Help! I've Got a Blog but I'm Out of Ideas

It's very common to hear SEO experts suggest starting a blog as a way of attracting visitors, increasing authority within a niche, and sending the right signals to search engines. Just setting one up is not enough, though. To be effective, a blog must be relevant, helpful, and frequently updated.

Just coming up with any old idea that seems related to a company's industry or audience won't cut it. Each post should be focused and well-constructed to offer maximum value to visitors. Just knowing that doesn't help, though, which is why this article is going to introduce not only some general templates that can be applied to any industry but also information about SEO applications for content writing and ideas for how to make sure your blog stands out.

Everyone Gets Writer's Block

The first thing to know about coming up with and executing excellent ideas for a new or existing blog is that it's OK to get writer's block once in a while. It happens to everyone from influencers to internationally recognized authors. The good news is that because it's such a common problem, there are all kinds of proven ways to help alleviate it. Depending on your unique situation, you could try:

• Creating a designated workspace
• Eliminating distractions by decluttering and turning off the phone
• Working in 25-minute bursts followed by five-minute breaks
• Planning specific times to brainstorm and write
• Reading other people's work to find inspiration
• Thinking of new blog posts as first drafts instead of finished products

Coming up with ideas and executing them are the hardest parts of maintaining a blog, so don't get discouraged if it's not always easy.

How to Come Up with Great Ideas for Better Blogging

If you came here looking for specific ideas, don't worry. We'll get to those. There will, however, come a time when you'll need to branch out and come up with ideas for yourself, which is why we're starting at the beginning. Following these tips when getting a blog off the ground or trying to revamp it for better performance won't just help you with coming up with ideas. It will ensure that every post is on point.

Start By Defining Your Audience

Business owners already know how essential market research is to generating high-quality leads. It's just as important to research target audiences for blog articles.

Remember, while content writing is usually discussed in the context of SEO, it's also an effective marketing strategy in its own right. Just as it would make little sense to advertise products for successful young entrepreneurs on a television program directed at retirees, there's no reason to write blog posts about topics that won't appeal to the people you most want to attract to your site.

Create a Persona

Novelists and other creative writers often suggest writing to one person. That doesn't mean you should choose someone in your life and start addressing every blog post to them. It means that you should create a customer persona - note that we're using the word "customer" loosely here. If you're writing a blog with the primary intent of simply putting information out there instead of selling particular goods or services, that's perfectly fine and this advice will still apply.

To create a customer persona, think about the typical person who reads your blog, purchases the company's products, or loyally supports the brand, and write a profile for that imaginary customer. Try to be as specific as possible. The idea here isn't to describe every person who might read the articles. It's to create a persona for one typical consumer.

Once you've developed the persona fully with information like a job, geographical location, living situation, interest, hobbies, and other influencing factors, you can write specifically to that person and still produce content that interests the blog's wider audience. It will be easier to come up with topics and to stay within your niche if you think about how they would respond to any given idea.

Research Keywords First

If your blog's primary purpose is to improve the site's search engine rankings, target audiences and personas are still relevant but they may come second to keyword research. When using this strategy for coming up with new ideas, start by identifying helpful keywords, then create topics around them.

There are plenty of helpful keyword research tools out there. Working with an SEO consultant is also a fantastic way to identify keywords that are relevant to both a company's brand and its customers' most common search intents. Just be sure not to overdo it because Google's search algorithms now penalize keyword stuffing.

Show Some Personality

Gone are the days when the only thing that mattered to business owners was stuffing keywords into every blog post. While beginning with keyword research is a great way to find relevant topics, it's still important to write for actual readers. No one wants to read boring posts composed of giant, undivided blocks of text, so if that's what your articles look like right now, it's time to start mixing things up.

To get on the right track, think about your brand identity. Because it should already be tailored to appeal to your target audience, writing in a style that reflects your brand's values, goals, and mission is a great way to make sure every post will hit the mark.

Make Full Use of Multimedia Posts

Videos, photos, images, and infographics can all break up text and make blog posts easier to read. Incorporating multiple types of media is also a great way to keep readers on the site and signal value to Google. Just make sure that the media added to your blog posts are relevant and have compelling alt tags so that the bots can read them as easily as people can view them.

10 Proven, Effective Blog Post Concepts

Now that you have some idea of what goes into creating the perfect topic, let's take a look at some examples. Think of these topics as a jumping-off point. You'll still need to add some personal flair, and not every concept will apply to every business, but these ideas should get those creative juices flowing.

1. How-To Blog Posts

These days, people almost always turn to the Internet when they need to figure out how to do new things. The chances are close to 100% that you've done the same. Just take a look at your search history. It would be very surprising if at least a few of the queries didn't start with those two essential words.

You can take advantage of people's reliance on Google to help them learn by creating how-to blog posts that break down complicated tasks into simpler steps. These articles need to be related to the brand's primary mission and should outline all of the steps that readers will need to take to accomplish whatever it is they're trying to do. Incorporating videos, images, and infographics can help to make complicated information more accessible.

2. FAQ Posts

FAQ blog posts were already popular, then Google introduced featured snippets. This relatively new type of search result contains short but descriptive content that explicitly answers users' questions. The snippets are taken directly from existing content on indexed web pages, and the search algorithms responsible for deciding what to show do so based on whether that content answers the question directly and succinctly.

To make full use of FAQ blog posts, be sure to keep answers short and sweet. Many SEO experts recommend phrasing the answer as a direct response to the question. For example, if you added the question, "What is an FAQ Post?", the answer would start with "An FAQ post is…"

Researching FAQ posts can take a little extra work because, for this blogging strategy to be effective, you need to answer actual long-tail queries. One good way to come up with ideas is to perform a manual Google search, then check the "People Also Ask" section for related questions. Quora and Reddit are also good sources to check.

3. Beginner Guides

Almost three-quarters of Google users skim blog posts instead of reading through them word-by-word. You can accommodate this habit by providing easily skimmable, clear, and concise content, and beginner's guides offer an excellent opportunity for doing just that. The title itself will help to make the post more accessible, as it promises to break down complex topics into easy-to-understand concepts.

Beginner's guide blog posts don't need to cover every possible aspect of a topic. These basic guides are designed to act as springboards for getting people started researching topics on their own, which also creates some excellent opportunities for internal link building. These types of posts often feature:

• Background information on topics
• Basic concepts and definitions
• Step-by-step instructions
• Links to more advanced information

4. Ultimate Guides

Ultimate guide blog posts serve a slightly different purpose. While beginner's guides provide easily accessible information in a skimmable format, ultimate guides create authority by exhaustively breaking down complex concepts or tasks related to your industry or niche.

When creating ultimate guides, be sure to break the content up into digestible sections and include plenty of graphics. Offering examples that illustrate ideas or analogies to other more accessible concepts can also help to ensure that readers understand.

The key to creating effective ultimate guide blog posts is to make sure that they offer readers everything that they need to understand a topic or accomplish a set goal. These blog posts typically take on a long format and can be over 3,000 words in length, which is helpful for both boosting ranking signals and creating opportunities for effective keyword use.

5. Listicle Posts

The "listicle" format is simple but very effective. All you have to do is come up with a list of things, services, places, people, or anything else that you can think of that's relevant to the topic, format it correctly, and title the entry appropriately by starting with a number. As long as you follow these simple steps, the content will be attention-grabbing and easy to absorb.

Other types of blog posts can also be formatted as listicles. How-tos are a good example, as are best-of posts, which we'll get into later. As with all blog posts, just be sure that the topic you choose to investigate is related to your brand, niche, or industry.

6. Fact-Checking Articles

There is no denying that the Internet is rife with fake information and bad advice. That's part of why Google is so focused on suggesting authoritative sites that have clear connections to the query. Creating fact-checking articles is a good way to both combat fake information and draw in more traffic. To get started, simply:

1. Write up a list of common myths within your industry.
2. Brainstorm related keywords and research them.
3. Use the best keywords to generate topics, titles, headers, and content angles.
4. Write an article that debunks the common myths while simultaneously providing readers with more helpful information.

Fact-checking articles will only be effective if you cite reputable sources. Avoid citing your competitors, but if you can find statistics, research, interviews, or other blog articles that back up your claims, go ahead and link to them.

7. Best-Of Posts

This type of post can be viewed as a roundup post, and it's appropriate for almost any industry. All you have to do to create effective best-of posts is gather information about the top-performing items or ideas in a specific niche, then evaluate the pros and cons of each of them. You can do this for just about any concept as long as there is sufficient traffic around the keyword used in the title.

Best-of blog posts, also referred to as product roundups, are also excellent for affiliate marketing. They allow bloggers to link to product pages without pushing any specific goods on their readers or coming off as being promotional rather than informational. Best-of posts are also effective for companies that provide services rather than products. As a service provider in the field, you want clients to perceive you as an expert, and the details of different products or processes can help with creating authority.

8. Behind-the-Scenes Posts

Today's consumers love brands that show some personality. Behind-the-scenes posts give businesses the chance to showcase actual, real-life people through employee spotlights, day-in-the-life articles, and similar concepts. Showcasing specific employees can pull double-duty, too, because it both makes them feel valued and tends to generate social shares.

You can also use behind-the-scenes posts to get more personal. Share your personal history with the topic, why it inspires you, or what kinds of mistakes you've made along the way. People love to hear stories about underdogs, so if you've had to overcome adversity to get to where you are, a behind-the-scenes storytelling blog post could be a good fit.

9. Audience Engagement Posts

Identifying your target audience before you start writing is a great way to keep blog posts and topics relevant, but it only works if your initial assessment was on point. If you want to find out who your actual audience is, there are few better ways to do so than by asking them directly.

Audience engagement posts typically feature interactive content. Adding quizzes and surveys to your blog helps to keep people engaged, grow email lists, and stay on top of changes in audience composition. Plus, if you get this one right, you can go back and write a second, recap blog article that showcases your brand's customers or clients. As long as you get their consent first, it's a great way to generate social shares and make people feel like their opinions are valued.

10. Interview Posts

Sometimes called ask-an-expert articles, interview posts serve multiple purposes. If done correctly, they can:

1. Build authority for the blog
2. Create new backlinks
3. Allow for greater networking possibilities
4. Name-drop popular people in your field
5. And more

You can find people to interview by checking professional organizations' membership lists, authors of popular articles or studies, and social media groups dedicated to connecting industry professionals in your field. Just be sure that the person you are interviewing is credible, and make it easy for the interviewee. Well-known industry pros rarely have the time to sit down for hours-long, in-person interviews, so instead, present them with short lists of concise questions, then use the answers to create an insightful blog post.

Bonus Tips for Topic Creation

The ten types of blog formats above are incredibly flexible and can be applied to just about any industry or field of interest. They're only the tip of the iceberg, though. Just sticking to proven concepts isn't always enough to set your brand apart from the competition. To do that, you'll need to get creative. You can come up with even more great topic ideas by:

• Researching competitors' strategies
• Asking your audience directly what they want to read about
• Performing in-depth competitor analyses to identify topic and content gaps
• Using targeted Google searches to your advantage
• Identifying trending topics and news in your industry
• Sharing your, or your company's, personal story
• Performing studies to create brand-new insights
• Expanding on existing blog posts to create linked series

It's also relevant to note here that Google prioritizes fresh content, but that doesn't mean you have to create an entirely new article every time one of your pages starts to drop in the SERPs. Updating existing blog articles so that they better reflect current events, trends, and information is much easier, and it provides real results.

Frequently Asked Questions About Blog Topics for 2022

If you're wondering whether these blog topics and examples are still relevant in today's SEO landscape, we've got the answers you need. As experts in the SEO industry, we have experience working with clients from all backgrounds and are more than happy to answer any questions. Before reaching out to our dedicated staff, though, read through the FAQ below.

Do I Really Need a Blog?

You really need a blog if you want your brand to succeed online. Relevant and well-written blog articles will both attract new customers or clients and help to boost your SERP rankings.

What Should My Blog Be About?

Your blog should be about topics and themes related to your brand. It's fine to branch out into related fields, but try to keep all of the articles within the same general niche.

Will People Actually Read My Blog?

People will actually read your blog if you write compelling articles that catch their attention and provide useful information. Most people are skim readers, but they'll still appreciate your insight.

Which Topics Should I Start With?

You should start with the topics you're most familiar with. If you're more comfortable with writing reviews, try a best-of article. If you tend to prefer long-form writing, go for an ultimate guide.

How Can I Research Topics for My Blog?

You can research topics for your blog in a few ways. Try starting by focusing on keywords, asking for audience opinions on social media accounts, or seeing what your competitors are focusing on for relevant and timely topics.

What Are the Trending Topics for 2022?

The trending topics for 2022 vary by industry, but many people are focused on health and wellness, travel, and lifestyle-related topics right now. If you can find a way to incorporate those into your blog topics, you may be able to attract new audiences.

There Is an Easier Way

If you're still feeling overwhelmed by writer's block and need new content fast, don't worry. PosiRank is still here to help. We work with top-performing creators to generate SEO-friendly content for businesses, non-profits, and individuals, alike.

Our dedicated consultants will help you come up with themes, keywords, and types of content at no cost to you, then we'll pass the information on to our writing team. You can request edits as needed once the article is done, then simply post it on your blog. Our consultations are always free, so you have nothing to lose by reaching out to learn more about our SEO blogging services.