16 Insanely Smart Small Business Blog Ideas
What if we told you we can help making small business blogging easier while improving your local search visibility?
There is! We’ve compiled this list of ideas of painless and effortless ways to keep your blog up to date while showing Google (and your visitors) your presence in your community and credibility.
1. Share community news.
Write about the upcoming annual event in your city that everyone looks forward to. Write about the upcoming tradeshow you’ll be attending. Show that you are involved in your community and support local events.
2. Tell customer success stories.
Did a customer just call you raving about a great experience they had with you? Were you able to solve a problem for one of your customers? Take the time to write a short summary of what you did and share the success with everyone your website. Be sure to ask the customer for permission to turn their story into a blog post.
3. Stockpile FAQ posts.
You likely get the same questions over and over again. Take each of these questions and turn each into their own post. Next time you have someone emailing or writing to ask the question you can direct them to your blog post! These are great posts to write in advance and have ready to post when you get into your busy season and may not have as much time to blog.
4. Write about recent projects.
For service based businesses you can share about what you’re working on. Perhaps it’s replacing a sub panel in an Abbotsford home or pouring a new concrete driveway in Mission BC or even eye exams for children going back to school. Mentioning the service, products and city helps with your local optimization.
5. Promote your sponsorships or charities.
Write about local charities, events, amateur sports teams, fundraisers and any other involvement you have in your community. The point of these blog posts isn’t to put yourself on a high horse but to encourage your customers to also support the causes you believe in.
6. Write a ‘Top 5’ list.
Lists are easy to skim and digest … just look at the popularity of BuzzFeed. Put together a list of your Top 5 products related to a specific need, top 5 restaurants in your area, top 5 reasons to have regular dental checkups, etc. The list goes on about lists you could write.
7. Updates on changes to regulation.
Be the authoritative source to tell your visitors about changes to building codes in your area, updates to mortgage laws and other regulations that will affect your industry.
8. Create a local resource directory.
Put together a list of trusted businesses your customers may be interested in. Are you a plumber? Why not suggest trusted electricians, framers, drywallers and contractors you’ve worked with over the years?
9. Review other local businesses.
Give a shout out to businesses that you interact with on a regular basis that you think are worthy to recommend to your customers. You never know, that business may do the same for you one day.
10. Create a best resources collection
Pick a topic that is very relevant to your industry (it could even be a topic you always get asked about) and compile a “best resources” collection where you can guide your visitors to the best websites to do all their research. Your blog post will show your visitors who to trust on a certain topic and help in the education process.
11. Share a current event.
Find a unique spin of what you’re seeing and reading in the News and write a blog post. Has the value of the Canadian Dollar gone down? How is this affecting your industry? Have scientists found a new cure? What does this mean for your patients?
12. Compare and contrast products.
Take two similar items or products and write a comparison of the two. How are they similar? How are they different? Is one a better solution? Are there times you should use one product over the other?
13. Talk about failure.
Has something recently made you cover your face and shake your head? Whether it is something you did, something you found in a recent home you did work in or even a horror story that a current customer told you about their previous provider, take the time to dish out the juicy gossip. People like to hear bad news. Just remember to always close the post with an optimistic outlook and offer a solution.
14. Share industry insider secrets.
Be the one to tell customers the truth in your industry. Are the commonly believed misconceptions in your industry? You can be the one to share the truth with your customers.
15. Post a how-to guide.
People are always searching “how to …” in Google. Write step by step guides on how to do simple things.
16. Read related blogs in different cities.
If all else fails, find a company in your same industry but across the country (and no overlap of target markets) and see what they are blogging about. You will likely find new topics, ideas and insight that you can take back to your blog. Remember, never copy or steal blog posts. Just use the blogs for inspiration and bring fresh insight and a new perspective on their topics back to your own blog.
Plus One Insanely Foolish Blog Idea!
If there is one cardinal sin when it comes to blogging it is ignoring your blog for months on end! Nothing is worse than a post from last Christmas or your visitors seeing your blog was last updated 7 months ago. This shows that you aren’t relevant and may even hint that you aren’t actively doing business!
For more information about our blogging services and how we can help set up a blog for your website to bring in new traffic and increase the visbility of your small business in your local market, please email us or call our team at 1-888-262-6687.
