It happens to all of us. We open up a blank document and stare at the empty page for what seems to be an eternity. You have an idea for a blog but don’t know where to start. Or maybe you don’t even have the idea yet. Either way, that blog post is not creating itself. So, how do you overcome this obstacle and create exciting and engaging content? Follow these four simple steps and you’re on your way to developing an A+ blog.
1. Develop an idea
Develop a system to help you keep track of ideas. Whenever the light bulb goes on in your head, write down the idea so you don’t forget it. In doing this, you won’t forget it and you can come back at a later time to brainstorm more topics related to the idea. Once this process begins, you’re on your way to the writing step.
A great resource used on a daily basis here in the office is Evernote. Evernote can be used for a variety of reasons. It is great for taking notes, listing and organizing ideas, and even recording things you hear and see. Evernote can also be accessed anywhere, making it easy to use and utilized as an accessible electronic note pad.
Another tool that can be used to remember ideas is your own phone. Make use of voice recording to record ideas as they come up so they are not forgotten. For those of you with asmartphone, download a Notepad app that can be used for storing your ideas.
If you're stuck and can't come up with an idea, HubSpot can help. They provided 41 Fresh Blog Post Ideas For Your Company Blog to help get you started.
2. Organize your ideas, topics, or themes by category.
Different categories could be “How To’s,” “Opinions,” or “Fun Topics.” Once your topics are organized, you can choose from that category for which you are in the mood to write. Brainstorm the idea or topic further and develop and outline to help when writing the blog post.
It is also important to organize your keywords optimized for your website and use them in your blog posts to help increase your SEO. A simple way to organize your keywords and keyword phrases is to create an Excel document listing all your keywords. You can even go as far as organizing the keywords by topics. This way, when you are stuck on developing an idea, you can look at your list of keywords and build an idea or topic from those. It would also be a smart idea to track how many blog posts you do for each keyword. This will help create variety in the content and information you provide for your audience.
3. Determine the audience and buyer persona.
Now that you have your topic developed and outline, you're almost ready to start writing. Before you can start punching those keys on the keyboard, you have to figure out to whom you are directing the content. Determining your audience and buyer persona will help when creating the content because you then know which voice to use and how informative to be
If you’re not sure who your audience is or how to create content with them in mind, read through these three great articles to help establish your buyer persona and write for them. Knowing your buyer persona will help you personalize your blog posts and target a specific audience.
- How to Determine Your Buyer Personas from PR 20/20.
- 3 Steps to Creating Effective Buyer Personas from HubSpot
- How to Easily Create Remarkable Content With Marketing Personas from HubSpot
4. Write!
Finally, once you’ve gone through steps 1-3, you are ready to put some words on that blank document. It is important to have your writing cap on when creating the blog post. If you’re not in a blogging mindset, it will be challenging to start the writing process, which results in writers block.
One major way to avoid writer’s block from reoccurring is to get into the habit of writing on a regular basis. Here’s where another Excel document will come in handy. Create a schedule of posts for the month, or two weeks to start out. Within the chart, determine the dates when you want a post published. Next, decide the keyword for the post. Then develop ideas and topics relating to the keyword and provide references for research and further development. Finally, when the time comes to write a post, you can look at the chart and queue up the post for the week. Your idea will already be laid out for you. Having this chart will help regulate your blog posts and ideas. Soon the ideas will be forming and the content will be flowing.
When developing the content, it’s important to be creative. Find ways to engage with your audience, whether it’s through questions, infographics, or videos. The point of your blog is to inform and attract new leads. Researching will help with the creative process and finding your audiences’ interests.
What are some ways you overcome writer's block? How do you engage your audience?
