Some days, you sit at your keyboard and the words just aren’t flowing. You know you need to turn out a blog post—or perhaps even write and schedule several blog posts—but you’re struggling to come up with a single thing to write about. You need to post, but you don’t want to repeat yourself and you feel like you’ve covered everything. If you’re stuck for blog post ideas and coming up on a deadline, here are some lifesavers.
Check out these 30 creative blog post ideas for when you don’t know what to write about.
Talk about yourself:
Relate your thoughts and your experiences. Your perspective is unique and many readers will find it interesting.
Post excerpts or teasers:
Describe something that is in the works or takes excerpts from an upcoming article or product piece. Solicit feedback about your plans.
Open a discussion:
Ask an open question or solicit opinions on a topic that often elicits strong views. Check out Scott’s and Grace’s posts on pronoun usage in our Cage-Match series, for instance. The topic should be just controversial enough to get people interested, but remember, you don’t want to alienate anybody.
Review a book or movie:
Reviews are always great for blogs because they’re topical. Bonus points if you can relate a topical subject like this to your industry.
Conduct an interview:
Interview interesting people in your industry (which can be done via email). You can either write a post on the takeaway points from that interview or write out a transcript.
Discuss current events:
There is a lot of news out there that has both general and specific interest to your readers. Pick a news item and describe your take on it. Your readers will get to know you better.
Discuss other blog posts:
Involve your readers in the blog community by talking about other blogs you have read that might be interesting to them. Keep a folder near your computer where you can bookmark posts that would make the interesting material.
Discuss five things:
Many bloggers have a tradition of posting five interesting events or ideas on Fridays. They call it “Friday Five.”
Make lists:
There are at least a few books published about lists. There are bucket lists, lists of strange and curious things, people lists, etc. The list goes on and on.
Make the news relevant:
If there are current events that impact your customers, find relevant news items and discuss the issues. Establish a point of view that strengthens your business.
Find solutions to problems:
Your readers want to apply your expertise to their own problems. Develop a list of common problems your customers have told you about and make constructive suggestions.
Prognosticate:
Your predictions about the future of your industry or some relevant topic from your expert standpoint will always be interesting to readers.
Have a contest:
Contests and prizes are attractive. Give something away in exchange for the best guest blogs or written suggestions about a matter of interest. Publish the winning blog or suggestion. Guest blogs generated by the contest can keep you in rich blog material for some time.
Talk about what you want to change in the industry:
Blogging about your hopes and potential solutions to important issues can make great blog reading.
Write a love letter to a product:
Think of products that you really love and highly recommend and tell your readers about them.
Show a customer success story:
When you get a great testimonial from a customer, ask for permission to turn it into a blog post. Use the post to solicit more customer feedback.
Comment on an industry-specific issue:
What are the experts and pundits saying about future trends? What do you think?
Answer frequently asked questions:
Answering product questions that you commonly hear can save your customers a lot of time. Once people understand your products they may find they are compatible with them.
Pose your own questions:
What would you like to know about your customers? Just ask the questions and encourage readers to answer them. Readers can supply your blog content for, maybe, several blogs running.
Post an infographic:
Either make one up or find one that interests you. These graphic presentations can provide a lot of information in a small space. However, they often need explanation and elaboration.
Write a story:
Even if you have no experience, you can write a fictional narrative based on your real experience. Stories between 200 and 500 words (sometimes called flash fiction) can really get readers interested. Ask for critiques.
Round up cool and helpful links:
Share a bunch of links to sites you have found interesting.
Editorialize:
Write an op-ed style blog about a current issue that interests you. You can make your blog into a current affairs site. Solicit responses.
Make a case study:
Use the newspapers and other sources to fully describe an event or person who serves as an example of an important principle or point.
Publish the best comments:
Find the best responses you have received from readers or customers and quote them in your blog. Three or four detailed comments could give you a wonderfully interesting blog post.
Bust a myth:
There’s probably a good amount of industry lore or misinformation that you know isn’t true. Take some time to do a little research and write a myth buster.
Fact Check:
Examine some recent statistical or budget statements and check them against facts. Fact checking can be an enormous public service.
Describe the success and failures in your career:
Show how you learned from your errors to give your readers the benefits of your experience.
Start a poll:
Ask your readers to give opinions on important matters. Describe the results of past polls.
Post a rhetorical question:
Discuss the issues around an interesting industry issue and solicit answers from your readers.
Bonus
If you’re still stuck, here are three bonus suggestions:
- Write a comparison test: Compare two or more related products. Use objective criteria and tell your readers how they are different from your expert perspective.
- Report on a recent conference: Talk about innovations that you saw and new ideas that were discussed at the conference. Give the conference a critical review. Walk your readers through it. You have the special perspective of an insider and this kind of blog post can be very valuable.
- Give away your marketing secrets: Tell your readers about your most cherished marketing strategies, techniques, and tactics. Tell all about the ways you get more followers and more traffic.
Keeping up a regular blogging habit can be challenging. But remember that you don’t have to write ten posts today. If you’re coming up on a deadline, you just need one good blog post.
Stay tuned for part two of this post, with more ideas and strategies for what to write about when you’re stumped.
