April 9th, 2009
by Amy Dunn
I received my inspiration for this post today in my inbox from Ezine Articles last week. I subscribe to their newsletter and am regulary fed wonderful ideas and tips on how to create content that is relevant, insightful, engaging, and most importantly- stuff people will want to read!
I often work with business owners who have a wealth of content and ideas in their mind, but do not know how to translate their knowledge into brilliant blog posts and articles. They ofter become stuck and are unable to find a voice to communicate their ideas to reach their existing and new customers. These fresh ideas came from social media expert Chris Brogan, who compiled a list of questions business owners can ask themselves to generate better content to support their inbound marketing efforts. Here are some of Chris’s ideas shared by Ezine Articles:
Topics to Get You Unstuck:
1. What challenges are my potential customers facing? Do I have any advice for them?
2. What have I read lately? What points were interesting? Can I add more to it?
3. What bugs me? Can I write about another way to approach it?
4. Who do I admire? Can I write something about them that explains how to emulate those traits?
5. What has the potential of helping (hurting) me or my community in the coming months? Are there possible ways out of it?
6. What kinds of tools are missing from my environment that would help things along?
7. Which companies or parts of an industry might benefit from my ideas?
8. How do other industries compare to what my community is thinking about?
9. What kinds of thoughts will inspire my audience to contact me (or support a cause, or buy my product, or support my interests)?
10. What do I want to know that I can ask my community?
Not sure how to title your Blog Post? Try these catchy titles:
1. How ___ is like _____.
2. __ Ways to Convince the Boss to Try ____.
3. How do I _______?
4. Here are some new ways to ________.
5. My personal recipe for ______.
6. If I ran the _____.
7. Three improvements to my company’s _______.
8. My first steps into ______.
9. If I find yourself stuck, try _____.
10. Restarting now would _____.
2. __ Ways to Convince the Boss to Try ____.
3. How do I _______?
4. Here are some new ways to ________.
5. My personal recipe for ______.
6. If I ran the _____.
7. Three improvements to my company’s _______.
8. My first steps into ______.
9. If I find yourself stuck, try _____.
10. Restarting now would _____.
What questions do you have that would make great blog posts or articles?
Web Marketing Therapy Related Links:
- Bring Fresh & Relevant Content to Your Neglected Business Blog
- The 2009 Reference Guide: 99 Best Social Media & PR Blog Posts
- Search Engine Marketing Tip for Bloggers: Show Related Blog Posts to Boost Your Site’s SEO and Pageviews!
- Tuesday Top Blog Posts Breakdown
Coree
(April 13th, 2009 at 7:44 pm)
Boy, did I need this! What a great resource!! Not only because of the templates and the questions to ask ourselves when we’re stuck…but, I also learned that you can get ideas from your email, or articles, or even link to another blogger to pull in great content.
Thanks for leading the way. Hope to follow in your footsteps soon…very soon!
Lorrie Thomas
(April 14th, 2009 at 1:18 am)
I needed it too!!!! Rocking post Amy!