How to Develop a Blog Post Idea ... Pain-free!

How to Develop a Blog Post Idea … Pain-free!

Writing a blog post can be tough because we don’t always feel creative. We are short on time, and face it, for many of us, writing a blog post does not pay the bills. Client work beckons.

In my experience of helping entrepreneurs with their blogs, the hardest part is often starting the post. It can feel overwhelming with so many ideas bouncing around in your head.

So here is my strategy for developing a blog post. The examples I use below are from my recent Written Impact blog post, Why a Discovery Session is Critical for Marketing Success.

Idea

Start with an idea. What is on your mind lately related to your business and your clients? If other people can relate to this, and you are willing to add some of your own insight, this idea could make a pretty good post. If you are one of the lucky ones who has a Blog Content Plan, head over there and grab this week’s topic.

Idea Example: Share the marketing Discovery Process that I use with clients.

Goal

Determine your goal with this post. Do you want to teach, entertain, write content that will help you market your services, learn from writing, share your expertise?

Goal Example: To share the Discovery Process (teaching, entertaining) and perhaps stir their interest about working with me.

Temporary Headline

Based on your idea, create a temporary headline that summarizes your topic simply. Mine was ‘The Discovery Process.’ I beefed it up at the end after I built out the idea and the full story.

Explore

Begin to explore the idea with a few bullet points and information that you want to include in the post. What happened? How did you respond? What did you learn? Why does this matter? Add the personal, write with your personality, but keep it professional (we’re talking business blog here.)

Explore Example: A recent Discovery meeting with client was great, the client reaction was interesting, my reaction may be of interest to other entrepreneurs, and give them the big picture take-away of why the Discovery Process is essential for marketing planning.

Research

What are other people doing/saying related to your topic? Research some links you can include in your blog post to show that you are open to other ideas — we might know our niche, but we don’t know everything about it. We are all part of a larger community and selection of useful, interesting links affirms your credibility as a blogger in this community.

Research Example: I linked to a post with 9 Discovery Process Tips.

Evaluate

Ask yourself if there is there enough meat here for a post? Do you feel good about it? Will it achieve the intended goal? If so, start writing! If not, table this blog post idea and come back later (not now, later) and explore a new blog post idea.

Example: Yes, I believe my notes provided enough for a solid post. I told a personal story and included Discovery Questions as a helpful take-away for the reader.

Final Headline

Now develop a final headline for your blog post that reflects the essence of your story. Think marketing and use some techniques to capture the reader’s interest so they click and read.

Example: The Discovery Process morphed to ‘Why a Discovery Session is Critical for Marketing Success’.

Visual

Add one or more visuals (photos, illustrations, videos) to enhance the reader experience. Check out stock photos sites and Google images, or better yet, take your own photo … as I did in this example.