Happy New Year! The beginning of 2014 brings a fresh start for all of us. If you’ve been a little lax about blogging on a regular basis, now is the perfect time to whip yourself into shape and post every week, twice a week, or even every day! Yes, blog content creation is a commitment of your time and energy, but it’s well worth it: it drives traffic to your site, communicates a wealth of useful information to shoppers, markets your business and brand to new users, and lets you show a more personal side of yourself and your team to customers who haven’t met you in person. So put on your favorite tunes, shut your office door, brew up a steaming mug of java—whatever you have to do to get into writing mode. To help kick-start your blogging efforts, here are 10 ideas for blog topics. Choose one that speaks to you this week, or pick a number at random and go!
- A recap of 2013. What were the highlights of the past year for your company? What were the best new releases and hottest sellers? Give your readers a summary of your business’s accomplishments over the past 525,600 minutes. You deserve to celebrate them!
- Your New Year’s resolutions and/or predictions for 2014. What’s on the horizon for you this year? Maybe you’re expanding the area you service, or perhaps this is the year you add a live chat customer service feature to your web site. Got some ideas about what’s going to happen in your niche in the next few weeks or months? Share them—it shows readers that you’re well connected to the scene and in touch with the latest.
- Something you’re doing this week. Opening a new bricks-and-mortar location? Talk about why you chose the site you did and what you hope to bring to the community surrounding it. Just got back from an industry conference or related event? Give a recap of what you learned there and how you’re going to use that knowledge to make your products or services even better.
- A recommendation for one of your products or services and some advice on using it. Maybe there’s an item in your store that isn’t your absolute top seller, but happens to be a favorite of yours. Talk about what makes it special, useful, or interesting. Is there a way to use one of your products that many readers haven’t discovered? Give them a handy primer on it.
- Something that shows your company’s more personal side. Maybe your team recently completed a charity race, community outreach project, or leadership-building workshop. Tell your readers about it, and post pictures.
- Your opinion about something that’s happening in your niche or broader industry. Have you been thinking, “Wow, this is going to change everything” or “That’s a bad idea”? Talk about why.
- A profile of one of your most important team members. Is there someone who really contributes a lot to what you’re doing? Introduce him or her to your customers and explain why he or she is so valuable to your company.
- A list—e.g. 5 of your favorite products, 10 things you love about doing business in your region, 3 ideas for using your services. (You know … kind of like this post!)
- A brief biography of someone in your industry whom you admire and why. Maybe this person inspired you to get into what you’re doing or has been a good example of what you’d like to do in the future. Give credit where it’s due—who knows, he or she may even find and read your post!
- A handy how-to guide. As a business owner, you specialize in certain areas and have a better understanding of them than most people. Teach your readers how to accomplish something that you know inside and out … and if one of your products facilitates it, even better!
So there you have it: 10 excellent topics to write about today. Are you feeling inspired? Good—it’s time to get blogging!