We’ll never stop saying it, content is king. That’s why we advise all of our clients to be publishing AT LEAST one blog per month on their website. In our opinion, the more content the merrier but we understand that not every body is a natural-born writer. What’s more, even the best writers suffer from writer’s block every now and then. So to help get you through your business’s year of content, we’ve put together this content calendar – giving you 12 ideas for blogs.
Before we begin, it’s important to note that this content calendar is by no means definitive. Our simple goal is to get the ball rolling and generate some ideas for blogs. But if you want to start producing really kick-ass content, there are a few crucial things you need to consider first.
1. Think about who your ideal customer is
2. Think about what might be useful to them
3. Think about what you can give them for free
4. Think about ways in which you might hook them, engage them and appeal to their emotions on a human level
5. Think about how you can hook and convert them
So, to the content calendar! What might a year in content look like?
Some content writers are able to predict trends. If that’s you, great! Do it! But for some people it’s enough to simply jump on a trend while it’s hot. The New Year is a perfect time to jump on trends, with people eager to make a change or start something new.
This comes under the category of ‘useful blog posts’. You’ll see lists everywhere online but this shouldn’t stop you from following suit. The Internet loves a good list post and it’s a content strategy we know works. Generally speaking, the longer the better. This may seem like a lot of work but you can easily create curated lists, drawing together all the best content on the interweb into a nice, easy-to-digest list for your reader. Popular posts include ‘best of…’ and apparently, 25 is the magic number. See 22 Reasons Your Business Should Advertise on Snapchat as an example.
A staple idea for blog posts. Describe a process in simple, easy-to-follow steps. Make sure you break up the wad of information with headings, images or video. Your goal with a how-to post is to demonstrate your authority in a field, but more importantly to make the life of your reader as easy as possible. See for example, How To Set Up Google My Business.
Company update posts are a great way to make your company seem more human. Are your employees taking part in a charity event? Have you moved office? Is your company growing? Have you attended or been part of a big event?
Looking to the news can be a good starting point when you’re stuck for ideas for blogs. Creating your content around what’s going on in the news can be a great way to increase traffic to your website with a ‘hot’ search term. You don’t need to be the ones ‘breaking’ the story, but you do need to put an interesting spin on it. You need to add something valuable. Let’s face it, there’s no point simply regurgitating what’s already out there. For an example, see Admiral’s New Algorithm: Where Do We Draw The Line?
A wise man once said to make money, you have to first give things away for free. Your competition can either be targeted at the readers you already have – thus rewarding loyalty – or at drawing in new readers and increasing links. Whichever direction you go in, centre the blog around what they will they get in return. Make sure the prize is relevant and valuable to your customers. Ways to enter could include via comments, sign-ups, membership, links or asking other bloggers to write about a certain topic.
Guests posts are a great way to show your readers you’re part of a wider online community. Just remember, be a little picky. It may sound obvious but don’t settle for mediocre content with spammy links. Make sure the guest author has a history of writing awesome content that’s relevant to your audience. If they tick these boxes, it’s likely that their reputation will also bring more traffic to your website.
Your overall goal with your blogging may well be to generate leads, increase traffic and raise your profile but sometimes you have to stop informing and start inspiring. Inspirational posts are a fantastic way to engage your audience and connect with them on an emotional level. Serving up useful information isn’t always enough. At some point, you have to inspire your reader to act. For example, Save The Planet By Using Ecosia, The Search Engine That Plants Trees.
FAQ posts are set to become more and more important this year with the rise of voice search. In voice search, people use more natural sentences like “what is the weather in London today?” rather than the awkward search language we’re used to (i.e. “London weather). Setting up your site up to answer ‘what’ ‘why’ ‘where’ ‘how’ questions, in the form of FAQ blog posts, would be a great way to tap into these more conversational search queries. See, 5 Things You Need To Know About Domain Authority.
OCTOBER – Problem-solving post
Similar to a ‘how to post’, problem solving is a fantastic idea for blogs because you’re killing two birds with one stone. A) You’re demonstrating your vast knowledge on a subject and B) you’re giving your customer something extremely useful: the solution to their problem. One of our most-linked content remains our blog on How To Remove Bot Traffic.
Starting a series of connected posts in a great way to make your readers return and engaged with your blog time after time. The key here is to find a topic that is large enough to span multiple posts but small enough for you to manage. An added benefit to starting a series is that once you’ve announced it to your readers, you’ve got to commit! This means you’re more likely to publish regular content on your site on-time. Check out our 4-part series SEO for Startups for inspiration!
There are loads of times of the year when you can simply give in to a seasonal post and, let’s face it, Christmas is the big one. Whether you just want to wish your readers a happy new year, offer them some sweet Christmas deals or take a Christmassy spin on an old topic – it’s time to give in to that festive feeling. E.g. What can we learn from the John Lewis Christmas Advert?
So, there you have it: 12 ideas for blogs to get you through the year. If you feel like you don’t have time to give your content the attention it deserves, get in touch today and we’ll be happy to help you out with our creative content marketing solutions.