12 Great Ways for Generating Awesome Blog Ideas

We’ve all been there. All great writers have.

You’re sitting there, staring at the keyboard and blank monitor, stumped for blog ideas. I mean, how much can you possibly blog about?

The key is recognizing all the great blog opportunities that are all around you. You don’t always have to rely on what’s inside your own head to generate blog topics.

Utilize your social media platforms, industry news, as well as responses to past blog articles.

Time to forget about writers block, as we’ve put together a list of foolproof ways for generating great blog ideas. Be sure to refer back to this list, as it’s a proven method that has worked for us on many occasions, and in most cases, actually helped to generate multiple blog ideas.

1. Answer Prospects Questions

Isn’t this the whole idea behind an effective blog article? However, most writers take the more difficult route of trying to guess what their prospects want to know.

You can make this a whole lot easier on yourself by simply talking to your fellow co-workers. Drop in on someone from sales, and ask them common questions that they often hear when trying to make a sale to a potential prospect. Jot down everything you can on a notepad, and bingo, you have yourself some quality blog topics straight from the prospects themselves.

2. Blog Comments

This is often an untapped resource for quality blog topics. Go back and scan through your old blog articles and take note of all of the comments your readers are posting. The more blogs you go through, the better. This may seem like a tedious task, but it can pay huge dividends when you’re stumped at the keyboard.

You can often times generate blog ideas simply by reading some old responses. Read through the comments, and try to spin off what others are saying. Sometimes, a reader may even pose a question. In cases like this, your job just got much easier, as you now have another prospect question to add to your note pad.

3. Customer Success Stories

Is there any better sales tool than a positive case study? When you’re running low on ideas, consider profiling one of your clients and the success they’ve had with your product or service. Readers love to be informed, and there’s really no better way of promoting your product than through an effective customer success story.

4. Recent News In Your Industry

Stay up to date on the news in your industry. Chances are your readers would like to stay current as well. Discuss recent trends, breaking news, and be sure to include your opinion on all matters as they relate to your industry.

This effectively sets you aside as an industry expert and also as a trusted advisor. This will also let readers know that they can come to your blog as both an informational tool as well as a news source.

5. Use Google Alerts for Key Terms

If you haven’t already, set up a Google alerts for key terms related to your industry or keywords you’re trying to rank for. Each time these words or phrases are used on web pages, you’ll be alerted, providing you with endless ideas for new content on your blog.

You’ll find industry news, questions, as well as other blog articles that you can use to help develop your own spin on the topics that pertain to your industry.

6. Find Questions on LinkedIn

As I’ve stated before, “LinkedIn is like Facebook, only dressed in a suit and tie.”

It’s much easier to connect with others in your industry as well as prospects, enabling you to use forums and your own company page to find questions and content related to your industry. Once you tap into this resource, you’ll always have fresh blog ideas flowing your way. As long as you stay active in your client community (if you don’t already have one, create one) you’ll constantly have new questions and comments to great blog articles from.

7. What Are People “Tweeting” About?

One of the great things about Twitter is it’s always easy to find information relating to your industry, or anything you want really. The key? #Hashtags.

Whether you’re looking for blog ideas about #trashdisposal, #phonesystems, or #healthinsurance, all you have to do is hashtag your key terms to find what others in the Twitter universe are saying about it. Here you’ll find questions, opinions, comments, but most importantly, a wealth of information to help you generate new blog ideas.

8. Check Facebook for Relevant Topics

Just as Twitter is a valuable resource for generating new topics, so is Facebook. Use your company’s Facebook page to your advantage. Check through all the comments that come through via wall posts, and see if there’s anything you can go off of.

In many cases, you’ll find tons of relevant questions and comments that you can use to generate new blog ideas. Check the responses to your company’s posts. Are there questions or concerns?

Check out your competitors Facebook pages. What are their followers asking? Chances are your followers are asking the same things, and with any luck, maybe you can even draw some followers from your competitors by staying on top of what they want to know.

9. Responses to Other Blogs

This goes along with what was discussed in #8. Take a glance at other blogs within your industry, or your competitors blogs, and see what they’ve been blogging about and which ones have garnered the most engagement.

This is an easy way of finding out what the consumers in your industry are interested in, and then capitalizing on it by posting blog articles about it.

Obviously, you’ll want to put your own spin on these blog topics as we’re not looking to copy ideas, but all you’re looking to do here is find something to spark your creative process.

10. Responses to Relevant YouTube Videos

Does your company have a YouTube channel? If so, take some time to go through the videos and scan through the responses they’ve gotten. These are the people you’re trying to reach in your blog, so pay attention to what they’re saying or asking.

If your company doesn’t have a YouTube channel, search for relevant videos in your industry and begin the process that way.

11. Crowd Source from Social Media

So you’ve effectively been monitoring what your social media followers have been saying, but now its time to spark the discussion yourself.

Pose a question to your followers, something that requires an opinion or response from your followers. Better yet, ask your followers what they want to know. Ask what their questions are. You’ll be amazed at the responses you’ll receive.

Take each response and jot it down to be used later. These could all be possible blog ideas, so the value of each comment is immeasurable.

12. Use Questions from Email

Like any company, you and your co-workers probably receive a ton of email each day. Some of these may be from potential clients or consumers. Be sure to go through these, and ask your co-workers to forward you any that involve questions.

Use your blog as an opportunity to address these questions and answer them thoroughly. Chances are, the oringinal person who asked the question isn’t the only potential consumer who could benefit from this information, so take each prospects question and view it for what it is; the questions your prospects are asking.

Now go ahead and answer them.

Writers Block?

After going through this list and applying it to your company’s blog, writers block should be a thing of the past. Remember, possible blog ideas are all around you. All you have to do is look for them in the right places and you’ll never be stumped again.

Key Takeaways:

The following can help you generate blog ideas:

• Prospects questions
• Blog comments
• Customer success stories
• Industry news
• Google alerts
• Questions on LinkedIn
• What people are “Tweeting”
• Monitor Facebook
• Responses to other blogs
• Responses to YouTube videos
• Crowd sourcing from social media
• Email questions

Need Help?

If you’re interested in starting a business blog to help generate more traffic and leads from your website, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.