What Should I Blog About?

In one of our recent blogs we talked about using this medium as a marketing tool. In response we got a few emails from people saying they wanted to blog, but didn’t know what they should blog about.
​
So here are a few “prompts” for you to think about.
​
We claim no originality for this list. It has been collated from numerous sources. Some of these ideas are better than others and all will need to be adapted to suit your personal style.

---

​1. List post
List posts are great. List posts also give you high click-through rates. You can use list posts for tools, resources, to do things, checklists and so on.

You see these quite a lot in search results, eg “Twenty great ways to improve your sales”.
​
2. How to post
How-to-post is an excellent way to describe any topic in your niche together with screen shots, images, and videos.
​
Many of our blogs are basically “how to” posts.

---

3. Case study post
Case studies are my favourite and you must include them in your content marketing strategy. The words “Case studies” weigh more than your usual articles.

A case study is simply a story – usual about success – that demonstrates the application of certain techniques. For example, you might link to a blog post and then demonstrate the techniques the originator used to make it more effective.
​
4. Ultimate guide post
Guide post is a very detailed and comprehensive post. When you post this kind of article you need to make sure that you don’t leave any stone unturned. Make it a thorough and precise guide for higher conversions.
​
This is really just a more in-depth “how to” blog – but it covers all known aspects of the topic.

---

5. Interview post
Ask any influencer or blogger who ranks a little higher than you in your niche for an interview. You will be surprised how many influencers or blog owners will agree.

So, if you know an author that is making a few more sales than you (you can identify that from the sales rankings of their books) you could ask them. They will post about the interview on social media when it goes out, attracting more readers to your blog.

6. Link roundup post
Link roundup is one of the best ways to get connected with influencers or experts in your niche. You can do weekly or monthly roundups. You can take the expert views from their own blog content and put them with the link and description and you are ready to go, but make sure you notify them once you post it – they might share :)
 
7. Quote post
Quotes are great. They are motivational, inspirational and people love quotes from influential people. The easiest and most effective way to create that kind of post is to put together the quotes from influencers together with a link. It works great.

The quotes blog is really just a niche form of the list post. You can also turn this into a “case study” blog by showing how you applied the quote’s message.

8. Review post
Review a book, product, service, location or anything else. You need to be totally honest in your reviews, so we tend to only post ones that we can honestly award 4 or 5 stars. You could post lower rated reviews, but there is always the chance that the author/seller may decide to take revenge – it has happened to us.

We post a lot of book reviews because the authors Tweet the links and then we get extra traffic to our blog page.
​
9. Survey post
Whether you want to launch a new product, new blogging site or theme – survey your audience. You can do a survey through survey blog posts.

We’re not too sure about this one. The easiest way to do a survey is to use the tools that exist on several social media sites. But there' no reason why you shouldn't use a blog to conduct a survey too.

---

10. Infographic post
Infographic is sexy and entertaining. It is also easy to consume. Infographics are a quick and funny way to learn about the topic without a ton of heavy reading.

Basically, this is just a slideshow turned into a short video.

11. Trend post
Trend posts are great at the beginning of the year or before any holiday season or on the latest trends in your niche. It looks forward to what may be to come. You can link it to your target audience’s special interests.
​
12. Holiday post
Create a post before a holiday or during a holiday. This can be advice, entertainment or your holiday routine.
​
This could be something like a Christmas story or a feature on some aspect of the holiday, such as food.

---

13. Behind the scenes post
Show behind the scenes of how your blogging system works or your blogging life or blog analytics or behind the scenes of your product.

This one is ideal for writers. There’s so much that can be said about the process of writing a book.

14. Comparison post
People love comparing things and it is a great idea to post the comparison blog of two different products or someone else’s product; compare the features and benefits of your product.

I’m not sure how this would work with comparing books, but it might work with comparing different marketing strategies or techniques.

15. Income reports post
Show your audience the income you are making. You can show either yours or your organization’s income report. It is like a financial report. This will also help you build trust with your audience.
​
Basically, this is just showing off and not something we intend doing, but some people might like to do that. But it can help readers to know which markets produce the best incomes for certain types of books.

---

16. Special interest posts
If you have done as we suggested and found out what sort of interests your readers might have, write blogs that appeal to those interests.

Be careful with the content, however. If you don’t know a lot about a subject – steer well clear. Or do more research!

17. Best of posts
Pull out the best post of yours and sum up together to make one single blog post and present it to your audience.

Basically putting old wine in new bottles, but it’s a quick way to get a blog ready if you are short of time.

18. Product update post
Update your audience on your books/products or new features. It can be your existing products or products you have been working on. It is always a good strategy to create excitement and anticipation among your audience.
​
Really just a variation on number 16, but focusing on the product rather than the wider world of writing.

---

19. Challenge post
Take any challenge such as losing weight, getting a certain amount of traffic, subscribers and then write about the progress, tactics or any tools you have used or are using.

​People love to see challenges and are eagerly waiting to see your monthly progress blog post. OR you can post a challenge for your audience.

There is a lot of scope here for blogs on a variety of subjects, from writing to climbing mountains.
 
20. Contest post
One of the evergreen ways to engage people is putting together a nice and impactful contest post. It works in all niches regardless.

The downside is that if you run a contest, you probably need to offer a prize.

21. Journey post
Travelling or having travelled somewhere or attended any conference or event, posting about your journey together with do's and don’ts. People like to consume ideas and suggestions.

More of a travelogue than a blog, but I know plenty of people who do this.

22. Upcoming events post
Post weekly/monthly/yearly city events. Post about the events with past year event pictures, short description and why you should attend these events. (Don’t forget to notify event organiser about your blog post, they might share :)
​
You have to keep your ear close to the ground with this one, to know what is upcoming. But there are plenty of literary festivals and book fairs, and lots of people want to go them now that we are out of Covid restrictions.

---

23. Quiz post
People love quizzes including myself. Buzzfeed is a great example of using quizzes in their content marketing strategy, they always do quizzes. You can use Quizzer to create quizzes or Playbuzz WordPress plugin if you have a WordPress website.

24. Crowdsourced post
The crowdsourced blog post is another great way to get connected with influencers. Bring on multiple influencers to answer the single question. When you have 10 experts answering the same question each in 140 words, you have a 1,400 word blog post.
 
25. Problem/solution post
You audience have a problem, give them a solution. You can give them a solution in many forms such as suggesting books, techniques, hacks, tools, events to overcome their problem etc. Very best way to start such kind of blog post is by defining a problem and then by presenting a solution.

For example, in the past we have blogged about how to deal with both writer's block and imposter syndrome (separate blogs, of course - we don't want to use up a good blog idea all in one go)

This is basically what we have been doing with our blogs on social media marketing. But if you are an expert in any field you can generate blogs from what you know best.

26. Share recent travel experience
Share your travel experience. This work like a charm for travel bloggers. Put it together (your travel experience) and then post it as a blog post.

Not really any different from number 21, but you could spread it over a number of posts by focusing on different aspects in each blog: food, culture, sights, activities etc.
​
27. Blog anniversary post
So you are blogging for a year now, post it as a blog post. Share your blogging career experience on your blog anniversary.

---

28. Stats post
Create a post with sexy stats, it is like a research post. You can show any type of stats such as your traffic stats, any blog or business achievements (if you have a solid one), market trend stats in your niche – it can be holiday stats, industry stats, product stats.
​
Stats are an easy way to tell a story, but you have to be sure the stats actually support your message.

29. FAQ post
Are you getting asked the same question again and again from your readers? Create a blog post on most frequently asked questions.
​
Most authors get asked the same questions over and over, so this suggestion might fill several blogs.
 
30. Q/A post
It is like an interview blog post but you can position it in slightly different way. Answer the unique questions from any of your readers. Usually, a video blog work very well but don’t worry about the medium yet, let you audience/readers decide what medium they want.
 
This takes number 29 and goes into more depth with a specific question. It is also similar to number 25.

---

HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU POST A BLOG
 
The short answer is “As often as you can”.
 
You need people (a) to come back to your website on a regular basis and (b) to Tweet about their visits or just RT the link. That means giving them a reason to come back and that means providing fresh content for them to read. We post once a week.
 
It is hard work coming up with fresh ideas, but the above list gives you plenty of scope to get creative.
 
If you have enjoyed this blog and want to make sure you don’t miss future editions, you can sign up for our newsletter. We’ll even send you a free ebook for doing so. Just click the button below. .

---

Newsletter