GEEK QUEEN
How To Never Run Out Of Content Ideas
Jenny Marsden • Feb 05, 2020
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how to never run out of ideas for your website blog
Once you have been writing blog posts for your business for a good amount of time, it does usually get easier to come up with new and fresh idea's for your blog. However, we all have those "OMG I can't think of anything to write about" moments.
Hopefully this post will help you to keep those content idea's coming thick and fast.
1. Don't be afraid to step out of the box - just stay in the room!
Typically a website blog is not just written to keep Google happy, its written to offer free helpful content to your existing visitors AND to attract new visitors. It is easy to run out of idea's if you stick way to tightly to your website subject. A blog is a great place to diversity and test. If you are a real estate website for example, try writing some blogs about decor with a twist on how it can help you sell your home. This could attract visitors who are after decorating advice and while they might not be selling their home now, they may in the future. Get in front of the curve and put your real estate sales business front and center in their mind.
IE:
- The best modern style furniture to help sell a new home.
- How Magnolia paint color isn't always the best choice.
- The power of a good throw rug.
2. Keep a list that is always accessible
My domain emails are run through Google's GSuite which has a great range of apps available. I use Google Keep which is a note taking app. Apart from being incredibly easy to use it is cloud based so I can add notes on my phone when I'm out and have them accessible on my desktop immediately I get home. Perfect!
I have a blog post on how to use Keep
so feel free to check that out.
3. Ask your clients what they would like to see on you blog
If you have an email list or regular website visitors ask them what they would like to see. If you use a good email marketing platform like GetResponse, part of their suite of products are form capabilities.
Create a new mini form and test how these work with your clients. Create a form asking for what they would like to see on the blog and see how the responses come through. If that doesn't work, maybe next time ask them to vote on which subject they feel would offer them the most value.
Some clients won't type in a subject but they will vote on a choice. Work out what works best and take that action.
4. Answer commonly asked questions
You will find that you are often asked the same question over and over again. Use this and create a blog post answering this question.
If you are being asked the same question over and over what are the chances that visitors are actually Googling this? Pretty good I would say.
Write a blog post answering this question and don't forget to create a tag for QandA posts so that clients can see other questions you have answered. Engagement is key so if you can add a "related posts" list to the bottom of one Q&A, you give your clients somewhere to go next.
5. be flexible with your time
I always sit down and write all my blog posts and create all my content around the middle of the month for the coming month. This gives me time to tweak and edit without being time stressed and I always find that once I start writing, I get more and more idea's about what other subject matter I could address. So be flexible.
Don't sit down with an hour knowing you have to go back to a client project to meet a deadline. Make sure you have an open ended time frame so you can keep going if you get on that all important roll!
6. Learn new things
I could not begin to add up the number of times I've been reading a book or listening to a podcast or watching a TED talk and immediately thought of how a particular slice of content could apply to my business or clients. WAY too many to count.
Get away from your business and listen and learn for yourself. You will be surprised how much you gain and what idea's start brewing in the back of your brain and if nothing else, you will take the pressure off yourself. I don't know about you but I always have these great ideas when I'm walking or in the shower and not thinking at all about business stuff.
7. get ideas from your peers
I like that. "Ideas from your peers". I'm going to start using that more.
Don't be scared to see what others in your market are doing. Don't copy them, see what they are posting and if it has any relevance to your clients, write your own post addressing that subject making sure it's written with your client base in mind.
Consider using a Feed Reader
I use Feedly
as my blog reader which allows me to collate all the blogs I follow into one place. I can categorize them, save them for later reading or into my own folders. I LOVE IT! Every time I sit down to read my feed (which is usually a Saturday morning with a coffee and the dog on my lap) I always come away with so many content ideas I can apply for my own business.
Again - don't copy anyone else's post but if you see something that your readers would be interested in add it to your Google Keep List and save it for later use.
This post (with video) on How To Use Feedly
is available on the blog and should help you to get started with Feedly.
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About Jenny
I started my IT career in Database Administration and .Net coding. While I LOVED that work, I realised very quickly that I also wanted a life. To be a top end coder or DB Admin, you have to comit your downtime to constantly learning and evolving and while that is also something I love, I wanted it to be my work and not my life. So I morphed my love of design with my knowledge of all things SEO and moved into building small business websites.
Why small business websites? I'm a small business myself and I know how hard it can be so I wanted to give my clients a great service, with an approachable point of contact where no question was a "stupid question".
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