The foundation of any blog is, of course, content. You can create any type of content that fits your needs and the needs of your audience. You can create video, print or audio content.
When it comes to print content there are many options including:
- how to posts
- reviews
- lists
- tips
- pros and cons
- fact pages
You can also create checklists, blueprints, worksheets and may other useful items.
Audio and Video Content
If writing doesn’t fit the purpose of your blog consider creating audio or video content. Interviews are great in both audio and video format. You can also create how to video posts. If you are comfortable in front of a camera, video is actually a great way to create quick and relevant content. Make sure you have good lighting and sound when you record your video.
How do you come up with content ideas?
Creating posts that are consistently valuable and interesting can be a challenge. In fact, many consider it to be the biggest challenge of owning a blog. Here are several creative ways to find inspiration to create content.
- Read. Read magazines, blogs and industry newsletters. Sometimes, just a headline can inspire a few ideas.
- Social networking. Participating in social networking is a great way to promote your blog. Also pay attention to what others are saying. What information are they looking for? What problems do they have that you can discuss or even solve on your blog? Great topics abound on social networking sites…all you have to do is visit them and pay attention to the conversations.
- FAQs. What questions do people commonly ask you? These can make for some great blog posts.
- If you don’t know, then ask. Ask your readers what they want you to write about.
Organizing your content.
There are many approaches to organizing the content on your blog. You can wing it if you want to. You could plan ahead. Planning ahead can save you a lot of headaches. Consider sitting down monthly and planning out the content for the next month. Think of it as a brainstorming session. A good idea is to always carry a notebook with you. Ideas can come to you at any time and you need a place to write them down so you don’t forget them. If you can capture ideas as they come to you, it will save you time and energy later.
Content is the most important part of your blog. You should spend some time deciding what kind of content you want to create. Develop a system that works for you to plan your content in advance. This will make it easier for you to sit down and write several blog posts at one time. You can schedule them to post and then spend your time on other tasks.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
Excellent post Jullianne. In the beginning I found posting to be overwhelming but now I SCHEDULE a block of time and do 3-5 posts at once, instead of trying to post one at a time. It is much more productive and less overwhelming. Once the creative juices are flowing the last few posts go by in a snap!
Another thing that helps is doing some keyword research. We all love free, directed traffic from google searches & keyword research is imperative to get free traffic from any search engine.