So, you decided to start a blog but have no idea what to write? It’s time to think up some solid blog post ideas. The question is, where should you pull inspiration from?
In this post, I’ll go over my own strategy for crafting the next post with minimal brain power. This should be the easy part! Save all that thinking for the writing later.
Table of Contents
Why You Should Have A List
Creating content for your website is not a one-and-done job (at least, if you’re a personality brand and hoping to make money from it alone). A blog is a space to show credibility and authority in a given niche, connect with readers, and provide value to your audience.
This process takes time and consistent action. One way to help with the consistency part of the puzzle is to have a well of exciting topics and questions that you are able to answer for your audience.
Think about it: there are 52 weeks in every year. If you plan to post once a week, you will need 56 blog post ideas in order to sustain your business (or 26 if you only plan to post every other week).
Creating a list will also make your content creation efforts more organized and energetically sustainable long term. I don’t know about you, but I want that!
A Word of Warning
Before we go any deeper into this topic, it’s worth mentioning a word of warning. If you find yourself really struggling to think of blog post ideas, or you’re deeply unenthused by the topic options, STOP.
It’s time to reevaluate.
Is the chosen niche for your blog something that you can talk about nonstop? I use the word ‘talk’ and not ‘write’ because most readers want to read something that feels conversational and like it’s coming from a friend.
If you can’t even talk about the topic, then thinking of blog post ideas will be an absolute nightmare.
Another byproduct of constantly struggling to think of topics is burnout. If you don’t pick a core niche or topic that truly inspires you, you’re way more likely to burn out and abandon your website.
So do yourself a favor, and listen to your gut. If it feels wrong, it is wrong.
How To Find Blog Post Ideas
Alright, enough yapping. It’s time to get into the meat and potatoes! Here are the 2 main steps you need to complete in order to craft an endless amount of blog post ideas.
1. Pick a Niche
If you haven’t already picked a niche, it’s time to do so.
Some things in life allow you to be kind of “hand-wavy” and vague when you start them. Having a blog that you plan to make money from is not one of them.
One of the core steps in any form of marketing is to define your target audience. You do this because it’s really important to make sure that the writing is catered toward a specific type of person‘s pain points and needs. If it’s not, you run the risk of your ideal customer not realizing that the product can help them!
The same thing goes for your blog. We want our readers to stop and read our posts. In order to do that, we have to write about topics that they find interesting. And we can’t know what they want if we have no clue who they are or what we specialize in.
Let’s use Graphite Grind as an example. I help bloggers and online entrepreneurs with their writing, marketing, and mindset by writing high-value blog posts, sharing tips in my weekly newsletter, and offering a range of services.
Now it’s your turn! Fill in the blanks: “I help [x] with [y].” The ‘x’ is your ideal audience, and the ‘y’ is a core problem that they face in their day-to-day lives.
I know this might sound difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. If you write about something you’re truly passionate about and want to help others with, this step should be effortless.
Now craft that mission statement and choose your niche!
2. Research Blog Post Ideas
There’s no way around it. You are going to have to do the boring thing and research.
I know that’s not the most exciting advice you’ve ever heard, but it’s crucial. Research is the foundation of just about any digital marketing job, side hustle, or hobby there is!
Furthermore, if you don’t properly research the topics to cover in your niche, you are going to end up writing content that nobody is actually searching for. And what’s the point of that?
One easy way to do this is by seeing what other people in your niche are doing. I like to go on Pinterest (follow me on Pinterest by the way) and look at what other creators have done on a specific topic or keyword that interests me.
If you’ve never done market research, congratulations! You just did.
And if you haven’t already, check out my post on creating a keyword planner. This has significantly sped up my content planning strategy and raised the quality of my writing as well.
15 Blog Post Ideas For Beginners
If you own a blog or personality brand, here are some beginner posts that seem to be used across every niche.
- “How to start a blog”
- “How to write/outline a blog post”
- A step-by-step WordPress/Wix/Squarespace tutorial
- Your experience completing a popular course that your audience has heard of
- Your guide for a topic or concept that your audience is interested in
- Answer a question: “How to…” or “Why…”
- A guide on how to become [insert your career or hobby]
- Define a term that is often misused or misunderstood
- Myth bust! What commonly told lie has become the “truth”?
- Cover a skillset that you’re learning and update the post as you gain more expertise
- Book, movie, or tv show review! There is always space for this!
- Book, movie, tv show, or music recommendations
- Review a product you use (this is a great place to capitalize on affiliate marketing if you’re doing that!)
- Make an ideas list (like this one!)
- Share a mindset or goal-setting process that you use (people love this, especially closer to the New Year)
Lastly: Don’t Copy Others
In the last point, I mentioned looking at what others have done to get blog post ideas. This gives me a sense of what’s been done before and how I can be different.
Which brings me to my next point: don’t copy people.
I know it can feel tough to write something new or original in this digital landscape where it feels like everything’s been done before. But that’s no excuse for being lazy or outright plagiarism. In fact, I can prove it.
Open a new tab and type in “number of nonprofits serving [demographic] in [your city]”. If Google doesn’t give you a straight answer, scroll through and see how many nonprofits pop up.
Now, you may live in a small town and only see a few options. That’s okay!
The point is that there is plenty of space for everyone. Just because someone else has done it already, doesn’t mean that you can’t.
You can still create amazing blog posts and high-quality original content even though someone else is covering the same topics as you.
There are billions of people on the planet. Chances are high a lot of them won’t turn to your competition for guidance, but they might turn to you. That’s all that matters.
Overall
I hope you found this helpful…or at the very least, this was the kick in the pants you needed to finally do some keyword research!
That truly is the crux of this whole blogging business, and my keyword planner is something I turn to constantly when I need another blog post idea.
If you want to grab the free planner template, and get writing, marketing, and mindset tips in your inbox every Wednesday, subscribe to the newsletter! There, we can be much more lax with the lack of SEO guidelines. It should be helpful and entertaining, so don’t miss out!
As always, happy writing.
Great read! Thanks for the tips!
My pleasure!