Simple + Effective Blog Post Ideas for Crazy Busy Creative Entrepreneurs

By now, we all realize the importance of keeping fresh content on our websites to increase our findability in search. Search engines pay attention to sites that continue to generate fresh, relevant content.

I find many people are frustrated and confused about what to write for their blog. Most of the people I know are busy professionals–not necessarily professional bloggers. Writing for their blog is something they do in addition to running their business, so they need to find a way to do it efficiently and effectively. Questions about what they should write about, how to come up with fresh ideas, how to find the time, how long should their posts be, and how often they should post come up time and again. Here’s my answers:

What should I write about for my blog?

There are a ton of articles on topic ideas for your blog–but this is not the place to start. The best thing you can do when it comes to deciding what to write about for your audience is to create value for them. Really understand who you’re talking to. If you have a successful business–or if you’re headed in that direction–you know your audience. This is where to start.

My strategy is to ask what my audience wants and needs to know–what will solve their problems and answer their questions? What will make their life easier? What interests them? What will help them reach their business goals? If you can put yourself in their place and think about what they would search for if they were looking for answers–you’ll be able to come up with titles for your posts that will grab their attention and be found in search.

When clients ask questions–especially those that comes up over and over again–I jot them down and write posts to answer them. Often a single question can lead to several blog posts on the same topic over months or even a year. Blog posts should be short, sweet, and to the point. If a question has a long answer, consider breaking it up into several posts, or write about it in different ways over time. Keep a running list and refer to it when you’re ready to sit down and write. Simple, right?

How can I come up with fresh ideas for my blog posts?

As I mentioned above, there’s a lot of incredibly successful bloggers who’ve written articles full of great ideas for blog post topics. I’ll list of a few of my favorites here–articles I review when I get stuck and need to inspiration to help me come up with something to write. But honestly, I find I don’t need them as much because the simple strategy I described above works for me when it comes to writing posts that speak to the people I want to reach. But, if you get stuck, you can find some wonderful inspiration here:

Another thing that helps is to think about your blog over time. Create a theme for the month–for my audience a theme might focus on a particular social media platform and how to leverage it. For a cosmetics business, a theme might surround common ingredients found in cosmetics and why some are harmful.

For other blogs, it makes sense to mix things up. For example, a blog for an author/speaker might include shorts on his/her area of expertise one month (or whatever the interval), a post about a personal project or interest the next, and an interview with someone doing complimentary work the next. These three ideas could easily rotate and fill up your entire editorial calendar for a year or more with just a little planning ahead. Once you have your topics figured out, it’s much easier to sit down and write. Done and done!

How do I find the time to write blog posts regularly?

Schedule time to write for your blog. If you put it on your calendar and block off the time just as you would for any important appointment or event, you’ll be able to make it happen. And try not to let yourself take long to write–because it’ll make you less likely to stick with it. Ignore that inner critic and the perfectionism that makes you dread writing because of the time suck you know it’s going to be.

Use a timer tool like this one (or an egg timer) and write under a time limit if that helps. The idea is to write short useful content that your audience can really use and makes your blog stay top-of-mind for those on your list, and findable in search (because that’s a natural result of writing relevant content people actually want and need consistently over time).

Two-three hours each week (or whatever interval you’ve decided upon) should be plenty of time to write a good blog post and get it ready to publish. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and because it’s online content, you can always add to it or fix anything you find needs fixing in just a few minutes.

For some, it works well to write several posts ahead of time and schedule them out. If you can do this, it’ll save you having to worry about your blog for several months at a time. Find a rhythm that works for you and stick with it. A tool that works well for many people is an editorial calendar. You can do this on your own calendar (I use Google Calendar) or use a tool like CoSchedule which runs about $10/mo, or consider just downloading their free template here to get a sense of how you can set up your own.

How long should my blog posts be?

Opinions differ on this. I believe the length of the post doesn’t matter as much as the value. Consider the time your audience has to read–probably not much. After I write a post, I go back in and delete everything I think doesn’t need to be there. People skim the web for content they need–they skim your articles too. Make it easy on them to get to the meat and potatoes of your point. Break it up into sections with headings and use pictures to help illustrate your point when it makes sense. Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Ultimately, it’s a decision you base on your audience and what they need and want. Don’t be afraid to ask them from time to time.

A time-saver to help you determine what should be in each post is a blog post template. Check out a this terrific article by Michael Hyatt on the topic: Use a Blogging Template to Write Posts Faster.

How often should I post?

Posting frequency follows the same principle. How often does your audience need and want to hear from you? What makes sense for the kind of information you’re providing? If it’s time sensitive information, you need to get it out on time. Quality trumps quantity every time. It’s much better to write an excellent post once-a-month (or even less), than so-so posts once-a-week.

Decide what’s going to work best for you and your audience. The more quality content you can put out on a consistent basis, the quicker you’ll begin to see results in terms of visits to your websites and search results. I personally don’t write that way. I’m not interested in how many people visit my site nearly as much as I’m interested in the person or client that’s going to benefit from what I’m sharing in that post. People matter to me at the individual level far more than amassing visits to my website. For me that pays off over time, in customer loyalty, referrals, and relationship building. Those are the things that matter to me. Once you determine what matters to you, your goals, and the needs of your audience, you’ll be able to find the post frequency that makes sense for you.

What do you think?

Do you have any ideas to add to this post? What works for you? What questions do you still have? Please share in the comments below–I love hearing from you!

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by! I’d love to connect, so drop me a line here or shoot me an email at norma [at] connectinteractivellc [dot] com. If you like what you’re reading, be sure and subscribe or sign-up just below for email updates so you don’t miss a thing!

By the Way… If you like what you read today, you’ll love this post: How to Write Blogs Posts People Actually Want to Read!

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