Since 2009 • Sterling Heights, Michigan
When developing blog ideas, it is extremely important to consider the type of the business first. Some blog types that work with one type of business, would be a disaster for another. Picking the right type of blog can mean the difference between an effective marketing tool, and a total waste of time.
In this article, I am going to share with you a few ideas of how to design your blog for regular content. Some of these ideas are definitely more time consuming, and require deeper thought, than others. The important thing to remember though, is that when picking a theme for your blog, make sure it is doable. That may sound simple, but the key point is that whoever is responsible for generating the content, they are given the time and space to do it.
A blog of recipes will work for any business dealing with food, including every wholesaler, market or restaurant. A well-stocked blog full of recipes, optimized for their food items might just attract some attention on the web, and draw unexpected visitors to your site.
Restaurants may not want to put their best recipes out there, but they don’t have to. They can still put good recipes on the site without giving away the store.
If you happen to have a bunch of old family recipes (or any other source), and would like to share them, you don’t have to do it all at once. Put one or two out at a time periodically, and this could be an easy way to start and maintain a blog as the content has already been created.
A photo or video blog is a good choice for contractors, as they can demonstrate their work dramatically with good before and after photos. This will take a little planning as the contractor will need to decide which jobs are impressive enough to document. They will also need to decide when to take periodic photos or video of the project.
A few choice photos during the project duration tells a story than be put in a photo gallery on the site. A brief textual description of the project, and the obstacles presented and overcome, would add real authenticity to the blog.
Videos can be posted to YouTube and embedded on your site for viewing. This has the advantage of opening up another social media avenue for marketing, via YouTube, while showing the videos on your own site. It also saves you from storing large video files on your hosting server.
For some businesses, professional advice is a good choice, though certainly more time consuming some other ideas. It does require some well-thought out prose, and possibly some research to provide sound advice to current or prospective clients.
This approach may work well for doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects, etc. The content would be derived from their experience in a myriad of situations, where they could discuss the benefits or pitfalls of certain actions.
Though maintaining this type of blog is definitely more difficult than some, the work could be shared in a larger office, or delegated to a person or group with specific talents. As mentioned before, anyone assigned this task should be given the time and space necessary to produce useful content.
This is an idea for anyone who assists other swith their own projects. A frame shop, for example, may complete a frame for a customer’s own painting or photograph. They may find the artwork so appealing as to include it in their blog. This not only is flattering to the customer, it gives the frame shop owner a chance describe their work in selecting and crafting a frame that complements the work itself.
The strength of any company comes from it’s workforce. Highlighting your employee’s best work will be a good reflection on the company. The textual content should reflect specific challenges overcome by the employee in service to a customer.
For this idea to work, there should be several candidates every month. Giving it to the same person every month will not do you much good, so probably not the best for small shops. But for those companies with a sizable workforce, it is a way to highlight your company’s true strength.
Hopefully, these blog ideas may work for your business, or maybe spark another idea that may work. We will certainly share more ideas that come to us, so keep an eye on this space.
But when deciding on a blog format for your business, just make sure it is doable within your business and current staff. Because if the blog isn’t maintained properly, you are probably better off without it, as an unmaintained blog will present as abandoned.
Here at Outward Image Design, were are always here to discuss the different possibilities for your own blog or website.
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