The Three I’s of Generating Successful Blog Post Ideas

Your business has reached the point where it’s time to reach out and touch people on a grander scale. You’re ripe to get the word out about your offerings, as well as take steps to expand your internet footprint. These days, this means pulling together social media, SEO and marketing efforts in order to garner as much cloud clout as possible.

All these avenues of marketing require one thing:  A blog. Most successful blogs are written on a consistent basis – be it weekly, biweekly, or monthly. For each blog post, you need to churn out an average of 500 words of content that attracts “likes” and shares, strategically uses keywords to drive search engine traffic to your site, and suitably represents your organization to its target audiences.

So the big question is: What to write about?

The Three I’s

The goal for a blog is to be helpful for your audiences.  This means articulating subjects that embody the Three I’s:

• Informative
• Interesting
• Individually Applicable

In order to produce blog posts that fulfill these criteria, here are steps to follow:

Choose a Writer

If a small business owner enjoys writing, or has a lot of time on her hands, she may choose to write her own blog posts. Under many circumstances, including lack of time, skill or interest, the small business owner does not write her own blogs, but rather hires a writer. The writer’s position title might be any of the following: Content writer, blog writer, blogger, ghost writer, or ghost blogger. A Virtual Assistant can fill a range of blogging roles from content strategist to blog post writer.

If you are considering hiring a writer, start by asking to see her writing samples to get an idea of her versatility with topics and voice, and go from there.

Generate Ideas

How do you (or you along with your writer) generate blog post ideas, week in and week out?

The point of a blog is to connect with readers, making them members of a community, with you as a leading member. In order to forge this connection, ensure that your blog does at least one of the following in each post:

• Answers A Question
• Addresses a Need
• Offers Tips (often phrased as “The Secret To…”)

Here are some grounding questions for brainstorming to conjure up blog ideas:

• What questions do my customers have?
• What problems can I solve for my customers?
• What related topics are my customers interested in?
• How can I tie in the upcoming holiday/season/event with a topic of interest to my customers?
• Did any recent news item affect my customers, and if so, how?

If you are working with a blog writer, she’ll work with you on this process – listening, reading, and talking out ideas with you. For some business owners, this could take the form of a weekly phone call to flesh out potential topics. Your writer may often suggest her own ideas for the month, taking the need for brainstorming off your busy plate. Or, you might prefer to send your blog writer an email with ideas, and possibly instructions as well. Together you will find the right teamwork flow for your blogger’s writing to be as successful as possible.

Ready, Set, Go!

The important thing is starting – and following through consistently. Select a writer (either yourself or someone else), and start producing. Once you get into a rhythm, you will likely enjoy the relationship you’re creating with your readers (and your writing staff). You’ll be getting your message out via writing in a way that is interesting, informative, and provides help for each individual reader.

Submitted by Chaya Leah