Where Do I Get Ideas for My Blog?

Next to how often you should publish a blog and how much writers cost, where to get ideas for content is the next biggest thing people want to know when they learn I’m a writer.

The answer is that topics are everywhere – once you know your audience.

Who Is My Audience?

If you think your audience is “my customers,” we need to chat. You need a better definition of your audience.

If you’re just starting a business, you get to decide who it is you want to reach and how you want to reach them. Your target customer (or buyer persona) as defined by your sales strategy can double as your target reader.

For established businesses, the best way to get to know your target audience is to talk with them (gasp!), be it in person, on the phone, or through online surveys.

Whatever way you connect with them, try to get into their minds and figure out what makes them tick, what irritates them, and what they want to know from someone like you.

How Do I Find Topics?

Finding topics is not as difficult as you might think. You can:

Listen

People will tell you what they want to know from you if you just listen.

Do you get the same question over and over? Do you hear the same complaint time and again? Did you learn something interesting from someone? That’s all fodder for a post.

Collect insights about what matters most to the people you need to reach and influence and let those insights (not keywords) drive your messaging and content.

Read

What are you reading? What interests you about that particular content? If I don’t have a question to answer, I look to what I’m reading in books or newsletters (and by extension, listening to podcasts, vidcasts, and webinars).

I ask myself why I’m consuming that content, what question I’m trying to get an answer for, and then poof! I have a blog topic. I might use the same angle but summarize what I learn, or I might think of a different angle or related topic.

Hang Out

Hang out online wherever your target readers hang out to learn what their pain points are as well as what’s trending.

Say you’re an HR consultant whose focus is on compliance. You could start following employment attorneys and other HR professionals or CEOs you like on LinkedIn. See what unique challenges or trends they’re posting about that are related to what you do and create blog articles around those trending posts.

You could also hang out on your target reader’s professional association’s member forum (if you’re a member) and see what pain points are being talked about and what studies have come out. These sites offer up a veritable smorgasbord of ideas.

While you’re hanging out, check out any targeted ads and brainstorm some ideas. For example, you might see ads for recruiting websites. Those could spark an idea for how to write job ads that follow Title VII compliance rules and the consequences of not complying.

See where I’m going with this? Topics don’t have to be spot on with your product or service but can be tangentially related.

Update

Look at what you or some of your favorite bloggers have been posting about over the course of a year or so and see if there’s a trend or topic you can update.

Wherever you get your ideas, make sure they’re relevant to your audience. If you’ve picked up ideas from your clients or potential clients, you can be relatively certain that what you’re going to write about is relevant and focused on your audience, niche, and objectives. Your topic will also be timely and solution-oriented.

There are so many ways to come up with topics if you just open yourself up to seeing them. If you’re really stuck for topics, though, check out tools like the Brainstorm Buddy app created by Linda Formichelli, a successful freelancer and writer guru, or BuzzSumo.

Have a Question?

If you have a question on content, I’d love to hear from you. Hit Subscribe and leave your question below or direct message me here on LinkedIn.

Who Am I?

I’m Diane Faulkner, an award-winning freelance writer and editor based in Florida. A solopreneur for 23 years, I now have an agency of writers and editors, Full Circle Press.

My client list includes Forbes, LegalZoom, FindLaw, ADP, AmericanExpress, DeltaDental, Wiley, ERE Media, Fordham University, Goodyear, and others, as well numerous start-ups – from those emerging out of stealth mode, like BingeBuilderX, to mature, late-stage ones, like GuideWell.

Want to Work with Me?

I’m pretty easy to reach. Just book a time with me on my Calendly. I’d be happy to chat.