30 Blog Topic Ideas

30 Blog Topic Ideas

Writing a blog can feel daunting for business start-ups, or even those who are frequent bloggers and finding themselves block on topics to write about.  Here are 30 blog topic ideas to help you get your blogging on track.

For the start-up business, you feel you want to write blogs for your business but you don’t feel confident in doing so. Many people have the perception that blogs need to be lengthy masterpieces, but that is not necessarily the case. The purpose of blogs is to educate, inspire or communicate your audience about your expertise and to help drive traffic to your website.

To help you get started or back on track, I have put together ideas and suggestions you can use to help create content for your website without having to be an award-winning writer.

Before you start going crazy, determine what type of information your target wants to learn from you. What is that they are most likely going to seek from you, or what is the expertise they need from you.

 

How To Instructions

Give instruction on how to do something that is relevant for your business and audience. Include things like screenshots of what people can expect to see.

Latest Industry News or Information

Share with your audience important information that is relevant to them.

Topical Latest News

I was listening to a podcast by Darren Prowse from Probloggers, and he talked about how he wrote a blog predicting the winner of the American Idol show (or maybe it was Australia Idol, whichever!). Because the show was nearing its end and people were dying to find out who won, and of course, searching the net for answers, his blog traffic was huge.  So don’t be afraid to add completely un-business-related topics, you never know how they might pay off.

Lists

People love lists and quick and easy ones at that.  Here is a blog I wrote which is 50 call to actions phrases. Quick and easy.

Controversial Topics

Something bugging you, why not write about it.  But be warned, social media does bring out the worst in some people!

Checklists

Give your audience a checklist of what they need to ensure something runs smoothly. A little freebie download always helps too.

Cheat Sheets

We are always looking for a better way to do some of the things in our business, so got a hack on how they do it, share it!

Case Studies

Case studies are a great way to teach people things and give examples to enable them to learn and understand better.

External Resource Lists

Have your own list of going to’s for your business, why not give your audience one. 

Interviews

Interviews are a great way to build exposure for your business, those you interview will share your post with their audience too.

Reviews

Using a product or service you love, rave about it. Or perhaps you want to review two products against each other weighing up the pros and cons. Also, this is an effective way to review a product that you have an affiliation with.

Advice

Find out what your audience wants advice on, and write about it.

Monthly Summaries

Write a monthly summary on those who have been inspiring you, or teaching you new things.

Problem Solving

What are the most likely issues your audience has, problem-solve for them. Give them suggestions on what they can do to resolve the issue.

Video Blogs

Create a video if you don’t like writing/typing. Or create a stream of videos you find inspiration and share them with your audience.

Guest Blogs

Invite others to come and guest blog on your website.

Inspirational Stories

Everyone loves to be inspired, so share real life inspirational stories. Yours or others.

Quiz

Give them a quiz to complete relevant to your expertise.

Facts / Statistics

Share the latest important facts and statistics relevant to your audience and/or industry.

Contests

Prizes!!!!! Yes every sure does love to win something for nothing! 

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most commonly asked questions you receive in yoru business?  Answer them. Feature one per week or month and make it a series.

Event Summaries

Attended any events? Talk about them, link to them and share photos from the event. (psst….links are good for SEO!)

Infographics

Sometimes pictures tell a thousand words, rather than type a 1000….draw it!  Pictures are great for giving people overviews or quick summation on topics. You can use free online tools like Canva to create infographics….they even have templates.  

Podcast Show Notes

Got a podcast, post it on your blog page with additional notes or references for readers. 

Round Ups

What’s been happening? Do a monthly round-up of what or who you’ve been dealing with, watching, talking to, learning from, following, stalking (just kidding) and admiring.

Behind the Scenes

People love to learn and gain an understanding on how things happen.  So why not share with them.

Quotes

Looking for quotes to share with your audience? I know I always go searching. So why not do one better, and create a list of your favourites so when others go searching for quotes, they land at your website.

Affiliate Product Review

Affiliate products are a great way to get extra money in your pocket. So why not write about the product or topic and embed the affiliate links so you can convert sales.

Blog Series on a specific topic

Got a big juicy topic, don’t just write about it. Break it down down down and make a series on the topic.  Keep them coming back for more.

Your own real-life story

Nothing connects better than real-life adventures or stories, so don’t be afraid to share them. Be a storyteller.

 

I hope this blog has given you lots of ideas. Psst…wish you to outsource them, then please check out my blogging service here.

Why You Need a VA to Manage Your Blog and Newsletter

Why You Need a VA to Manage Your Blog and Newsletter

Keeping your business in the ‘eye of the customer’ is essential in order for your business to grow. As a business owner, you can easily become consumed dealing with our day-to-day matters, and not giving our business the time needed to action strategies for growth.  

Two of the best avenues to gently remind your customers you are there, are through your newsletters and blogs. 

A virtual assistant (VA) can assistant you in maintaining your customer contact. Creating a regular schedule on when blogs and newsletters need to be composed and released, enables you to know your timelines and your VA to know what deadlines they are working to. 

Before you start going crazy producing blogs and newsletters, you firstly need to determine how frequently you should create your content and will meet your target customers’ interest. You need to make sure you are not over or under-producing them. This can be a bit of trial and error. Once you have determined this, you need to commit to your schedule.

The best way to ensure deadlines are met is to talk to your VA about;

  • how much time they need to create the content
  • how much time you need to review the work, and
  • allow time for final edits and touch ups.

Once this is locked in, you can then start brainstorming the content needed for blogs and newsletters. Do some research to see what your customers love and don’t love. Don’t be scare to even ask your customers, using such means as a survey.  

The best strategy when working your schedule is to try and keep 2 to 3 blogs ahead of yourself, you can preschedule these to be released on your website on a set date. 

How can your VA get this all happening for you, so you’re not stressed trying to keep on top it all 

BLOG:

  • Create a list of key topics you want covered in blogs. Don’t be afraid to create a series of blogs, if your content is going to be to long.
  • Create a schedule of when the blogs are to be released. Working backward to create the first draft due date.
  • Your VA can draft the article for your review and can incorporate a call to actions at the end of your blog.
  • Determine what type of call to action you want from your audience. It is always good to encourage readers to comment, offer feedback or share an experience. Or you can encourage them to buy a product or service. Ensure you communicate to your VA what key call to actions you want incorporated into specific blogs.
  • Source free images – there are many website that offer free image to use for blogs. Some require acknowledgement from you sourcing the images from that specific website. Otherwise, your VA can use programs such as PicMonkey or Canva to create original artwork for your blog.
  • Update SEO – It is vital that in order for you to be found that your blog has it’s SEO words added. Your VA can enter these, and research on what other keywords would be relevant to your blog/business.

Your newsletter keeps you in your customer’s inbox. Don’t make your newsletters too wordy. A lot of people don’t love to read a lot of words (unless it’s a novel). A great way to create a newsletter is to mix up words and images and make as many things as possible linkable to your website. Remember, Traffic = Sales Conversion on your website.

Include your blogs in your newsletter too, again make sure your newsletter is linked to various aspects of your website to drive your traffic across.   For example, for your blog including your newsletter your title, image and the first couple of lines, then insert a ‘read more’ and link it to your website (also link the image).

The strategy behind this is to get your customers to your website, where you have the opportunity to convert them from visitor to a customer.

Newsletter

Brainstorm with your VA on the main section you want for your newsletter. Eg: The Blog, Shop, Latest News, Special, or Sales.

Your VA can create your newsletter template, and there are programs such as Mailchimp that have a free level for under a set number of subscribers. It is important that your business ‘branding’ is kept consistent through the newsletters. Why? Because branding is what people say about you when you’re not there!

Your VA can source and create content, create images and links to your various website sections. They can also create a draft of your written content, you will need to guide them on key aspect such as items on sales, specials coming up or key items you want to be highlighted in the newsletter.

Once your newsletter content is created and ready to go, make sure your VA checks all the links are working, and that they send you a copy to review.

Your VA can schedule and once your newsletter has gone, you’re VA will be able to advise you the open and click rates, as most newsletter programs advise this for you.

Don’t be afraid to test various styles and formats for your newsletter to see which format gets the most higher click rate with your readers.

 

If you have any questions, or would like to know more information feel free to contact me via my contact page.