1. Do you go to trade shows? Conferences? Networking events? Other industry related events? Write a post that talks about what you did, what you saw what you learned, who you met. Give people shout-outs in the form of written praise and link love and don’t be afraid to ask for it in return. Use hashtags from your event to engage others in friendly banter and conversation. You’ll probably enjoy it. Write about your overall experience and give your honest opinions.
2. Do you have distinct competitive advantages over your competition? Leverage them. Write a blog post reviewing your product or service alongside others in your industry/space. This demonstrates transparency, and with transparency comes trustworthiness. You’ll also be including crucial keywords in your post without really thinking about it, which is great for search engine optimization (SEO).
3. Do you have expertise? Be a hipster and tell your readers about something they probably don’t know about in the form of a tip or trick. Be useful and practical. Have some fun with it, but make sure to get the point across instead of beating around the bush trying to be silly.
4. Top 10 Lists - Put yourself in Letterman’s shoes from time to time. Follow the same guidelines as idea #3. Believe it or not, your opinion matters, and people want to hear it, so express yourself! You don’t have to do a nice even number like 10 either, just do as many as you can think of.
5. Helpful Tools – Are you using a tool that has made your life easier? Tell people about it in a blog post. Be sure to let the company you’re recommending know about the article so they can promote it via social media. That’s free marketing, and as we know, small businesses love free stuff.
6. How To’s - People (potential customers in this case) are always curious about how to do things. When they want to find out, they head to the interwebs, specifically, the search engines first and use search queries that begin with “how to”. This is your chance to help your readers out and hopefully convince them that your continued expertise is worth paying for.
7. Hot Industry Topics – Being timely with your blog posts can make a huge difference. Check out trending topics in Twitter (left side of the Twitter user interface) or use Google Trends to search for topics that are relevant to your industry right now and write a post about it.
8. Answer Common FAQs – Do you ever get asked the same question over and over again by your customers? Write a blog post answering it. You can then toss a link to the blog post in your replies to folks via email and social media instead of having to repeatedly explain it. People can share that content with their networks as well.
9. Client Testimonials – Do you have delighted customer evangelists? I sure do hope so, or else you wouldn’t be in business for very long, that is unless your customers pay you to tick them off. :) Ask for testimonials from your happiest customers and create blog posts about them, quoting their praises and demonstrating how you helped then. Again, you’ll optimize the article without needing to think because you’ll be using keywords that are valuable to your business. Be honest and link to their website and social media outlets, ask them to do the same for you. Pictures of your customers evoke a sense of camaraderie and friendliness too.
10. Case Studies – Chances are, the people who love your products and services love them because they’ve helped them satisfy their needs. Write a blog post that shows exactly how specific customers have benefited by using your products and services. Use actual data points that matter to your target market. Use charts, graphs, and other visuals, like videos of your customers speaking. Give readers something to look at other than words. Case studies also allow your readers to learn more about your product or service and how it can help. That’s powerful stuff.
11. Poll Results – You have to poll and survey your customers consistently throughout the year to find out what you’re doing right, and more importantly, what you’re doing wrong. Write about the good things you find out in your polls and surveys. If you can, use larger numbers to get more “wow” factor from the reader. That’s always a plus.You can use a free service like SurveyMonkey to send out surveys via email. Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to create polls you can easily share with your networks. Get some good data and run with it in a mind-blowing blog post.
12. Video Posts – Do you own a smartphone or video camera? Start your own “how to” series on topics in your industy. Post your videos to a dedicated YouTube channel, add then to your written blog posts, and promote them via social. Use your videos in relevant “how to” posts if they’re visual. You could also do a regular section where you answer FAQs in a video like an interview or talk show. You can easily transcribe the text of the video and use that too.
13. Funny Stories – Did something funny happen to you at work today? Yesterday? This past week/month/year? Write a blog post about it! Make it about industry trends if you can. This will keep the reader focused on the topic, not your failed attempts at comedy. Comedy is based on the distinct commonality the audience and comedian have and relate to those awkward moments we all experience as humans. People appreciate tasteful, smart comedy.
Like what you've read? Comment and let me know what else your interested in reading. I take comments VERY seriously and want to write about, well, what people want to read about in the digital space.
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