Company blog topics: 10 tips where to look for inspiration when you lack ideas
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Running a company blog brings all the benefits in the world – that is, if we do it correctly. Increasing traffic and ranking in the browser are just a few of them. We also should remember about appearance. When we regularly publish expert materials, we become trustworthy professionals in the eyes of the reader. At the same time, we establish a relationship with them that may result in obtaining new clients.
What should we write about on a company blog? In the beginning, our heads are full of ideas. However, publishing the articles regularly may result in a lack of them. The problem often affects companies with narrow specializations. Well, to no surprise. After writing a certain number of articles on the same topic, it’s really difficult to create something new. So, where should we look for inspiration? Let’s find out.
Why is it important to publish on the company blog regularly?
Regularity is a crucial factor in running a company blog. It doesn’t look good when the last entry on the blog was uploaded a long time ago – not only from the browser’s point of view but also from the perspective of a user. During that time, quite a lot may have changed, especially in rapidly developing industries. If your company wants to be an expert in a certain field, you must stay alert and present the most up-to-date information on specific topics.
A solution that may help you publish blog articles regularly is a publication calendar. A normal spreadsheet will suffice. In there, you plan articles ahead of time, along with the requirements, like keywords, the expected date when the text should be published, and all other necessary information. Of course, the schedule must be achievable, which is why you should analyze your time and human resources – who will be responsible for the creation of the text and how often it should be prepared. Such a schedule can help plan more than just blog entries but also any kind of content, including social media posts.
Company blog ideas – where to get them?
A high frequency of published articles carries the risk of running out of ideas quickly. What should we write about on the blog? We suggest where to look for inspiration to keep the articles regularly published. And the ideas are easy to find!
1. Answer clients’ requests
One of the most important aspects of running a company blog is understanding the needs of your clients and answering their questions. There’s a set of content marketing tools that may help you check which questions your clients type into Google. While researching ideas, you may find the following tools useful:
- Senuto,
- Ahrefs,
- Google Keyword Planner,
- Semstorm,
- Buzzsumo,
- Google Trends
- Answer The Public.
The results acquired with those tools may prove useful when planning blog topics. Thanks to them, you will know what questions people ask and which content grabs their attention. By creating content based on keywords, you also take care of your positioning.
Remember that not all clients are looking for answers on Google. Some of them go directly to experts in certain industries by calling their helpline or sending an email to their customer support (sometimes even a Facebook message). That’s why, except for using the mentioned tools, it’s worth asking your colleagues about clients with whom they have direct contact. Thanks to it, you’ll be able to know the exact questions they ask the company.
2. Search for “out-of-the-box” ideas
A small field of expertise doesn’t always make the process of finding new ideas easier. There’s a solution to that! We can widen the topic in such a manner that it touches on the subject of your industry as well. This approach, which we’ll call “out-of-the-box” symbolizes looking at things from a different perspective and making content planning easier. You will also have more opportunities to include keywords found with the help of Senuto, Google Keyword Planner, and Answer The Public. If readers find your website and see the knowledge base along with inspirations, it’s most likely that they will return in the future.
3. Be wary, competitors don’t sleep
In search of inspiration, it’s worth checking out what other, similar companies write about on their blogs. Perhaps you’ll find examples of interesting content that will help you create new topics. Copying someone else’s ideas is of course a bad practice, but there’s nothing wrong with getting inspired. Looking at the issue from a different angle, without copying the patterns, may result in a lot of advantages, like, for example, an increase in the number of visitors.
Competition analysis is a task that’s worth conducting right from the beginning as part of the content marketing strategy. It allows you to gather valuable data on companies that operate in the same field. It’s not only about topics appearing on the blog, but also about checking the website’s visibility, rankings for the most important keyword, and many other things. All of them you can find with tools like Senuto, Ahrefs, or Semstorm.
4. Check what’s going on abroad
While looking for information, don’t limit yourself to your native market – after all, today’s world is one global village. Perhaps the industry you’re working in is better developed in another country, resulting in more content. Finding an industry portal may lead you to articles or reports that can be an inspiration for a new and interesting blog post. For that, you may use Buzzsumo, a tool that will help you analyze the most popular content that acquires new entries all the time, even after being published.
Going outside your country also applies to the competition analysis. Check what similar companies write about in, for instance, Western European, American, or Asian markets. In the wake of internet translators, a language barrier seems to no longer be a problem. Furthermore, companies from countries whose languages you may not know are often bilingual, including the blog. In this case, checking competitors’ websites may prove to be more efficient.
5. Be present here and now, and place your bet on current topics
The term “real-time marketing” mostly refers to social media, but to a certain degree it can also be used for planning articles for the blog. Some readers may be interested in content related to seasons, holidays, vacations, etc. A person responsible for the company blog should be aware of the current situation. Publishing news or articles related to present times will result in you being seen as an expert.
The perfect example of such a situation is the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the situation influenced so many aspects of our lives that it became a way for creating a lot of new content (oftentimes guide articles) by companies of different industries – from toy stores to financial institutions. Of course, content needs time to achieve the expected results. What can we do with social media, though? Facebook, Twitter, or other communication channels may be invaluable resources in promoting the article faster.
6. Observe and comment on trends
Observing the Internet is a crucial part of running a business online. It helps with being up to speed with everything that happens around us and our clients, as well as in the entire industry and beyond. By observing trends, you can better understand the market and consumer needs. What’s more, it can prove to be a great source of inspiration for your blog. Did you spot a trend related to your industry? Do you have any remarks that could spark interest among netizens? If yes, then you should definitely write about it. Such an article may be a great way of provoking discussion and engagement from the users, which in turn will increase their activity on your website or social media.
What remains is a question – how to be up to speed all the time? Luckily, there are many tools that allow us to observe the Internet. One of the most popular is Google Trends. In there, we can find the most popular phrases typed into the search engine, depending on the time and region. Other ones that are worth noting are the already mentioned Buzzsumo and Brand24, which allow us to track information across different channels, social media included. Reading industry-related portals and magazines or looking for various reports or statistics that are released from time to time is also worthwhile.
7. Report an event that you’re a part of
Be active outside your company’s walls. A company blog is a great place to let people know about the events that you’re a part of, like industry events, conferences, or expos (even those conducted online). Reports from such an event and sharing your opinion and thoughts are not only an interesting article but also a chance to establish the position of your brand as an expert in the field who is up to speed with the newest trends.
What’s worth mentioning is a form of promotion used by many companies, which is sponsoring. We could write a separate article on its advantages, but that’s not our goal today. We simply want to emphasize that sponsoring an intriguing initiative or participating in a charity event is a great way to create good content. It may not have a great influence on SEO, but PR-wise, it’s certainly a jackpot. Of course, we shouldn’t share it solely on our blog, but also in a company newsletter, on social media, or wherever you can.
8. Create product reviews and rankings
A company blog can be a place to showcase your offer. You have to be careful, though. A key factor here is creating a guide article, according to the rule that on our blog we help, not sell. If the reader senses that we care more about selling our product than solving his or her problem, then we can quickly discourage the reader from proceeding further and, in turn – leave our website in search of a different source.
So how to showcase the offer on the blog? For example, if we run an online store, we can rank the sales of products from the most important categories (let’s say, from the last 12 months). Based on that, we can publish a popularity ranking. Such an entry may gather a large audience because the clients like to know what other people buy, often making a decision based on that fact. We can also group products by their specifications or prices and create some sort of review of products from certain categories.
9. Browse through old articles on the blog
Some industries (for example, technology) develop very quickly. It means that some information may not be correct at the time. That’s why, if you run a blog for a long time, in order to keep your content up-to-date, you need to review your old articles. You may find out that some of them will need an update or even a total rewrite. Such actions are called content recycling. Remember that the date of publication is often seen in the search results, and up-to-date content is better perceived by the users and Google algorithms.
10. Let people know you
If you still don’t know what to write about, introduce your company to your blog’s visitors. How do you do that in the correct way? Use storytelling elements. Make it a story where the people are at the center of attention – the chances of sparking the interest of the reader will increase, while at the same time you will introduce your values. That, in turn, may help them trust and sympathize with the company. Perhaps there’s an interesting family backstory to the creation of your company. Maybe the story of how your company developed will be worth writing about. Decide what you want to share and place your bet on authenticity, but don’t exaggerate, and don’t use common slogans.