As a freelance blogger, you create appealing posts that help companies gain online visibility, connect with their audience and increase their sales. Sometimes, your clients provide topics for their accounting, bakery or how to sell videos blog, but often, you are responsible to decide what to write about. Use these tips to assist your search for fresh, exciting and interesting blog post ideas that satisfy your clients and engage their audiences.
Use Google Alerts
Set up Google alerts, and you gain access to an online alarm that informs you when newsworthy content that relates to your client is posted online. Simply choose alerts for topics that interest your readers or relate to the industries for which you write.
Answer Questions
Consumers ask a ton of questions, and you can answer some of those questions in your blog. First, review the company’s FAQs and poll your clients to discern what common questions their customers ask on the phone, via email or on social media. Also, check Quora, Ask The Public and question.com for popular questions you can answer for readers.
Read National News
Check out national newspapers and other reliable news outlets for current events and other interesting stories. You can tie in your daily blog post to a breaking story and capitalize on public interest.
Browse Industry Blogs and Forums
Subscribe to competitor blogs and industry forums, and browse the posted topics. While you don’t want to steal content, you can rework the ideas with your unique perspective, data, examples, and commentary.
Compare Products
Share pros, cons and reviews of similar but different products. This type of content gives consumers information that helps them make a smart purchasing decision.
Comb Social Media Feeds
Look through your clients’ Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. You may find sparks of inspiration in the posts or comments. As a bonus, you can link to and promote the original post and improve traffic.
Craft Sequels
Discern which blog posts your clients’ readers enjoy, and write about similar topics. Whether the content lists local events, shares an opinion or offers how-to advice, you can piggyback on the post with fresh content that you already know will attract readers.
Access Tweet Chats
People from around the world meet on Twitter Chats to discuss topics, ask and answer questions, or share facts, giving you dozens of potential topics to discuss in a blog post. Simply enter a keyword, and you will see what people are discussing. You can even join in conversations to uncover additional topics of interest.
Record Interviews
Talk to company leaders and employees, industry experts or interesting community members, and share those interviews with blog readers. Your interviews can include industry-specific content as well as questions about how the subjects achieve work-life balance, where they landed their first job or what their dream vacation would be.
Create How-To Posts
Figure out what your clients’ readers want to know how to do. Then share valuable and actionable instruction posts. For example, detail how to make fluffy scones, utilize a scatter plot maker or detail a car.
Update Products
While you want the majority of your blog posts to feature engaging content that’s not promotional, share details about product or apps updates and new product releases. Tell readers about the valuable items that can make their lives easier.
Tap Into the Seasons
From holidays to weather to national observance days, seasonal topics provide dozens of ideas. Write about products that commemorate the holidays, how customers can use products to celebrate a national observance day or tips for managing seasonal weather.
Think Like a Local
Consider the exclusivity of being a local, and share insider information. Events, cuisine, causes, and trivia engage a local audience, which is particularly useful for your small business clients or those that serve local communities.
Expand the FAQs
Most companies posts FAQs to answer common questions and describe normal procedures. Read your clients’ FAQs and expand on some of the points. You can share more details about the company’s commitment to fast shipping, the return stats and policy, or what the ingredients in the product actually do. Choose to expand on facts you know readers want to learn more about.
Survey Readers for Ideas
On social media or a blog post, survey readers and gain suggestions about topics they’d like to know more about, problems they struggle with or questions they’d ask the CEO if they had the chance. Use the survey results to form new blog posts.
Your freelance blogging career relies on fresh, exciting and interesting topics. Rely on these tips to give you unique ideas for each of your posts.
