10 Simple Ideas for Writing Blog Posts

One of the things I struggled with most when beginning to blog was coming up with ideas for content. The pressure for an award winning and valuable post caused writers block and resistance. Then I began to tell myself, it’s just like writing an e-mail. I’m not getting graded and the value of each post is simply based on opinion.

The next issue  was to write about. Well, this turned out to be a lot easier than I had made it out to be. The options for blog content are limitless. Here are some simple ideas on writing tips for creating blog entry content:

Google top news-What’s going on in the world today? Find the latest news related to your industry or business in general and create a post with your 2 cents.
Search forums for frequently asked questions-If you know the answer to a frequently asked question, write a post about it and every time you see someone ask again in the future, direct them to your blog post. It can be something as simple as what’s your favorite e-mail host.
Write How Tos-This one is super easy! Not everyone is computer savvy. As a matter of fact, I have friends that don’t even know how to add an attachment to an e-mail! You can write about how to do ANYTHING from creating an excel spreadsheet, how to use sorting and formulas, how to scale images in photo manipulation software, how to use WordPress 🙂 etc… How Tos are probably the easiest solution when you’re not feeling very creative.
Story telling-Share experiences. We all have them daily, both good and bad. This is another endless opportunity for ideas. Discuss challenges, accomplishments and just plain old situations. Although your life may not seem interesting to you, it’s comforting for others to know they’re not alone despite the circumstances.
Ask Questions, Seek answers-We all run into uncertainties. We may not be sure what’s the best option for our clients, products or services. We may have conflicting ideas on policies, operational management or marketing. Write about it. Ask for insight. Try to engage your audience. You may not get any answers, but at least you tried. PLUS…you can get two blog posts out of it because later you can go back and discuss the solution you came up with. 😉
Summarize/Recap an Event-If you participate in a webinar, teleseminar, e-course, speaking or social networking event, take notes. Even if it’s information you already know, take notes anyway. Someone had that event for a reason. It was obviously worthy of your interest or you likely wouldn’t have attended. Then when it’s time to blog, you can use those notes as a guideline for your post.
Surveys-Surveys are interesting and can be used for just about any topic. If you’re like me and belong to WAY TOO MANY groups (LOL), take a poll. Post 5-10 questions to one (or more) of the groups you belong to about something you’re interested in (i.e. How do WAHMs schedule their days? How do you avoid distractions? Do you like working from home? Do you feel working outside the home would be easier?) Then create a blog post with the questions and percentage of answer results.
Resource Lists-Share your resources. We all have them in the web geek world. Posting valuable resources is an excellent way to gain blog traffic. If you provide good stuff, it’s very likely that post will be bookmarked and visited often. If you don’t think any of your resources stored in “favorites” are of value, think again. You can also search delicious bookmarks or if your a Twitter geek like me, there are valuable resources being posted all day long!
Reviews-Another endless source of ideas. Love it or hate it? Outlook, Yahoo Sitebuilder, WordPress, Blogger, Google Calendar, Coke or Pepsi? I think you get the jist.
Tips-Perfect example…this blog post. Share tips and ideas on how you’ve dealt with challenges or what helps you get through something a little easier.