12 No-Thinking-Required Blog Posts Ideas
Have you ever had days when you can’t bring yourself to blog? You stare at the blank screen hoping the words will magically appear and almost any other chore seems much more exciting including the laundry.
At times like this, you must remember you’re writing your blog for your readers, those loyal fans who look forward to your content on a regular basis. They’re like children who need to be fed with your ideas. (To this end, it can be helpful to use marketing personas.)
Here are twelve blog post ideas that you can use to provide structure to your writing without bothering your creative muse.
- Read through your comments. Is there a post where readers want more information or have additional questions on a topic? Don’t worry if your posts haven’t attracted any juicy comments. If that’s the case, read another blogger in your category to see what questions their readers raise and answer those.
- Respond to another blog post. At its core, this is what blogging is about. It’s an asynchronous dialog. Make sure you link to the relevant post(s).
- Interpret news events for your niche. Give the highlights of the news in your field and add your commentary regarding what this means for your readers. Attribute the news to its original source.
- Round up the latest research. This works in a category where there’s a lot of information gathered. It also works well at the beginning of the year, quarterly, and near the major trade shows. Go beyond just telling the facts. Add your own insights to the information.
- Interview a rock star in your field. This person doesn’t literally have to be a rock star but rather someone well known in your field that whose insights your readers would appreciate.
- Spotlight a reader. Give your readers a chance to feel special. It’s a great way for a business blog to engage customers. Ask readers to participate and give their insights on your topic. It can be a special project they’ve made or about their pet. This can make a great regular feature if you ask readers to participate.
- Review a book. Remember the book reports you did in fourth grade? Well this is another spin on this idea. What’s on your bookshelf? Which of the recent books are worth reading and why? This can make a great regular feature. It’s a good place to do an affiliate tie-in.
- Show readers the pictures. Forget your words. Use photographs to fill your post and add short descriptions. But don’t just throw the photos together, have a theme or story line that drawers viewers in.
- Give a lesson. Explain how to do something related to your topic. Often, bloggers overlook this type of post because they seem so obvious to the blogger. But the reality is that what’s easy for you to do, may not be for your readers.
- Answer customer questions. Think advice column. The questions can be sourced from your customer service department, your readers or the common questions asked by readers. Provide written responses that help a broader cross section of people.
- Write about a pioneer in your field. You can write about a true historical person or a contemporary one. What’s critical is that this person should have a relationship to your niche or your readers. For example, I could write, What I learned from Leo Burnett.
- Share insights from a conference or your presentation. Have you attended any conferences or other form of live event? You can live blog or give a summary of events. If you’re the speaker, you can write about your talk. Alternatively, you can use the opportunity to interview other people.
The way to overcome not wanting to blog is not to do the laundry but rather to get started on a post. It useful to have topic that doesn’t require lots of outlining, research or thinking.
Do you have any other blog topics to add to this list?
Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen
Here are some related articles that you may find of interest.
Photo credit: Reilly Butler via Flickr
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