Ideas for blog posts

A friend of mine — a consultant — is starting to blog at the behest of her company’s webmaster.  “But I don’t know what to write about,” she said when we had lunch recently.

So, for anyone out there who’s just starting to blog for business and doesn’t know where to start (content-wise), here are a few memory-joggers that’ll get your creative juices flowing:

• Ten questions your customers/clients ask. I’ll bet if you sit down with a pencil and paper for 5 minutes, you can jot down ten questions that you’re always being asked.  Now you’ve got ten 300-500 word blog posts right there.
• Ten questions your customer/client ought to ask. I’ll also bet there are some areas of ignorance that your prospects have that you’d like to clear up.  There’s another ten 300-500 word blog posts.
• Ten myths about your professional area. Granted, there may be a thin line between this one and the one directly above, but surely there are a few persistent myths you’d like to clear up.  Here’s your chance.
• Seasonal issues. Are there any issues you deal with on a seasonal basis?  For instance, tax preparers are always busy giving advice at calendar-year-end and during tax season.  You probably have at least one of those issues as well.
• “I wish you’d talked to me before you did that” moments. These are the forehead-slappers, the “doh” (think Homer Simpson) moments when you want to tell a prospect/customer/client, “If you’d only come to me first — I could have saved you time/money/frustration!”  Jot those down as they happen.
• Editorial commentary. If you keep up with news in your field, either with a tool like Google Reader/Alerts or by trolling various websites and blogs in your professional domain, you’ll probably find items you want to comment on.  Go ahead and link to the source, then comment away.  Your regular readers will probably appreciate the heads-up, and you’ll add to your reputation as a thought leader in your field.
• Case studies. If you’ve been in business any length of time at all, you’ve got some success stories to tell.  Get the subject’s permission, then write up the story of how you solved their problem.
• Product/service reviews. Has someone published a particularly good (or bad) book in your field?  Is there a related service you want your readers to know about?  Review it in your blog.

And if those 8 ideas aren’t enough to get you started, here’s one of the most comprehensive blog post idea lists I’ve ever seen: 20 Types of Blog Posts.  (The whole “Battling Blogger’s Block” series on ProBlogger.net is here.)

Get writing!