Need inspiration for your blog? Try looking here

Blogging has come a long way since it first surfaced on the web.

Originally, a blog was a platform for individuals to share their thoughts and feelings, almost like a public diary.

But now blogging has transformed into so much more. It has become a powerful marketing tool for businesses to grow their brand.

Increased website traffic, increased search engine optimization (SEO), and the ability to build up your reputation as a thought-leader in the industry are just some examples of the variety of benefits that can be acquired through blogging.

Blogging has also been shown to increase sales. According to research, 6 out of 10 U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog, and marketers who use blogs accumulate 67 percent more leads than those who don’t.

Simply put, if you haven’t already jumped on the blogging-bandwagon, then you’re losing out.

Coming up with fresh and engaging ideas for your blog isn’t an easy task. Sometimes it may feel like all the good ideas have already been written about 100 times, or that your ideas lack a “wow” factor.

But fear not, there is an abundance of fascinating ideas just waiting to be discovered and packaged into a brilliantly written blog.

Here are three spots where your business can find inspiration to fuel your editorial calendar.

Email inbox

If you’re struggling to think of ideas in order to create compelling content, a great place to start is your email inbox.

Delve deep into the emails received from your customers and make a list of the kind of questions they’re asking you. Even if these questions seem simple and straightforward to you, they are probably not so obvious to your clients.

Take these questions and transform them into blog topics. Answering the common questions of your customers could also save you a whole lot of time, as instead of individually responding you can direct the customer to your blog.

Competitors content

Now, I’m not saying that you should bookmark your competitors’ website and duplicate all of their content. But, your competitor can be a great source of inspiration.

Take note of your top five competitors and have a look at what kind of topics they’re writing about, the questions they’re answering, and the kind of industry-related they’re sharing on social.

You will be sure to find some topics that you can either expand on or offer a different opinion on.

A good tip is to also take a peek at your competitor’s blog comments. Here, you may find a whole range of questions waiting to be answered by an industry expert- you!

Capitalize on these questions that your target audience are asking, in the form of an engaging blog post.

Scan social

In addition to using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to promote your blog posts, these platforms are also where you can find your best source of inspiration.

Following and joining social media conversations can lead to discovering great topics that can fuel your blog. Here are a few examples of how you can do this:

Expand on social discussions

Sharing a link to a blog on social media, along with asking for the opinion your followers on the topic, is a great technique to create conversations.

This extended conversation will not only increase customer engagement and build valuable relationships, but it could also lead to new ideas to spark a blog series on the topic.

Follow Hashtags

In the world of social media, there are millions of conversations happening constantly. And if you look hard enough, among these conversations is your next big blog idea.

In order to quickly find the right conversations that fit your industry, head over to twitter and look for trending topics which are relevant.

Use the platform to search for and follow Twitter hashtags related to your industry, location, and competitors in order to discover the conversation happening around it.

Are there any common conversations? For example, this could relate to the consumers pain-points or queries regarding your particular industry.

Don’t be afraid to engage in the conversation, giving advice as an industry expert. Then use conversations such as these for inspiration for your next blog.

If one person has queries relating to a topic, the likelihood is there are a whole bunch of others facing the same problem.

So, if your blogging inspiration is running a little dry right now, stop and take some time to have a little wander around the aforementioned spots. Wisdom can be found in the unlikeliest of places.