Blogging Ideas: What to Say When There's Nothing to Say

As the Digett editorial calendar manager and whip-cracker, I spend a fair amount of time fielding questions about blogging, the most common of which is some variation of, “What am I supposed to blog about?”

It’s fairly easy for professional copywriters to slap out text like, well, professionals, but what about the rest of us? What do we say when there’s nothing to say?

3 great ideas

Do your research

Cater to the people who are already visiting your site. Dive into your analytics and spend some time looking at the keywords people are using when they find your blog. These keywords can paint a picture of what your visitors are looking for; if these phrases are appropriate to your business, start creating some content around them and see how that affects pageviews, time your prospects spend on your website, and the number of comments your articles receive.

This research can also be extended onto social networking sites. What are some Twitter trending topics that apply to your business? Is there content you can publish that speaks to that trend, answers people’s questions, or incites them to join the conversation on your blog?

Get inspired by your own passions

You might not think that articles titled “What World of Warcraft’s Patchwerk Can Teach You About Recovering Morale” or “8 Good Writing Tips from Neil Gaiman” would apply to your blog or business. But if you look closely, you can find inspiration in unlikely places. Everyone has a hobby or passion, whether it be skydiving or collecting vintage chopsticks. How can you incorporate what you love into your business blog? Are there some hidden connections you might have missed?

Case studies

Case studies are to marketing as Rohliky is to the Czech diet: they’re both simple, customizable, and everyone loves them.

When was the last time you talked to your customers about what effects their marketing strategies are having on their business? When was the last time you considered what effect your strategies are having on your business?

A case study can be a great way to promote your business: a reader may see the great things you’ve helped another business accomplish and decide that you’re the right business to help them reach their goals.

It doesn’t have to take you months to crunch data and make a perfect case study. HubSpot’s case studies are recorded by customers as three-minute videos, with screen captures of relevant graphs and a bit of written detail to further expand on the videos’ content.

Whether it’s posted as video or text, a case study should answer three questions:

• What was or is the challenge this individual or business is facing?
• What steps have they taken to meet and overcome those challenges?
• Are these steps successful or not? What are some future steps to consider?

And one to grow on

Inbound marketing is all about generating leads. Why not create a great whitepaper or case study, post some intriguing information as a blog post, and have your call to action be an invitation to download the full content?

Feel free to leave your blogging inspiration ideas in the comments!

Image: cohdra