Web Hosting Blog

Most companies don’t update their blogs very often, and writing more than a couple of blog entries per month is a commitment, particularly if you have lots of other tasks and little time to come up with ideas. Scheduling posts in advance, delegating and inviting guest posters to your blog can help take some of the pressure off, but inspiration isn’t as easy…which is where this list comes in.

You’ll notice that many of the ideas below involve some kind of preparation before you can get writing. Forward planning is the single most helpful way to organise your time for blogging, and ideally you should be in the position where you have posts and resources on hand for future use. Mixing shorter blog posts with longer, more intensive pieces can also help make your blog manageable for you but still useful for your visitors.

Tutorials – From how to change a tyre to how to make banoffee pie to how to create a great logo in Photoshop, almost all industries and niches present the opportunity for tutorials. Use photos and screenshots where possible, and take requests from visitors via social media or blog comments if you’re stuck for ideas.

A tutorial from abduzeedo.com

Use cross-promotions – You don’t necessarily have to push your own products – get in contact with others who can offer helpful/related products that your visitors might be interested in (e.g. if you sell office chairs, get in touch with someone who sells office stationery) and get a discount for your readers. A month or so later, you can offer a discount on their website and hopefully get some new customers. If you’re an affiliate, you can also try swapping links by guest posting on someone’s website.

Start a series – Writing a series of related blog posts is a great idea if you’re often stuck for inspiration as it gives you a starting point for multiple entries and also encourages your visitors to return for the next instalment. Your posts could be a step-by-step guide divided up into different sections (e.g. designing a website, creating content and promoting it) or simply posts based around the same area (e.g. Twitter tips, setting up a Facebook company page, making the most of LinkedIn).

Lists – Some people think they are overused, but they are almost always useful. The key here is presentation so that they look more interesting. If your list is relatively short, use screenshots and short descriptions. If it’s long, consider how you can break it up into categories or include images. If you’re writing in a niche that doesn’t have many/appropriate resources to link to, then link to related products and services (e.g. your top ten business books, an office gadget wishlist or essential kitchen equipment).

A screenshot of our Free Photoshop Brushes – 37 terrific links post

Go through your archives – Going through your archives can often remind you about that post you always meant to follow up on, or that detail/argument that you could have developed into a post on its own (comments can also help with this so don’t forget to check those too).

Get inspiration from subpages – Take the opportunity to pull in subpages from your website. How can you rejuvenate some of the content or ideas to use on your blog? Focus on important pages or big sellers so you have the opportunity to link to them.

Poll It – Blog visitors are more likely to participate in polls than traditional commenting, so come up with a relevant topic and you’re good to go. Try Polldaddy to implement a voting form on your website, or check out the variety of WordPress plugins available. Creating graphs and analysing results can help you create some great shareable content – a great example of this is OK Cupid’s blog but you can scale it down to one or two graphs per entry. Well-researched survey results can also be used for press releases and static page content.

A screenshot from OK Cupid’s blog

Q&A Blogging – Ask your visitors to contribute questions around a particular topic via email or comments. Once you have enough, post a blog entry with your answers. To get more responses, include the questioners’ URLs in your post. Depending on your industry, you may be able to make it a regular feature.

Giveaways/Contests – These are always popular, and a great way to kick off interest in a new blog or rejuvenate a flagging one. It’s easy to get hundreds of comments and plenty of interest simply by requiring users to comment on the entry or share it using social media to take part. If you don’t have a budget for a giveaway, then try contacting companies to ask if they want to offer a free product or discount for your visitors (having a track record with a previous site or existing potential contacts makes it easier). Make sure you have a few great blog posts whilst the contest is running so entrants browsing your site are more likely to stick around, and make sure the contest rules are clear from the start.

Video blogging – If you have the time and resources, short videos add a personal touch and can also be added to social media outlets for further exposure. If you’ve involved in web or software industries, then a follow up post or posts explaining the processes, software you used, the brainstorming behind it etc. provides more scope for follow-up posts. If you cringe at the thought of being videoed, then try a different approach like animation or short text-focused presentations with good imagery.

A YouTube video to raise awareness of malaria

Staff interviews – Create a personal touch by posting an interview with someone at your company, or get someone to interview you. Keep it fairly short, include photos and think about what your visitors may want to know (you could offer tips and advice if applicable).

Customer case study – Interview happy customers and create a write-up for your blog. This is a quick way to get an entry together as often you can ask for a quote or brief testimonial in return for including the customers’ website address on the entry. This is also a good way to get backlinks, social media shares and comments as the people who are mentioned are often willing to share content which references them personally.

Use your site’s history for inspiration – use the Wayback Machine for screenshots of how your website has changed over time and how you’ve developed the company, do round ups of the most popular past blog posts over a specific time period and/or topic. If you’ve just started your website, explain some of the decisions you made in setting it up, including what software you used, how you approached, why you decided to create it and what your past experience has taught you.

Heart Internet back in 2006

Get local – Get involved in something in your local area, whether it’s sponsoring a conference, offering freebies in your region or doing something for charity. It’s a good way to get yourself known and doesn’t have to be costly. Don’t forget your camera – set up a group on Flickr for the event (if there isn’t one already) and encourage the organisers to ask people to upload their photos to it by advertising the URL. You’ll get lots of views and extra coverage by adding your own photos of the event, and it’s also a good way to find new local contacts without an aggressive sales approach. Make sure your company URL is listed on your profile page, and comment on and favourite other photos of the event for additional exposure.

Head to Yahoo Answers – Look for relevant questions on Yahoo Answers that you can develop into blog entries. They are great for SEO as people are likely to be searching for these phrases, and there’s almost always the opportunity to give a more detailed and accurate answer than the original. Even if you don’t want to answer questions, browsing through some of the topics in your area is likely to spark some inspiration for your own posts.

Yahoo answers search results

Where do you get inspiration for blog posts? Leave a comment below!