Google and all the other major search engines love blog's.
But to grab and keep the attention of the search engines you need to add posts to your blog on a regular basis, weekly if possible. So what can you blog about?
Here are a few ideas you can use to help you create a regular stream of interesting posts.
Sign up to a few emails, blogs, forums, RSS feeds about your type of business or service and look to for what the latest trends seem to be. When you blog about the latest trend, put your unique perspective on it. If you disagree with the latest trend why no write about that. Different views can develop into 'debates' that can come up with new suggestions/ideas.
Open up your daily newspaper, online news or your RSS news reader and see what's happening. Give your opinion about an interesting news story that mentions a common problem and, if possible, provide a workable solution and relate that answer to your business in some way.
If you've been in business for quite a while, you know the questions that clients ask you to answer over and over again. Instead of repeatedly responding to the same questions, write a series of blog posts that answer your target market's most frequently asked questions.
If clients hire you to solve a specific problem they're having, write a blog entry about the solution you came up with.
It's quite a good idea to list all the recent problems that you have helped your clients solve. By doing this you will have plenty of material for future blog entries. It's best not to use your clients name, address, email etc. Make the blog entry generic enough to hide your client's identity.
Blog about your experience with a product, book or service, highlighting both the high points and low points. Make a personal recommendation if the product is good and worth buying. This may even be an opportunity to earn some affiliate commission for the products you recommend.
Tell a story about what's happening in your life or in your business that would be useful or instructive for your blog readers. Chronicle both your highs and lows, your wins and your struggles.
One key to successful blogging is getting personal with your readers. The more "real" you are with your readers, the better your reader gets to know you and begins to like and trust you.
What people do you know and admire in your industry? If you admire them, chances are that members of your target market do as well.
Contact these experts and ask if they can provide answers to three to five questions about their lives, their businesses, industry trends or how to solve a particular problem. Publish the interviews as blog posts, adding audio and graphics if you have them. Make sure you have the experts permission to publish what they've said.
Find other blogs related to your industry, service or your target market. Add those to your blog reader and take an hour or two each week to read the posts on those blogs. Reading other blogs is a great way to generate ideas for your own blog.
Sometimes a blogging idea or concept will strike you when you don't need (or want) to blog. Begin a 'blog ideas file' by creating a document or spreadsheet to track your ideas and thoughts.
There's always something you can tell your target market. For example QBS PC Help publish articles based on the computer repairs we have undertaken. We also design the occasional website and provide SEO services to a few companies, so we also write about these subjects. We announce these new articles in our blog. This in turn directs people back to the main QBS PC Help website.
To liven up a tutorial you could use audio or video to explain a process. The tutorial may need to created in multiple parts, like Part 1, Part 2, etc., which would make for multiple posts to your blog.
Take an in-person or virtual tour of something useful to your readers. For example, if you're a beauty consultant, tour the top five online beauty related sites and report your experiences as a client in each. If you're a restaurant owner, visit three or four local restaurants and evaluate what's often overlooked in staff training based on your experience as a customer.
You get 280 characters in Twitter to write about something. If you need more space, or want to respond in greater length to someone's Tweet or Facebook status update, do so in your blog. Thought-provoking questions are often asked on Twitter, and the answers may inspire you to blog.
What are the top five blogs to read in your industry? How about the top five people to watch? What about the ten most useful online tools you use? Nothing attracts attention on a blog quicker than a list, so create one yourself or ask your readers to help you in the process.
Try attending a professional trade show, conference or networking event? You can then report about your experiences at the event on your blog. Talk about the workshops you attended, the vendors you met and the speakers you heard.
Each industry is plagued with myths and fallacies about success/failure or what does/doesn't work in that industry.
Use your blog to debunk some of the most common myths/preconceptions/notions in your industry and set the record straight. This sort of post can often result in a lively discussion, with many comments on your blog entry.
Typically the strategy/idea/technique you've discussed with a client will benefit your blog readers as well. The blog post should focus on the topic of the conversation, not the conversation itself.
These blogging tips will hopefully generate a few ideas for your blog entries. Take a look around your life, your business, your conversations with clients and colleagues and what's happening in the world around you. You'll soon begin to see plenty of opportunities that can be turned into successful blog posts.
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Alternatively, download the pdf file.
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