Perhaps the largest challenge faced by those companies that have decided to start blogging is: where do I find content?

Finding topics to blog about is one of the most common challenges marketers face.

Its often recommended that you start by answering some of your customers’ most popular questions--reviewing industry trends, comparing prices of products or services in your industry, or conducting brief interviews with experts from your organization. These creative efforts seem time-consuming, don’t they?

That is why in this section, I cover a few easy ways to generate the right content for your blog, from repackaging existing resources to involving others in the process and finding guest bloggers.

 Repackage

Start with something simple. Do a thorough audit of existing content or internal communications. many times, you can take something that may have been published internally, remove some proprietary information, and transform it into a great blog post because, ultimately, you’re showcasing the inside of the brand and the organization. Great content should, in a sense, showcase the inner workings of an organization. what better way to do that than with repackaged internal content?

Next, reach out to others in your organization. Identify people who serve as your business’ primary sources of communication with the outside world-- whether that’s customer service or sales. Give them a pad of paper, and for one day, ask them to write down every single question somebody asks them. ultimately, this will give you a really rich list to help you generate blogging ideas.

Brainstorm

Even if you leverage resources outside of your company and infiltrate other departments within the company, it’s still easy to run out of content ideas quickly. therefore, you should be constantly seeking new opinions and new insights.

Hold brainstorming sessions and consider creating a collaborative document to allow people build on one another’s ideas. If you are a small company, identify peers or fellow bloggers who might be willing to participate in such brainstorming sessions. For instance, you can create a Facebook group with other people who are in a similar situation.

When you join a group that you can bounce ideas off, you’ll discover something really interesting: when you suggest a blog post idea to the brainstorming group, people will react if they are interested in the topic. If they don’t react to it, it probably won’t drive that much interest for the larger audience either.

Guest Blogging

Another method of generating content for your blog is to invite other industry experts to write guest posts for you. Use your network to find people who might be interested in guest blogging. Be confident in pitching them benefits of guest blogging.

For instance, guest bloggers can gain exposure beyond their normal readership and generate inbound links that can help them rank better in search engines. Guest blogging is also a great way to begin a co-marketing partnership and build a strong relationship with industry influencers.

Thanks for reading, be sure to check out my other blog post that discuss how to leverage your business blog to increase your companies inbound marketing.