It happens to all bloggers. The day to post has come around and you’re still scratching your head about what to write. You can’t shake that ugly feeling that everything’s been covered and there’s nothing new to say about your industry. The frustration can be annoying enough to make you want to dump blogging and get into book writing.
Fear not! Here is a list of enough blog post topics to keep your fingers flying all year long. These are well-accepted, tried-and-true topics that work for sharing, commenting, and conversions.
Our best blog post topics ever
Listicle posts
People love lists. Lists state ideas clearly, are easy to consume, and come in handy as reference. Suggested titles include a number plus the use of “Top,” “Best,” and “Most Popular” to describe the list subject.
This site creates about 30 lists per year and they are by far my most popular post. In fact, this post is a listicle. Lists of recommendation are also great relationship builders with the businesses that appear on them.
Informational posts
How-To
Getting good, solid information is a huge motivation for Internet users. If you can successfully take visitors through a step-by-step process, they will share and bookmark your pages. How To’s also build your authority in your industry. Titles could also include “Tips” and “Tricks.
How-Not-To
This is a listicle or case study of what not to do in any given situation emphasizing the words, “wrong,” and “not.”
Case Studies
Case studies are the proof side of your How To post, only this time it’s, “How They Did It,” or “How I Did It.” Again, write about a step-by-step progression of efforts that lead to a successful goal. Informative as well as inspiring.
Problem Solved
A sort of combination of How-To and Case Study, the Problem Solved can be drawn from a life hack you discovered in your professional or personal life.
FYI
This is pure research, either academic or experiential, to educate readers on a subject of interest.
FAQ
A combination of How-To, Problem Solved and FYI and formatted as a listicle for easy consumption.
Checklist
How-To meets Listicle, with a black or box to check off each action on a printed version.
Editor’s Picks
This can be a regular rotation on the blog in which a particular item, web page, tool or service is described in detail and linked to.
Review
Consume or use a marketed item that relates to your blog and write what you think about it. Be subjective or objective – or both!
Guide
Subtitled, “Everything You Need to Know About_______,” the guide presents all the info that can be exposed about one topic.
Blog Series
If your How To or Guide or Problem Solved post is multi-faceted and lengthy, you can publish for weeks about the same subject, one installment at a time. This is especially appealing with its opportunity for ebook creation.
Event review
In the same vein as the interview, an industry related event, presentation or panel discussion is where the material is being handed to you. You just need to compile and edit it.
News
Just about any newsy thing can be written about as long as it’s new and happening now.
Trends
Some content creators are able to predict trends as they are happening. If you’re a trendspotter, create content on your blog that rides that trend as it becomes popular.
Shootout
Something versus something in this comparison post, written to help readers understand the difference between a product or service.
What they said posts
Group Think
If you can get answers to the same question from many different authorities, you can pull together a post that’s basically a list of quotes. Once you get the responses, the work is all in the editing.
Interview
All an interview requires is a bunch of questions and a willing authority. The material can be easily acquired using audio, email, Facebook, or chat. The hard part is transcription (if audio) and editing text, making the effort almost 90% editing.
Survey
Broadcast a question on a trending topic to your readers and edit their answers.
People to Know
A list of influencers in a particular area that includes a bio, quote, clips, links and social media connections for each
Entertainment posts
Storytelling
A first personal, experiential post to inform and entertain your readers, possible with an educational parable.
Humor
File this under creative writing as it takes an extra effort to pull off. Can involve satire or a parody but irony and sarcasm work too. Best when tied to cultural references or world events.
Seasonal
If a holiday is coming up, jump on it to promote a product, idea or person.
Controversial
Go out on a limb with your idea or theory and take an unpopular position. Risky but often respect-inducing.
Predictions
Most popular before or after the New Year to describe upcoming trends. Can be Controversial and cover the outcome of a specific event, like an election or referendum.
Rant
If something has gotten into your craw, go on about it using run-on sentences and passionate language. May lead to catharsis.
Promotional posts
New Release
If you have a new or updated product, service, or person, or an upcoming event, tell your readers all about it.
Portfolio Piece
Show off your latest completed project with a description of the challenge, solutions and methods plus a plug for the client.
Our Best Posts
A Listicle of your most widely read posts as determined by Google Analytics.
Response
Point to a particular piece of media and outline your opinion in favor or against it.
Interactive posts
Questions and Answers
Answer questions your readers have posed or that have appeared in social media threads.
Contest
Get a prize, create a contest, and announce it in a post. Require entrants to like, or subscribe, or follow.
I dare ya
Pose a challenge to your audience. Follow up with updates about audience members participating in the challenge.
Mixed media posts
Podcast
Create a podcast and post it elsewhere as well as on your site, with a post about each episode. Be sure to write a long enough introduction and conclusion to satisfy Yoast’s demand for 300 words on the page.
Vlogging
Video blogging is the same as Podcasting, but with video. Again, add enough words for Google to chew on.
Photo Essay
Every picture tells a story, doesn’t it? If you have a visual story to tell, use those images alongside some healthy captions.
Slideshare
Slideshares are popular educational tools that start as a Powerpoint and can be uploaded to YouTube or Slideshare.
It’s all good
Depending on the focus of your blog, you might use all or half of these blog post topics, some of them dozens of times per year. I do and they work for me.
What topics did I miss? What are your go-to topics for blogging? Please add them in our comments.
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