12 More Great Blogging Ideas

Last week I shared some blogging ideas and inspiration designed to get you thinking out of the box when it comes to generating blog content. Those ideas are a great place to start, but they’re by no means the only sources of inspiration and information. Here are twelve more ideas for where to find blogging inspiration.

Pick others’ brains

• Ask Sales/Customer Service - These two departments spend the most time with prospects and customers, so take some time to pick their brains. What are some common questions prospects have about your company? What are their most common business goals, and how does your company help them reach those goals? Formulate these questions into a blog post or series of blog posts.
• Invite guest bloggers - Dig through your Twitter and LinkedIn connections and find another member of your industry who would be willing do write a guest post. Bonus points if it’s an industry heavy-hitter.
• Interviews/Q&As - Interview an industry leader, a customer, or your CEO and post the interview on your blog. One great way to do this is by recording the interview over Skype. Give your interview a great title, edit for time, and have a transcript available when you post.
• Go to an event - Then write a post about the experience: were your expectations met? What were your favorite and least favorite parts? Bring a handheld video recorder with you and get a quick three-minute interview with an industry thought leader.
• Check out the competition - What are your competitors blogging about? Can you take something they’ve written, give it your own spin, and post it on your blog? While you’re at it, take note of what your competitors are not talking about — can you fill in the gaps that they’re leaving?

DIY ideas

• Give your opinion - Is there a business book you’ve read lately? What are some of your favorite places for industry-related news? What tools make your job easier (or harder)? Share your thoughts in a post.
• Host an event - Invite people from your industry to get together for coffee and rolls (or margaritas and chips and salsa) once a month to discuss business or swap ideas. Share discussions from these get-togethers on your blog.
• How-to content - Lists of “Top 10 Tips” or “3 Best Practices” are shared often on social media sites, and a good “how-to” post can give your blog a lot of reach.
• Refurbish - If you have a decent content archive, go back through and see if any of it could benefit from an update. Did your predictions from that “10 Predictions for 2010” article pan out? And how could those predictions relate to 2011 trends?
• Consult your FAQs - Every business has questions that they get asked over and over again. Pick one day per week where you answer one or two Frequently Asked Questions in a blog post.

Networks and news

• Mine social networks - Find an industry-related LinkedIn question and answer it in a blog post; embed a presentation from SlideShare and append your own thoughts; ask a question on Twitter and share the responses in an article; talk about your new favorite Facebook group.
• Curate news - Pull news items from the blogs you follow, adding in some of your own thoughts and linking back to the original article. Just as Mashable may be your source for tech news, your blog could become someone else’s source for the latest updates.

Get to gettin’!

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it will certainly keep you busy. Try them all, and keep doing what you like, as well as what gets you the most interaction. Happy blogging!

[Image: Clix]