Last week at the Dublin Entrepreneurial Center (DEC) our monthly blogging roundtable group explored possible blog topics for small business owners.
Finding a suitable topic to write about can be a big stressor for bloggers. In fact, I received an email from one of my clients who gave up trying to write a blog post for today, “I went down one road and it just didn’t work …”
Even a writer on my team started a blog post on a topic last night that he hadn’t researched, and didn’t appear passionate about, and he ended up at a dead end.
My advice? It’s better not to post than to post something you don’t like and doesn’t move you closer to your marketing goals.
Here are 10 content ideas for your business blog:
1. Review an event, blog, App, website, movie, book or song. This is one of my favorites because you experience something new and it feels good to share your opinion backed up by your personal experience, research, links and and compelling visuals. Check out this clever approach to a Twitter and Facebook review.
2. Interview a thought leader. Interview someone, in any field, who is good at what they do. Their personal journey may be very interesting especially if you, as the writer, find those interesting nuggets that help make it applicable to your reader’s lives.
3. Share your side of something going on in the world and relate it to business. A friend just did this very well in a blog post as he tied holiday preparations to business.
4. 
Research a technology you want to learn more about anyway. I just discovered an App called Noteminder which allows you to shake your iPhone to activate, talk, and shake to stop and your verbal notes are emailed to you. Cool. This gave me the idea to research and write a full review of handy note-taking apps for bloggers.
5. Shine the Spotlight on a not-for-profit. Everyone loves a feel-good story and you probably don’t mind asking people to share it. If you have not-for-profit clients, or you are a volunteer with an organization, this can be an easy and compelling story to tell.
6. Write about a Trending Topic on Twitter. What are people talking about? Give them your perspective. Build out the trending topic or often-searched topic on Google in an area you have an interest. A few of today’s trending topics on Twitter for Columbus, Ohio: #thingsthatIwant and #MyFavoritePlaces, Family Matters and North Korea.
7. Taking the opposing viewpoint of a blog post you read. Creating a little controversy can encourage folks to comment and share. Do your research, be professional and make sure you topic is current. My idea for a post at this moment? “Why I am skeptical about Facebook Timeline” in response to: Facebook Timeline: 9 Things you need to know.
8. Explore the human condition as it relates to business. The benefit of adversity, how to manage transition, what inspires me to keep building my business, how driven people manage, when success is a bad thing are just a few thoughts.
9. Write a ‘How to’ post. We want to do everything better. Give it to your audience in easy steps so they can comment, share, adopt and keep them coming back to your blog for more.
10. Reach out to guest bloggers. Reaching out to other bloggers who are friends, mentors, or people who have an interesting writing style or angle to share creates some content variety on your blog, gives you some time to do something else and may drive new people (from their network) to your blog. If you get a lot of requests from potential guest bloggers, develop and post some guest blogger guidelines.
What are some blog topics that allow you to develop interesting content quickly and effectively?
Lori Crock is a writer and founder of Written Impact and Blog Coaches. She lives and works in Columbus, Ohio. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and non-profits leaders build their brand through powerful marketing messaging for web, print, video and social media.
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