We’ve established you need an active, valuable blog to help boost your SEO and position yourself as an expert in your industry (if you still aren’t convinced, start here). Here’s the hard part: deciding what you’re supposed to write about. If you’ve ever stared at a blinking cursor on your screen and questioned your creativity, you aren’t alone— and hopefully by the end of this post, you’ll be inspired to write something awesome.

I’ve shared how to come up with blog ideas before, but I want to take it a step further and break things down into specific categories and topics. No matter what you’re writing about, make sure you’re adding value to your audience (and make sure you’re writing for your specific audience as well).

Pro Tip: Make sure you’re naming your blog posts something searchable. The title will do wonders for your SEO and help more people find your content.

Connection Blog Posts

These posts aren’t “how to’s” or idea lists; the goal here is to create a connection with your audience and show the real, human side of your business. Here are a few specific ideas for connection blog posts:

• Behind The Scenes— Pull back the curtain and show how your business runs and the people behind it.

• A Day In The Life— What does a day in the life look like for a small business owner? People are drawn to this type of content because of how genuine it feels.

• Lessons You’ve Recently Learned— Whether you’ve made a major mistake while running your business or you’re experiencing something your audience can relate to, this type of blog post is helpful for proving you are a real human.

• Inspirational Quotes/Motivating Message— Share some of your favorite quotes, or relay a motivating message that has encouraged you lately. This communicates to your audience you care about how they’re feeling.

Helpful Blog Posts

Your blog content should be mostly made up of this category. These posts are helpful tips, tricks, and advice that you (as the industry expert) share to help your audience succeed. This category is critical for establishing credibility and creating a loyal audience that will go to you for your advice and services. If you look over at the TAC(t) blog, you can see my team has published tons of helpful blog posts on Marketing topics we’re experts on. Here are a few specific ideas for helpful blog posts:

• How-To/Tutorial Style— You work in your industry every day, which means there’s a good chance you understand the pain points and challenges that come with your work. Create a how-to guide or a tutorial to walk your audience through your solution for a common problem they face. This post you’re reading right now is a great example of this.

• Create A List— People don’t read, they scan. Create a simple, numbered list for your audience to quickly consume and gain knowledge. A specific example of this would be listing off helpful online tools you use to run your business.

• Share FAQs— Round up some general questions you’re frequently asked and put them in a blog post. Here’s an example of an FAQ blog post we created for social media. 

• Define Confusing Terms/Industry Information— What may seem like common knowledge to you can actually be a wealth of information to someone else. If you work in an industry with specific terms or information, new business owners may not know how to define and explain it. Here’s an example of a definition blog post we created for social media terms.

Promotional Blog Posts

This is your online space, you should be able to promote your own business! Avoid being over sales-y, but don’t be afraid to sprinkle in promotional posts here and there. Here are a few specific ideas for promotional blog posts:

• Share Company Updates— If your team has grown, you’ve hit certain goals, or you’re excited about a new client, share it! Sharing accomplishments proves to your audience your business is active and growing, which will give your credibility another boost.

• Share A Recent Project/Case Study— If you’ve recently had a successful project or client win, wrap it up in a blog post and detail your results. Your audience will be interested to see how you created success for one of your clients and will be more likely to book your service with some proof of your skills. Bonus points if you include a positive client review in the blog.

• Product/Service Recommendations— Who do you serve best, and what recommendations would you give them? This content piece should highlight how your audience can be successful with your product or service.

Hopefully the creative wheels are turning in your head and you’ve already thought of several ways to make these topics work for your business. If you need some extra help, reach out to us! We can help you come up with a marketing game plan (blogging included) for your business.