Coming up with new blog content ideas can be a drag. I mean, who can be that creative all time? Aren’t the existing blog posts enough? Why do you need more?
However, we all know that blogging and content marketing are important for marketing basically any type of website. These days anyone and your mom regularly publishes content. If you don’t, you risk invisibility online.
To avoid that situation and ease the pressure on your creativity muscle somewhat, we decided to help you out. In this article you will find a number of proven blog content ideas including detailed information on how to knock them out of the park. Yeah, we are nice like that.
Excellent Blog Content Ideas to Keep Your Site Populated
You can use the blueprints below to start creating new blog content right away. Alternatively, use the list for inspiration to come up with your own ideas.
1. List Posts
When it comes to blog post formats, this one is an absolute classic. List posts have long been a staple of magazines and probably been around since the beginning of blogging. Their appeal is that they provide solutions to problems in small, manageable chunks.
When you make a list post, there’s only one rule: the more detailed, the better. Leave your readers feeling that they have learned everything they will ever need about their problem and you have a winner that will continue to bring in traffic.
2. Link and Tool Collections
Collections of useful links and tools are a special kind of list post. They can also be an extremely valuable online resource, both for you and your readers if you use affiliate links.
When you create a blog post like this, it’s a good idea not to simply provide your links without any explanation. Write a brief passage for each and why you have included it. It creates extra value.
Link collections are also a great way to get backlinks, if you tell everyone that you have included in it.
3. Checklists
Image by flower travelin’ man / shutterstock.com.
Everyone loves checklists. Just look at to-do and shopping lists.
What sets them apart from other list posts is that they are actionable. Checklists are designed to take your readers by the hand guide them toward a specific goal. They break down the path into specific steps, which is extremely helpful. You can even turn such a post into a PDF that people can print and actually check off.
4. Tutorials/How-to Content
This next one of our blog content ideas also been around the block a lot. For good reason. Being a problem solver is always a good marketing strategy.
For a killer tutorial, identify pain points of your audience (the more common, the better) and show how to overcome them. When you do, try to be super detailed and specific. Assume your readers know nothing, make it so compelling that anyone can follow along.
Plus, don’t forget to use visual media (like stock photos) to make your post more entertaining.
5. Curated Content
While original content is desirable, not everything on your blog needs to be your own creation. Summarizing the findings of others is also a valid option.
After all, that’s what people read the news for, to find out the latest information. If you can do that for your industry, it will give you lots of authority.
When you do, stress value over quantity, stay clear of thin content. Even better: add your own opinions, views and other additional information.
6. Original Research
Image by Bloomicon / shutterstock.com.
At the same time, if you can, presenting original content is always desirable. Especially if it’s super helpful stuff that nobody else can offer your audience. The latter is a great way to distinguish yourself.
An excellent example of this in action is Why Content Goes Viral: What Analyzing 100 Million Articles Taught Us. However, your research doesn’t have to be that scale to be worth posting. As long as you can offer actionable results and insights, it’s valuable content, no matter the sample size.
7. Case Studies
Continuing on the research theme, case studies also count. They are a great way to help your audience while also producing social proof. If your product, content or service has helped others achieve something remarkable, why wouldn’t you tell others about it? Just remember, the focus is on problem solving and helping others, not bragging.
8. Personal Experience
Yet, your research doesn’t even have to include other people. You can also make a case study out of yourself. After all, Tim Ferris’ success is mostly based on him running experiments on himself and making the results available to others.
You can do the same thing with yourself (maybe not to the same degree). If you have some important lessons to share, a problem that many have and that you have overcome, by all means do so! Actionable advice paired with a personal story is powerful stuff.
9. Personal Posts
Since we are on a personal note, revealing more of yourself to the audience can be a huge draw! After all, we want to connect with individuals, not faceless websites. Getting to know the person behind the writing achieves just that.
Case in point, James Altucher has built a huge following by talking publicly about his failures. It seems to resonate with others since he has built a loyal readership.
Other ideas things you can write about are things people didn’t know about you, embarrassing stories, personal pain and failures, what you like to read/listen to/watch, goals you are aiming to achieve and the progress you are making on the way.
The opportunities are practically endless, however, it’s up to you to decide how much you want to reveal of yourself. After all, privacy is also important.
10. Inspirational Pieces
Personal pieces are especially effective if they come with some hefty inspiration. We love to hear about others’ challenges and struggles especially if they end in success. After all, that’s want we want for ourselves.
I still remember how reading Chris Guillebeau’s manifesto made my heart race with excitement to start my own online business. (For those who don’t remember, a few years ago all blogs had a manifesto.) Another master at this is Jon Morrow as proven by pieces like this and this (the second has been read by more than one million people).
Yet, be advised: inspiring others is tricky. If you want to give it a try, the articles above are a good starting point to learn how.
11. Reviews
Next on our list of blog content ideas are reviews. Reviewing stuff on your blog is a great way to fill it with value for audience, whether that’s books, movies, gadgets or else. Hell, there are whole YouTube channels only running on this, why wouldn’t it work for you?
As for the format, it’s a good idea to provide and intro, pros and cons and a conclusion. In the case of books, it’s also good idea to summarize their main points. Don’t forget a call to action if you are using affiliate links.
12. Comparisons
Image by venimo / shutterstock.com.
A variation on reviews is to not just write about one item but compare several to one another. This especially makes sense if the they are very similar products that divide your industry.
A good example from the WordPress sphere is the question Yoast SEO vs All-in-One SEO Pack. They are two of the leading SEO plugins out there and a lot of people prefer either one or the other. Perfect for a comparison post!
When writing a comparison, make sure to be fair, point out strengths and weaknesses of each item and give your personal opinion.
13. Profiles and Interviews
Blog content doesn’t always have to be about yourself. In fact, it’s often a good idea to write about others, as we have already seen in case studies. Two other post formats in that direction are profiles and interviews.
The first one is where you write about interesting personalities from your niche or industry. Profiles are a great way to tell what they did, how they did it and what others can learn from them.
Interviews are very similar, however, instead of learning via proxy, it allows your audience to hear directly from the people themselves. All you need to do is find someone worth talking to. After that, whether you do the interview via email, Skype, phone or even in-person is up to you.
Just remember to always post a text transcripts for the search engines!
14. Controversial Pieces
A lot of people in the blogging sphere try their best not to offend anyone. However, sometimes doing the opposite is actually the way to go.
By that I don’t mean starting to randomly insult people but talking about uncomfortable things, taking a unpopular position or just speaking your mind. If you do so on a relevant and engaging topic, it’s a good way to show your personality, what you are passionate about and to stir up engagement.
This can take the form of a rant, open letter, reaction piece, critique or else. Just keep in mind that pieces like this are supposed to open a discourse. Don’t just argue to get attention, you are not a petulant teenager. Always make it about adding value.
15. Infographics
Infographics are a very effective type of content. That’s because they appeal to the way the human brain processes information. That makes them very popular, sharable and evergreen online content. It’s also the reason why KissMetrics has so many of them.
Source: Social Media Today
The problem: making infographics involves effort. Not only does the research need to be flawless but the visual delivery as well. For that reason, it’s usually best to hire a professional. Alternatively, check out Visual.ly.
16. Presentations
PowerPoint presentations are a staple of many business meetings. For good reason, they work – if done right.
The Internet equivalent is Slideshare, which you can use to produce entertaining and informative online presentations as the one below.
Doing so is a good way to generate traffic – again, if done right. This guide will put you on the right path.
17. Podcasts
Podcasts have really had a resurgence in recent years. Many high-profile bloggers have included them in their content mix, including Elegant Themes.
Are they on to something? Seems like it. Podcasts are easy to produce, very personal and there’s an audience eager to consume information in audio form.
Use this article to get started with your own podcast. Again, don’t forget the transcript!
18. Videos
Videos are another type of content that is eagerly consumed by visitors. It’s probably the reason why WPBeginner supplements many of their blog posts with video versions now.
Videos give you the opportunity to present personality and information at the same time. Plus, the technology is readily available in the form of cellphones, laptop cameras and software like Camtasia to capture screencasts.
Furthermore, you can host your videos for free on YouTube and other platforms. So, really there are no excuse not to use them.
19. Event Notes
Events are a fun occasion in every industry. Happenings like WordCamp US always draw a big crowd. However, there are also those who can’t make it. Why not do them a huge favor and share the main takeaways? Supplement with some behind-the-scenes information, images, maybe a video or two and you have created a valuable resource for your industry.
20. Quotes
There are times when you don’t have anything to say or don’t know how to say it. In those moments, it’s alright to fall back the words of someone else, in the form of quotes.
Yet, you can not only use them to make your written content more colorful but create entire posts out of them. Quotes can can be highly inspiring and, depending on the source, carry a lot of weight. That’s why collections of them often work so well.
The good news: It doesn’t take much. With quote websites like BrainyQuotes, all you need to do is scour them, copy/paste, write an intro and outro and you got yourself a post.
What Are Your Favorite Blog Content Ideas?
It’s easy to fall into a rut in your blogging efforts and keep using the same content formats. That’s alright for a while but gets boring for both you and the readers after a while. Fortunately, there are more ideas out there as you have seen above.
You can use this list as a springboard to try something new. There’s no need to try all post ideas on this list. In fact, not everything is suitable for every industry. Just pick one, try it and see the results, then continue experimenting.
Plus, as pointed out in the course of the article, many of the blog content ideas here can also be combined to create entirely new formats. It’s up to you.
What are your favorite blog post ideas that have worked very well for you? Please let us know in the comments section below.
Article thumbnail image by Sapunkele / shutterstock.com
The post 20 Blog Content Ideas Guaranteed to Drive Massive Traffic to Your Site appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
