When you’re blogging for your business you need unlimited blog post ideas. Sometimes these ideas aren’t easy to find and you find yourself without a post when you need one. Try this strategy when you’ve run out of ideas. I think you’ll find that you never run out of blog posts again.
Blogs are successful when they consider what their audience wants to know. What would they ask about your industry or business? Keep this in mind while I break down the ground rules for brainstorming new blog post ideas.
If you are unsure of the benefits of writing a business blog check out my post 5 Guaranteed Benefits of Writing a Blog for your Business.
Ground rules for brainstorming blog post ideas:
Let it go.
Everyone has a thought editor, that voice in their head that tells them that’s dumb, that it’s off topic, or who would even want to read that. It’s time to shelf your judgmental side and write down everything you can think of.
All ideas are welcome.
Not to be redundant but, putting away that judgmental side means that all of your thoughts should be written down and they are all valuable.
Define parameters and then forget about them. For now.
Before you start a blog you have an industry, a business, and topic ideas that lead your blog. When you need to be a little more intentional with your brainstorming it is helpful to remind yourself what exactly you are trying to do:
- What industry is your business in?
- What is your niche?
- What topics might be useful to your customers?
- What type of blog posts would benefit your company? (Does your company offer opportunities for beautiful photos, time-lapses, lifestyle, stories, etc.)
These parameters will help you pick through your ideas AFTER you have finished the brainstorming steps below.
Need more blog post ideas? No Problem:
Mind-mapping
Mind-mapping is an easy way to brainstorm topics. Follow the step below to create your own mind-map for your business.
Step 1: Start by drawing a circle in the center of a piece of paper and write your industry in the circle.
Step 2: Draw branches around your circle and add topics that relate to your industry. If you run a boutique your industry/focus could be fashion. Add a branch for every related topic you can think of. Remember to withhold judgment until after all the steps are complete. Below is an example of these two steps:
Step 3: When you run out of main topics its time to turn to step 3. Now reevaluate each main topic and add subtopics that relate to your topic and industry. A topic for the fashion industry may be fashion week. Break this topic down further by thinking about the smaller bits and pieces of fashion week.
Step 4: Break these sub-topics down further if you can. If I was to take the subject what was hot on the runway I may come up with something like comeback styles, 90’s influence on the runway, the best skirts (shirts etc) on the run way, and the most creative design on the runway. See how many ideas you can come up with? We aren’t even done yet.
It’s time to move on to the next strategy. Keep your paper handy.
Starbursting
Starbursting is usually for groups but I think it has value for blog topics as well.
Take one of your topics from step 4 of mind mapping and get ready to break it down even further.
Step 1: Draw a 6 pointed star on your paper and write your topic in the center. (or 6 dashes underneath your topic if you are not artistically inclined). I chose the topic 90’s influences on the runway.
Step 2: Each point represents a type of question. Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. See if you can come up with a question for each that pertains to your topic. My example is below.
These questions are working titles for your posts. After starbursting all of your step 4 topics you might notice that your “titles” suck. You can and should change them to be SEO and user friendly before you post them on your blog.
Free-writing
When all else fails and I am struggling to come up with any ideas, I like to write myself through it. I start by writing my business story and what I am trying to do, what my industry means to me, why I’m passionate about it, why others love it and need it what they are confused by and then I just let my mind wander. I can usually get a few ideas this way that can get me started and then I go back to mind-mapping. And as we saw above 1 topic can lead into multiple sub topics that can lead into multiple blog ideas.
Finish it
Now it’s time to compare your list of ideas with your parameters. What works for your business and what doesn’t? I bet most of them can be used in some way for your blog.
I have multiple blog post ideas, whats next:
You now have tons of blog ideas to get you started but this is when the real work begins. Pick a few of your favorites and write what you already know about that subject and decide what angle are you going to use. An example would be: Where to find 90’s fashion for a steal, the angle is that you want them to come to your store without overtly selling them anything. Once you’ve written down all you know it’s time for research and then finally the writing process.
That’s it for today friends. Let me know how your brainstorming efforts went below. Next week I will post what I believe are the most important features on a blog. See you there!
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