Blogging is an integral piece of a well-oiled inbound marketing machine. It provides a number of benefits to businesses, including driving traffic to your website, building your authority in your industry, increasing rankings and ultimately resulting in conversions.

One of the core principles of blogging is to remain consistent and post regularly. However, in many cases it’s reasonable to experience writer’s block.

In those times, refer to the following list for ideas to help you re-focus your blogging strategy.

1. Focus on topics and categories that are directly related to your services

This may be an obvious suggestion, but its easy to get lose focus of the purpose of your content. This is especially true for those who have a shorter cycle of writing and posting on their blog. It can also be easy to get distracted by the latest trends in your industry. Ask yourself if every blog you write is directly related to one of your products or services. Going back to to basic is a great way to focus.

2. Conduct keyword analysis

Anther great way to get inspiration for new blog topic ideas is by conducting keyword research. The Google keyword Planner is a great place to start. If you want to explore new keywords there is the option to input your website URL which will generate keywords you may not have considered yet. If you already have a set of keywords you want to focus on, looking them up will generate search volumes. This is a good indication of what readers want to learn about in your industry.

3. Scope out your competitors

Think about doing some research on what others in your space are doing in your industry. They could offer new ideas of blog formats and topics. If you are inspired by another piece, don’t forget to give credit in your post.

4. Develop unique topics

Alternatively, if you come across unanswered questions or topics that aren’t covered, your may be in a good position to write on that topic. You’re likely to have less competition when ranking and you’ll continue to improve your authority in your space.

5. Write timely content

There are a number of ways to write timely content. This is a great option for developing blog topics because they can be highly relevant to the reader. You also have the opportunity to re-share you timely posts every year. Some events to consider include end of the fiscal year, business year, and seasonal or holidays.

6. Understand the buyers journey

Take some time to reconsider if your content caters to every stage of the buyer’s journey. A buyer’s journey refers to the steps that a prospect takes on their path to becoming a customer. If you’re finding that your prospects look interest at a certain stage, it my be helpful to develop topics in that area.

7. Consult your team

Run ideas by your team to get a fresh perspective on thinking of new blog ideas. Here at VA Partners we share the responsibility of blog writing which has works well to pull the strengths of different team members. We also set time in our team meeting to discuss new blog topics together.

What other strategies do you use to re-focus your blogging strategy?

For a more in-depth look, check out our whitepaper Introduction to Inbound Marketing.