When it comes to business blogging, the biggest complaint I get from business clients is that after the first few blog posts, they run out of subjects to blog about. Being a writer, this is never an issue for me. However, I understand that it is a real issue for people who are either not writers, or who are blogging about their business and can’t see the forest for the trees. (Or actually, in this case, can’t see the trees for the forest!)

So I’ve put together some of my favorite business blogging tricks for finding subjects to blog about. These can also be handy for finding subjects to write articles, small downloadable ebooks or white papers about.

This first one I’ve written about before in my Small Business Marketing blog but it’s worth looking at again.

Blog post source trick one…

About 75% of the phone calls or emails I get are clients with problems or questions they need help with or answers to. As soon as I get off the phone, the first thing I do is type up the question and the answer I gave them.

Or if it was an email, I copy the question and my answer and paste them in a document. If I just solved a problem for a client, there’s a good chance that other people have the same problem. Turn the question and answer into a valuable blog post!

Here's an example of an email question turned into a business blog post...

Blog post source trick two…

I got this one from Michelle Schmidt of Icelink Design. Go to Yahoo Answers and search for questions related to your business, product or service. All you need is the question. If you don’t know the answer, look at the various answers provided and rewrite them, putting your own spin on it.

Get 17 Free AdWords Cheat Sheets, MP3s, and Videos from someone with a proven track record of AdWords success.

 

Another related option is LinkedIn Answers. In fact, you could even search Google for “answers” and get a list of Q&A sites to search.

Blog post source trick three…

This is another one I’ve blogged about. Open your browser. Go to the Google search page. Type your product or service into Google. Click to search.

On the search results page, look at the upper left of Google and click ‘Show Options.’ Under 'all results,' click ‘forums.’ What you’ll get is a list of forums with all the questions you can stand about the subject you just typed in.

Another option if you have a particular product you want to write about is to click ‘reviews.’ And you’ll get a list of reviews of the product in question.

Bonus blog post source trick!

if you've gone to an event related to your industry, business, product or service, type up all your notes about the event as soon as you get back to the office. Any pointers you picked up or ideas generated during the event. Any special keynote speakers. Turn it into a blog post about the event. Here's an example of a blog post I wrote about a 2 hour seminar I went to on brand marketing.

Related business blogging books:

• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott
• Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs by Brian Halligan
• The Beginner to Blogger DVD by Traci Knoppe

Related business blogging articles:

• Blogging Basics for Business People
• How To Test If You Need a Blog
• Blog Commenting – An Easy “How To” For Tons Of Traffic

Check out our complete list of business marketing articles and online marketing articles!

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