Now that you’ve got your website and blog up and ready to build your business, you’ll probably be confronted with the age-old scourge of writers everywhere: the blank screen with that horrible blinking cursor. You have every intention of posting two or three times a week, but how on earth are you going to figure out what to write?
The trick is to look outside of your office for inspiration–to your customers, your audience, and to other people who write about your field in blogs and other media. With a little bit of research and curiosity, you can unearth a world of appropriate topics that will grab the attention of potential clients and the all-important Google.
Pay Attention
Start simple: Write about the questions your customers ask you.
What’s the best native plant to fight soil erosion?
What do you do as the caterer if your luau gets rained out?
Provide the answer if you have it or–sometimes better–take your readers along as you investigate a knotty problem, taking suggestions, tips, or follow-ups as you go. You’ll be proving not only that you know your stuff, but that when your customers talk, you listen to them.
Get Inspired
Ideas are contagious. And if you read what other people are saying–in your field and elsewhere–you’ll have a lot more to talk about. Read your morning paper or your favorite blogs with an eye for stories that might apply to what you do. Or better yet, set up an RSS Reader (Google has a free one) to pull your favorite bloggers, columnists, or publications into one page where you can scan headlines and look for ideas. At the very least, you’ll be totally up-to-date and able to write on what’s new in your industry; and at best, you’ll be able to highlight the importance of your services by relating them to hot topics and recent news.
Think Strategically
How do potential customers find you online? Chances are, they type a search term (or keyphrase) into Google–say, “cambridge ma hotel”–and click on what they find. There’s a lot of complex strategy behind getting to the top of the search results, but one piece of the puzzle is the use of good keyphrases in your blog posts. And a great list of keyphrases should also inspire some ideas about what to write.
It’s important never to cram those terms into your writing–post titles like, “Window Treatments, Window Dressings, Curtains, Blinds, and Window Shades NH” will turn off human and Google alike–but smart and organic use of them, maybe even linked to a hot news topic–“Window Treatments and Your Summer Electric Bill: How Curtains Keep You Cool”–can help you stayed focused and score some points with Google at the same time.
The most important tip is to keep at it. Putting up a new item once, twice, or three times a week can sound daunting, but once it’s a habit, you’ll be able to whip out a post with your morning coffee, and inspiration will strike as you go about the rest of your job. When you pay that good idea forward, your potential customers may just be inspired to give you a call.
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