Blog what do you think

Choosing a profitable niche for your blog is a good place to start. Some are easier to earn money from than others. But, selling your services via your blog requires you to build an audience targeting the people most likely to hire you. For each blogging niche, there is a lively community to go with it.

It will be easier to make friends since you share common interests. A blog was where you would write about the happenings of your every-day life. I think I may even have an old LiveJournal dedicated to just that, hidden away somewhere. Blogging to document your life, is a wonderful way to reflect. Past joys and past mistakes, can all be learned from to some extent. Giving too much personal information away can make you a target for hacking. In the early stages of starting a blog, your dream job might be simply that — a dream.

But the truth is, blogging can be the perfect stepping stone towards the job that will transform your working life. As I mentioned earlier, there are also many pitfalls to starting and maintaining a blog. Behind the great graphics and snappy writing, is a whole heap of stress, hustle and long working days.

For a blog to thrive, expect yourself to be working more hours than a standard day job. Staying on the ball in blogging takes dedication, patience and commitment. As I mentioned earlier, it takes time, planning and hard work to even begin to consider making a living from your blog. I know many bloggers who have been doing really well over the years — well enough to work full time on their blogs. But even they hit months where their income is not what they expected. If you get into blogging as a way to enter the work-from-home marketplace, prepare yourself for a lonely ride.

Unless you rent a co-working space or spend your days in a coffee shop, working from home as a blogger can be incredibly lonely.

You start craving the human connection you had in your day job and even doubt your ability to keep going. In times like this, reach out to your community and if you still struggle, it may not be the job for you. No amount of reading can prepare you for how quickly things change in the blogging world.

Just as you learn one thing, you have to re-learn it all over again. Write down your steps and share them. Some people think it will harm them if they give away their secrets, but that isn't true. If you give away your secrets, people are going to trust you and keep coming back to you for more.

Find some awesome free images on Unsplash or in this blog post. Look at some pictures and use them to inspire your post idea. This is a creativity-building blog idea.

I absolutely love seeing writers' writing places. Your followers can take away so much inspiration these places. Share your workplace. Artists love sharing and seeing other artists' studios, while writers love seeing other writers' offices. Share pictures of your office, too! Think of 15 awesome and funny things. You could also use this idea to write 15 things that no one knows about your business or product.

Make a list and then focus on ways that you can show those unique characteristics and strengths more often. Share the changes, journeys, and stats.

You could also share the top posts from the past year and the top comments. It's a great way to pull your readers into your blog and thank them! Share how you found your team. Was there a hiring process? Did you find them on an outsourcing website?

It can be hard to fit all your thoughts into characters. Take the idea you got from a tweet and share that in post format on your blog. Have you read any great books in your niche? If so, why don't you write a book review of sorts on the book? Grab some of the biggest lessons from the book that stuck out to you that may help your audience.

Also, think about reaching out to the author of the book to share your review with them. Authors love it when people contact them to talk about their books. Who wouldn't want to know that their writing impacted your life? Creating more content like your most popular blog posts just makes sense. Use a tool, like Moz , to understand the keywords that are helping you crush it and get new blog ideas from your best content. Create a fun way to get your readers excited about your top posts.

What else can you do to make them special? When you participate in a blog hop, blog roundup, or a carnival, you'll have to write a blog post that has to do with a topic. Usually, the blogger who is hosting the blog hop or setting up the carnival will have an overarching theme.

You'll have to write something about that with a topic that relates. Having guest writers is an awesome way to fill up your blog with content. You just want to make sure you go about it the right way. Treat your blog like a magazine and ask for pitches.

Self-publishing has opened many doors for writers, but it has also opened the publishing doors for a whole lot of not-so-good stuff. That makes it difficult for a person to find good, actionable e-books that are actually free. Ever thought of writing something different? Think about writing lyrics, a short story, poetry, or a short script and then share it on your blog. Make a comprehensive guide on a certain topic. Teach your readers the in-and-out to writing "how-to posts" or whatever topic you decide to choose.

Remember to make it actionable. Did someone influential in your life or business pass away? Write up a blog post in memory of them. Do you use any online tools? If so, write up a list of the most helpful tools you've found and used. We recently published a post here on the CoSchedule blog that was a checklist.

These are fun posts to write. Just walk your readers through the process of doing something in a checklist format. Have you ever seen those posts where bloggers do the A—Z posts on certain topics?

There are a few ways that you could go about using this for blog ideas. First, you could write one post with a list from A—Z, and then list words that start with that letter. You could also write a blog post for each letter. That would be a ton of blog ideas, once you got through the whole alphabet. Thank your readers. They're reading your blog posts, so thank them. Give away something special to them for being awesome. That's just something to keep on your mind whenever you come up with new blog ideas.

Do you have a lot of blog posts covering a certain topic? If so, compile them into one document. Ask a designer to make a cool cover through Behance or Dribbble , or just make your own with Canva. When you're done with the book, write up another post covering some awesome tips from all the posts that you compiled into the ebook. Put a call to action in there where people can sign up for the book and grow that email list.

Write a blog post and then write a few quotes from your blog post by hand. Scan it and then upload those into your posts. This will add a new creative twist to your blog post. Turn your posts into downloadable audio mp3 files. This is a fun way to be unique since people sometimes get sick of reading a ton of information. Think about having an audio area where they can listen to your post instead. Big blogs, like Social Media Examiner, do this for their most successful posts using a tool called Blubrry Powerpress.

Share your post on social media using the event hashtag, so attendees will find it. Take an old blog post and make a webinar out of it. Then write a new post and market your webinar in it. Now, write those up and share them freely or use them to collect email subscribers.

Think about turning the content you already have on your blog posts into a download of some sort. Could that be a guide, worksheet, or video course? Take a look at our Resource Library for some great ideas on things you can create. Vlogging is a great way to play around with creating new content or reshaping old content into something new.

If you want to turn an old post into a vlog, go through your post and pick out the main topics that will help your audience solve whatever problem they want to solve.

Then write it out as a script. Practice a ton. Record yourself and then edit it. Once you are done with that, share it with your audience. Write an actionable post about the topic that you are going to cover. Don't cover everything you want to cover in the workshop, but you can share something awesome that will make them want to sign up for that course.

Infographics are a lot of fun for making your blog posts a little more colorful and scannable. You can learn more about making them here.

Share them on social media. Pinterest loves infographics. You could also call it a cheat sheet. Fill it with tips and tricks of the trade that'll help your audience ace the test. Have you made any blogging mistakes? Make a list of all the mistakes. It would make a great what-not-to-do post. If this idea prompts you to make food and talk about your niche There are many ways that you could write a post and bring in a recipe. Are there any types of food that are popular in your area?

Share a recipe so everyone can enjoy it! Are there chefs that readers in your food niche admire? See if they'll do an interview for your blog. We all love junk food. However, what if people could have those things without the negative side effects? Food is all about exploring new flavors. Try something you've never had before and share your thoughts. Are there any new cook books coming out that you're interested in?

Write a review and maybe even host a giveaway and send a free copy to a reader. People love going out to eat. They'd love even more to know how to copy their favorite restaurant recipes more affordably at home.

We all fail from time to time. Sometimes, reading about other people's missteps can help us feel better about our own mistakes. Sometimes, sharing your mistakes can help you see what you learned from those experiences. Be sure to check it in the Headline Analyzer Studio. Be sure to include links where people can buy them, too. If the manufacturer's have videos on them, you can easily embed those. Empty out your travel bag and explain why each piece is included.

Then, show your readers where they can find those items. What's hot on social media right now? Write a blog post telling your readers the latest trends and how to copy those styles. Photographers love to see how others are shooting. Share a gear breakdown of everything you keep in your camera bag. Simple how-to content often does well. From setting an appropriate f-stop to properly framing shots, there are tons of techniques you can share. Show your readers how to do something specific with Photoshop, Lightroom, or other photography software.

Photographers don't always love dealing with spreadsheets and paperwork. Show how you make it easy. New folks pick up cameras for the first time every day.

Many of them go looking for tips and advice. Help them out by sharing how you got started. They say a photo is worth a thousand words. Imagine how powerful of a story you could tell with a photo series on your blog. Not only will you learn more about how they approach the craft, but the interview might make a great blog post. Don't be afraid to sell and tell your audience exactly what you can do for them as a photographer.

If your sample is good, they'll want to read the rest. This is also a great way to build your email list. Authors aren't always the best marketers. If you've ever promoted a book of your own, help others learn how to do the same.

Landing an agent isn't necessarily easy. If you've done it and learned some dos and don'ts along the way, offer your best tips. Writers love to know how other writers work. When you start to write a book or short story, how do you get started and which steps do you follow to complete it? Use Meetup to plan and host a regular writer's group in your area.

Write about it on your blog. Now, you're bound to have plenty of blog ideas that will birth many blog posts. When you use these unique blog ideas, no one can stop you from writing awesome content — not even the blinking cursor!

Offer available only to blog readers. This post was originally published on August 8, It was updated and republished on July 2, Devin Joubert Pronounced: Yo Bear!! She loves writing, blogging, seeing the world, and finding the magic in everyday life. Follow her adventures here and here! Would you like each of your newly-published articles to gradually start generating organic search traffic?

Want to know another secret about how the pros optimize their […]. Maybe, your top content is a highly-researched blog post or a webinar that has thousands of […]. Join Headline Studio For Free. Unlock Headline Studio Pro.

Enroll To Start Learning. Schedule A Demo. Toggle navigation Blog. Agile Marketing Guide How to implement an agile marketing strategy. Marketing Strategy Guide How to choose, prioritize, plan, and execute projects. Books 10x Marketing Formula Find out how to short-circut the path to jaw-dropping growth.

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Try Headline Studio ». Get Your Download Now Plus, join our email list to stay up to date. Full Name. Email Address. Website URL. Get It Now! Steps to take: Take a good look at your competitors' blogs. Write down their strengths and weaknesses. Take a look at your blog. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

If you feel like you can't answer these questions without being biased, ask a friend in your niche or even a blog reader. Wittier jokes. The best writers I know, know when to stop obsessing and just hit "publish.

There's a point at which there are diminishing returns for getting closer to "perfect" -- and you're really never going to reach "perfect" anyway. So while you don't want to publish a post filled with factual inaccuracies and grammatical errors, it's not the end of the world if a typo slips through.

It most likely won't affect how many views and leads it brings in. Plus, if you or your readers find the mistake, all of you have to do is update the post.

No biggie. So give yourself a break once and a while -- perfect is the enemy of done. By now, you've probably heard that the more often you blog , the more traffic you'll get to your website -- and the more subscribers and leads you'll generate from your posts.

But as important as volume is, it's actually more important that you're blogging consistently when you're just getting started. If you publish five posts in one week and then only one or two in the next few weeks, it'll be hard to form a consistent habit. And inconsistency could really confuse your subscribers. Instead, it's the companies that make a commitment to regularly publishing quality content to their blogs that tend to reap the biggest rewards in terms of website traffic and leads -- and those results continue to pay out over time.

Use it to get into the habit of planning your blog post topics ahead of time, publishing consistently, and even scheduling posts in advance if you're finding yourself having a particularly productive week. Here at HubSpot, we typically use good ol' Google Calendar as our blog editorial calendar, which you can learn how to set up step-by-step here.

Or, you can click here to download our free editorial calendar templates for Excel, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar, along with instructions on how to set them up. Both beginner bloggers and advanced bloggers are guilty of this blogging mistake. If you concentrate your analysis on immediate traffic traffic from email subscribers, RSS feeds, and social shares , then it's going to be hard to prove the enduring value of your blog.

After all, the half-life for those sources is very brief -- usually a day or two. When marketers who are just starting their business blogs see that their blog posts aren't generating any new traffic after a few days, many of them get frustrated. They think their blog is failing, and they end up abandoning it prematurely. Instead of focusing on the sudden decay of short-term traffic, focus instead on the cumulative potential of organic traffic.

Over time, given enough time, the traffic from day three and beyond of a single blog post will eclipse that big spike on days one and two thanks to being found on search engine results pages through organic search. You just have to give it a while. To help drive this long-term traffic, make sure you're writing blog posts that have durable relevance on a consistent basis.

These posts are called "evergreen" blog posts : They're relevant year after year with little or no upkeep, valuable, and high quality.

Over time, as you write more evergreen content and build search authority, those posts will end up being responsible for a large percentage of your blog traffic. It all starts with a slight shift in perspective from daily traffic to cumulative traffic so you can reframe the way you view your blog and its ROI entirely.

Once you start blogging, it's easy to forget that blogging isn't just about getting new visitors to your blog. One of the biggest benefits of blogging is that it helps you steadily grow an email list of subscribers you can share your new content with. Each time you publish a new blog post, your subscribers will give you that initial surge of traffic -- which, in turn, will propel those posts' long-term success.

The key to getting significant business results traffic, leads, and eventually customers all starts with growing subscribers. First, use your email marketing tool to set up a welcome email for new subscribers, as well as a regular email that pulls in your most recent blog posts. HubSpot customers: You can use HubSpot's email tool to easily set up these regular email sends , as well as set up a welcome email for new subscribers.

Next, add subscription CTAs to your blog and elsewhere, like the footer of your website to make it easy for people to opt in. These CTAs should be simple, one-field email opt-in forms near the top of your blog, above the fold.

As for where to put these CTAs , we typically place our blog CTAs at the bottom of our blog posts or add a slide-in, which you can learn how to do using a free tool called Leadin here. You can also create a dedicated landing page for subscribers that you can direct people to via other channels such as social media, other pages on your website, PPC, or email.

For a list of more simple ways to attract subscribers, read this blog post ; for more advanced ideas, read this one. Don't worry if you read through this list and are now thinking to yourself, Well this is awkward I've made literally every single one of these mistakes.

Remember: I used the word "common" to describe these mistakes for a reason. The more you blog, the better you'll get at it -- and you'll reap the benefits in terms of traffic and leads in the process. We hope you'll use this list of mistakes as fuel for the fire to step up your blogging game.

After all, the benefits of keeping up a healthy business blog will be well worth the time and effort. Editor's note: This post was originally published in July and has been updated for comprehensiveness. Originally published Jul 20, PM, updated January 08 Logo - Full Color. Contact Sales. Overview of all products. Marketing Hub Marketing automation software. Service Hub Customer service software. CMS Hub Content management system software. Operations Hub Operations software. App Marketplace Connect your favorite apps to HubSpot.

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Identify what resonates with your audience. Write like you talk. Show your personality; don't tell it. Make your point again and again. Start with a very specific working title. Specific posts should still tie into the bigger picture. Use a specific post type, create an outline, and use headers. Give your audience something to walk away with. Use data and research to back up the claims you make in your posts. Use examples to back up why what you're saying is important.

When drawing from others' ideas, cite them. Take 30 minutes to edit your post. At a certain point, just publish it.