of the audience and offer solutions for them.
Readers will gobble anything that alleviates their problems or pain points. This is where you can promote your product or service.
This kind of post can also be written as a ‘how-to’ post or a guide to solving a problem. For example you can write a post on how to replace the water filter cartridge in your refrigerator.
4. Case study post
Case studies are used to highlight the achievement and sales of your product or the efficiency of your service.
You can make your case study post interesting by presenting customer reviews and performance infographics.
Try promoting your product by highlighting the success of your product or other products by your company.
5. Frequently asked Questions (FAQs) post
FAQs are an excellent means of making your audience feel that they already know your company, product and service.
While writing a comprehensive FAQ you will tend to answer most of the questions that a prospective customer might ask. This means you will get more prospects to read your content.
You can include internal links to more detailed answers to certain questions; thereby increasing the time a prospect spends on your website.
A ‘contact us’ button at the end of a FAQ will guarantee you queries and more interaction with prospective and existing customers.
If you’re a business consultant this is a great post for you, as you can sell your service without explicitly selling your service, as you’re providing help by answering questions people have about business growth.
6. Questions you need to ask- post
This post is more like a FAQ post wherein you educate your audience about what answers they should look for when surveying a product or a service.
This type of post gives you an opportunity to win the trust of your audience because you are seen as an educator making them aware where they should look and aren’t.
Use such posts to increase your rapport with your audience.
7. Checklist post
This is again an educational post where you give your audience a checklist to tick before buying a product or a service.
A checklist can also be posted to check a product and its components on delivery or upon installation.
A checklist is also a confidence-building measure to win the trust of your audience.
8, Embedded video post
You can make a post out of a video made by you or your company educating your audience on your product and its usage. Embed the video in your post.
It can be on how to use your product or on how to maintain the product. Include some clips from the video and explain what the video is about
You can even use a video created by someone else related to your niche, provided you give the due credit to the person or entity that created the video.
Such posts allow you to directly interact with your audience and a ‘contact us’ button will result in further engagement.
9. Post on statistics
You will be certainly linking other posts, both internal and external in your content for their statistical value.
Write a post where you combine all the statistics in one post and present them to your audience while still providing links to your original posts.
You can also borrow statistics from others’ posts while giving due credit to the author.
10. Getting referrals with a research post
If you have done any research on your products, take advantage of it by sharing your conclusions with your audience.
Such a post will generate more traffic to your content with social shares and backlinks. Back your post up with factual data.
11. ‘What is…’ post
Very often your audience may find it difficult to understand what your product or your service is. So, write a post defining your product or your service.
To get them in the pipeline write a post about your product. You can outline what your product or service does and how it can make your prospects’ life easier.
These posts help to introduce the audience to your product or service and will generate more engagement.
12. Write series posts
Very long posts can sometimes be for bad SEO because if a reader can’t find the answer they need easily or get bored and press the ‘back button, your bounce rate will increase, tlling Google the content isn’t valuable.
Break up your post into sections and write a series of posts and provide links to the previous and the subsequent posts.
This is a nice way of keeping a prospect engaged with your website for a longer duration resulting in better SEO rankings.
13. Comprehensive guide to information post
Very often prospects encounter difficulties in finding the information on a particular topic.
It may be because they are not internet savvy or they are searching for the wrong keywords.
If you write a comprehensive ‘Ultimate Guide to…’ post, prospects will gratefully lap it up rather than scouring the internet for the information.
Such a post will win you some loyalty from your readers with more than a little engagement.
Posts citing authoritative information
Do some blogger outreach and get in touch with authorities in your niche. Write a post on their research or views and opinions and site their posts in yours.
Make sure that you inform them and welcome them to post on your website.
If you develop a good rapport with them, other bloggers will also link your content in their posts.
Such kinds of posts allow you to gain leverage from the bloggers whose links you are using in your posts.
This will not only drive more traffic to your content but will also earn you respect from your audience.
14. Interview Posts
Have you ever interviewed an authority, industry leader or an influencer in your niche?
Try setting up a video interview with one such personality on zoom and you will be surprised at the people who are willing to grant you one.
Record the interview and post it with a transcript of the interview below the video. Make sure that you include a link to your guest’s website portal.
15. Quote Posts
Quoting prominent people and influencers is a great measure to adopt, both to write a post and gain the attention of your audience.
The quotes may be related to your niche or may not. But they should appeal to the persona that you are addressing.
A humorous quote or two, will earn you much more shares than a regular post, thereby significantly increasing your reach and followers.
16. Crowd sourced quote posts
Try asking reputed personalities and influencers to answer an interesting question on a topic within a limited number of words.
Put together the best of these answers and post them with links to the person who responded to your question.
Chances are that most of the responders whose replies you have cited will link your post with theirs giving you a wider reach.
17. Post giving links to relevant information
When you read others’ posts you may come across a lot of posts that contain relevant information for your audience.
You can write a post combining all this information in one. Better still, collect all the links and write a post which is a link roundup.
When you provide links to these various posts, the author of these posts will notice it and will include links to your content in their posts.
This will not only gain you a larger audience and engagement, it will also win you more friends among bloggers in your niche.
18. Write a post on the best information to read
Put together a list of a number of documents, books, research papers that are relevant to your audience.
Post them with a short review on each item in the list. Your audience will be grateful for the access to information that they would find hard to access.
19. Recommended ‘To follow…’ post
You may have a list of bloggers, personalities or social media influencers that you follow.
Put together a list of their website, social media and other links and share them with your audience.
This makes it easy for your audience to feel at home with you while those people that you link your audience with, might decide to link your website with theirs.
20. Profiling personalities and influencers
Did you ever feel like writing a magazine style profile of an influencer or a famous personality?
Do it and let the personalities know that you have profiled them. Share it with your audience.
There are good chances that the person or influencer whom you have profiled will share your post and link in their website increasing traffic to yours.
21. Post putting together content on a viral post
Watch out for a post on an interesting topic that has gone viral. This is a nice way of letting your audience know the interesting comments and follow-up posts to the viral post.
Put together all the content related to the viral post, curate it and post it for your audience.
22. Interesting posts for the week
To entertain and keep your audience informed you can pick the most relevant posts during the week and put them together in one post.
The posts chosen can be a review of a piece of content, tool or resource which your audience might find informative or useful.
Make your audience smile
Let your audience know your funny side. Posting a funny blog occasionally will be a diversion for your audience.
If you get it right, you will get a lot more shares for your posts, leading to more engagement.
People like to have fun and often want a break from their normal daily stressors. People also remember the content better when they can recall the funny story it was wrapped up in.
Try some of these fun blog post ideas.
23. Funny success post
You can recount a funny episode that led to your blogging or online business success.
If you had a funny incident leading to your blogging career, your business or success in it, you can always recount it in a post.
If the blog is about someone else’s success, include a link to their website in your post.
24. Use irony/hyperbole to make your post funny
Pick up one or two of the latest events or incidents and make satirical posts out of them.
Get your audience to smile and let them get a respite from informative or educational posts that we post every day.
25. Post funny memes of the week
Curate some funny memes that you have come across during the week and make a post out of them.
Better still if the memes are around a particular topic or a theme.
26. Funny images post
A post out of a few curated funny illustrations or images can get your audience in a jovial mood.
Take time to collect a few funny illustrations and compile them into a post. Give due credit to the illustrators.
27. Funny audience comments posts
Make a collection of funny comments your audience has made in response to your posts and make a blog out of them.
All those members of your audience who made the comments will be more than happy to share their comments.
Moreover, it will build a family-like atmosphere among your audience.
News update posts
Keep your audience up to date with the news relevant to your niche. Everyone wants to know what is happening in the outside world.
Not everyone is savvy enough to access the news that you may get access to and which is relevant to your niche.
You can be a source for the latest information making your audience more reliant on your blog.
28. Latest news posts
Write a new post with every event that has an influence on your niche and that is relevant to your audience.
Review the news and educate your audience on how the event or incidence will affect you and them.
29. Review post
Review a newly launched product, service or anything else and educate your audience.
The product or service need not be in your niche. But if it is of interest to your audience, review it honestly to enlighten your audience.
30. Latest trend post
Have you spotted a trend that is likely to take off in a big way among your audience?
Make a post on it. If the trend does take off, you’ll be the hero of your audience.
It will not only earn you devotion from your audience but will also get you multiple shares expanding your reach.
31. Surveys post
Survey your audience on an event, trending topic or a piece of news.
Review the results in a blog post and add your comments and opinions on the survey results.
You can also post the results of surveys of your product or service that you have conducted and review them.
32. Empathy posts
Address a topic that is of immediate concern to your audience.
Empathise with your audience and provide one or more solutions to their problems or difficulties.
Posts about self
As we mentioned before, people like doing business with a person more than they do with an entity.
Writing posts about yourself can make an audience more at home with you and your blog.
It gives a sense of personal touch and an assurance to the audience that there is someone who can address a problem if they come across any.
33. Personal experience post
Convert your personal experiences into posts.
This is about getting personally closer to your audience. So let them share in your good or bad experiences both in life and in business.
If you recount a bad experience, your audience will empathise with you and will cheer your good experiences.
Let your guard down, drop inhibitions and let them have it the way you felt.
34. Family post
Did your grandmother happen to meet the Queen or your grandfather bowl to Sir Donald Bradman?
Recount it for your audience the way you were told about their experiences.
Relate what happened when your child topped his class and was facilitated or did exceptionally well in sports.
That will invite your audience to share their own exciting experiences. If they do, interview them and make another post out of the interview, giving due credit where it is deserved.
35. Inspirational Post
Make a post out of what inspired you the most. It may be a biography/autobiography, a story, a fable or a quote.
Convert it into a post and tell your audience what steps you took following the inspiration. You can even convert this post into a series post.
Everyone wants inspiration all the time and will lap up your post.
36. Everyday concern post
Start a post with one of the everyday concerns that you had and how you managed to turn it around to your advantage.
The post might not be related to your niche, but it should be of value to your audience.
You will get a lot of likes and shares for an everyday concern post.
37. Views Post
If you have strong views about a current topic or an issue currently being debated, let your hair down and give it a go.
Let your audience know what your views on the topic/issue are while taking care not to offend anyone or a section of the society.
In fact, such ‘rant blogs’ are bound to draw comments if the topic is relevant to your audience.
That means more shares and more engagement on your website.
Controversial posts
Such posts are a good tactic to rouse your audience’s interest in topics that they have not given sufficient attention to.
You can use such posts to get your audience involved in a fervent discussion on a topic of importance to you and them.
38. Speculative post
Write a ‘what if’ post on an event, an incident or a statement. Speculate on ‘what if…” otherwise.
If you select a topic that is of value to your audience, this strategy is sure to be a success.
It will not only get you more interaction with your audience but will also get a lot of shares.
39. Forecasting post
If you have a strong belief in how things are going to pan out, write a post on it and make your views known.
Such predictive posts are bound to initiate debate which will mean more engagement with your audience.
40. Critical Post
Write a post criticising an event, another post, a person or a company.
Beware that such kinds of posts can draw a lot of debate and can have a polarising effect on your audience.
If you are confident about your stance and that of your audience, it is a winning strategy to gain loyalty and engagement with your audience.
Make sure to qualify the post to avoid getting into a legal tangle with someone or a company.
41. Reactive Post
Compile a post noting down your reaction to a piece of news, an event or another post.
Note the plus points of the target as well as the cons and then give your reactions. Ask your audience to respond to your opinions in the post.
This will garner a lot of interaction with your audience.
Posts on lifestyle
People across all age groups want to know about lifestyles.
Show your audience that you and your business have a human side. Like personal posts, lifestyle posts will also get you closer to your audience.
Sharing your home or your office lifestyle gives your audience confidence, making it easier for them to do business with you.
42. Office posts
Give your audience a video tour of your office or recount a recent company sales or promotional event.
This helps your audience understand what you do to sell products or render services to them and will make them feel a part of your business.
Don’t worry if you are a one-man company. Let your audience know how you are working, about the times that you keep and how you spend your time when working.
43. Fashion post
Write posts on the latest fashions and post your views on them. Such posts will serve very well for those that are promoting apparel.
Even if you are not involved with fashion, give your views on the latest fashion that has hit the streets.
It is a means to generate debate among and with your audience.
44. Holiday post
Having a holiday? Don’t waste time. Make a post on your holiday and share it with your audience.
Whether having an overseas official get-together or just camping overnight with your kids, make a post with short clips of videos and some stills.
Let your audience know how much fun you had on your holiday. Don’t worry about getting too personal with your audience.
You are not going to make a holiday post every day.
Engaging the audience posts
The ultimate aim of a blogger is engagement with the audience because that is the only way to get positive action.
The action may be in the form of likes, shares or buy. Increasing your audience base is your primary goal.
Posting the content listed below will get you assured engagement with your audience.
45. Challenge Post
Write a post that invites your audience to a challenge. Give a time limit to the audience to respond to the challenge.
Post regular updates to show how many are participating in the challenge and the results of the challenge as it progresses.
46. Questions Post
Ask your audience questions in a blog and seek answers. Compile the answers and post regular updates on the responses.
Reply to queries punctually and get better responses from your audience. You can either pose the questions on social media or personally.
47. Answers post
You can make a post from one of the questions posed by a member of your audience to your posts.
Pick one interesting question by one of your audience and write a post on it giving your answer to the query. Ask your audience to reply to the question too.
That way, you will get an answer from a wide section of your audience to the question which might also be bothering them.
48. Give away post
Offer something to your audience in return for something they have to accomplish or do.
This is another good way to gain the loyalty of your audience.
Promotional posts
By now you must have gained loyalty from your audience. It is time to promote your products or services.
The aim here is to not bore your audience without rewarding them for their loyalty. Give them value for following you or your website.
49. Company news posts
Any prospects would like to know as much as they could about your company and the post-sales support that your company gives their customers.
Write posts that promote your company among your audience. Try to boost their confidence in your company and your service by making intelligent use of your blogging schedule.
50. Product Update post
Tell your audience about the new products that are being developed by your company.
Give them regular updates on the stage of development of the products and a tentative date for the launch of the product.
Loyal members of your audience will help you promote your product among their friends and acquaintances.
51. Product usage tips
Once you have sold your product or usage, do not abandon your customers. Make sure that they continue to get value for the product or service that they have purchased from you.
The best way to do this is by regular posts telling the customers how best to use the products or your service.
52. Company income posts
Let your customers know your income breakdown. This will make them feel like trusted members of a close-knit family.
Post your financial statements and let your customers know that your company is doing well or show them the traffic you are getting or the sales which you are doing..
This helps allay fears of availability of spares or updates whatever your product may be. The point is to keep your customers informed and happy that they are in good hands.
53. Project update posts
If your company has embarked on a path-breaking or a big project, let your audience know about the project.
Keep them excited by posting regular updates on the progress of the project and the expected dates of completion of the different phases.
54. Comparison posts
Being frank with your audience is the best policy to retain their trust and loyalty.
Honestly compare your product or service with other options that customers have in the market.
If you have an advantage in price or quality, point that out but never write negative things about competing products or services.
54 Blog Post Ideas – The Conclusion
There are many more ideas for posts that you will get as you go along.
Plan your blogs on a content calendar that you set in advance, because being a successful blogger is not a week’s job or a month’s work.
Keep looking for new topics that are successful in your niche and that are on an upward trend. These topics will help you gain a wider audience share.
Keep an eye on the response and engagement that you get to your posts and regularly compare your performance with that of your competitors.
These insights will let you modify your plan to compete better with your rivals. They will also give you more keywords to blog on.
Blogging involves hard work, persistence and endurance. Work for the long term and you will get success smiling upon you.
Happy blogging!