Stuck For Ideas? Get Your Blog Out Of The Doldrums!

I have written previously about how important your small business blog is in terms of branding.  But one of the things that people frequently tell me is that they get stuck for ideas for their blog posts.

It doesn’t matter how enthusiatic or experienced you are it can still be a challenge to keep coming up with new ideas for blog posts or things to share on Facebook or other social media site.

With that in mind this post aims to give you some relatively easy ways to come up with new blog ideas. Some of them may seem obvious, however if you think about each of them for a little while you will probably realise that you could be using one or morr of the methods more than you  have been!

Keeping A List

There are some people who are compulsive list makers. However, mmany of us don’t often stop to think about the value of keeping a list. You can take a notepad with you wherever you go or indeed use your mobile phone as a notepad for making lists.

Make a note of anything at all that sparks your interest during the day at the moment you find out about it – whether that an interesting idea that comes up in conversation, something you read in the newspaper or a new café that looks worth a visit. Don’t wait to make a note of it later and don’t think it’s not worth making a note of. You can work out whether it is useful or not later.

Once you have been keeping a list for a little while, you’ll be able to consult it if you are struggling to come up with ideas for your next small business blog post. It’s amazing how quickly a list can turn into a real goldmine for those sort of situations!

Staying Alert

If you are a small business which operates in a local town do keep your eyes and ears open to what is going on around your town. Pay attention to everything, it doesn’t matter how small or insignificant it may seem. You should keep alert to possible ideas whenever and wherever you are. Again it’s amazing how almost every day something will turn up that can be the inspiration for your next small business blog post.

Asking Lots Of Questions

Try to get yourself into the habit of asking questions about things as you come across them. Why isn’t that empty old building or shop being used for something? Why is there so much litter outside a particular building? How do you use that vegetable to create a tasty dish? What kinds of bacteria live in the fridge? The more questions you ask, the better. Every question you ask is a potential blog post idea!

Talk To Others

Ask people you know and meet through your business what’s on their mind. You could even ask them if they’ve got any good suggestions for something you could write about your business or your area of expertise. You will find that many people will be more than happy to offer up ideas, and as you talk to them they will come up with ideas that you can address.  Who knows they may even come up with ideas that you can profit from by introducing new services or product ranges.

If you only take one of these ideas to help you with your posts for your small business blog then I would recommend it is the one to keep lists! It doesn’t matter how many ideas you come up with, if you don’t write them down somewhere and  keep track of them you’ll end up losing them. If you keep your ideas written down, you will then be able to turn to them whenever you need inspiration!