For a small business, blog content is the most basic form of online marketing.
It’s at the center of a great online marketing strategy and costs nothing to put in place.
However, because most small businesses don’t have a creative team, it can often feel like blogs are repeating each other.
When that happens, you need to shift your small business blog content with a new angle.
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Your Small Business’ Blog Content Can’t Get Stale
Consistently blogging takes a lot of work and creativity.
Keeping your small business’ blog content fresh can get tiresome.
But it’s important if you want your audience to keep coming back for more.
If you start to write the same stuff repeatedly, your audience will quit reading it.
Don't keep repeating yourself. Click To TweetWhy continue to come to you if there’s nothing more to learn from you?
Before that happens, you need to start coming at your small business’ blog content from a different angle.
You know, switch it up.
By adding some variety to the content you produce, you can not only add a twist to the content your audience comes for, but also create new content that will attract more new visitors.
Attack Your Small Business Blog Content From A Different Angle
Switching up your blog content is a way to refresh your creativity and improve your audience engagement.
Done right, it’s even a great way to recycle some of your old content.
If you’re going to shift what you’re doing, though, you’ll need some new ideas.
I’ve got you covered, of course.
I’ve put together a list of some of the most popular blog post angles you can take to make your content take a new direction.
If you can master these, you’ll be ahead of your industry and into a whole new creative space.
Get ready to do things a little better.
The “What Is It?”
There are certain concepts in your industry that every customer will encounter.
However, they’re unique to your industry.
Things that the average person won’t understand unless someone explains them.
That “someone” should be you.
It’s time for your small business blog content to provide some definitions.
A “What is it?” post explains those concepts to your audience.
They’re complete and in-depth, yet simple to understand.
It's a definition of an industry-specific idea. Click To TweetThink about the concepts you most commonly find yourself explaining to your customers.
I’m talking about the ones you’ve explained so much that you do it in your dreams.
Those are the concepts your audience wants to understand, too.
Put those explanations into your blog article.
Define those common points of confusion so your audience can make a clearer decision and you can spend less time explaining it to your customers individually.
Doing this in blog format allows you two distinct advantages.
- You can point your customer’s question back to your blog article, saving yourself time.
- You can organize your thoughts and definitions more clearly, giving your audience a better answer.
It’s also a great way to expand your blog with fresh content.
And it gives you a way to build your internal link structure by referring to it every time you create a blog post that needs the definition.
The “Here’s How To DIY”
There are always going to be people who’d rather do the job themselves instead of hiring a professional.
Those people spend hours scouring the internet for information on what they should do.
They’d rather risk screwing it up than spend the money to have a professional handle it for them.
But whether the result is great or not, they’re going to handle it themselves.
These DIYers are going to need your help.
After all, if they’re going to do it themselves anyway, they might as well learn to do it right.
If they do, they won’t keep quiet about who helped them.
And that’s going to mean more referrals for you.
Those who were going to do it themselves anyway ought to learn the right way. Click To TweetYes, some of them will be other DIYers, but others will be the kind of person that will hire you.
In that light, turn your small business blog content towards a how-to post.
What products or services do you offer that people can handle making or doing themselves?
Start breaking down some of the most basic ways people can do things on their own.
Maybe it’s how to make the home-made version of your product.
Or maybe it’s a tutorial on how to perform your service in-house.
Walk them through everything they’re going to need to know to be successful.
Make sure they understand the ins and outs of what they’ll need to do.
When you can help them do it themselves, they’ll remember you.
They’ll recommend you to their friends.
And, most importantly, they’ll come to you for the things they can’t handle themselves.
The “For Beginners”
Somewhere out there is someone who’s just getting introduced to your industry.
They know nothing about what you do or the ways you solve their problem.
They’re like a clean slate for information about the work you do.
Each of those people could jump directly into your advanced content, learning all they can about the in-depth while gleaning the basics.
But isn’t that the hard way?
They’d have a much easier time learning the industry if there was introductory content for them to consume.
You’d have a much easier time converting them to leads if yours was the first viewpoint they were exposed to.
Be the one that shows a rookie the ropes. Click To TweetThat means you need to be the one who introduces them to the basics.
In this post, you’ll focus your small business blog content on the things they need to know when they’re starting out on their customer journey.
What can they expect from the industry?
How do they know if they’re ready to purchase a solution?
Is there a right or wrong way to approach the purchase process?
You need to answer these and any other questions they’ll have before they get started.
The most important thing you need to do is help walk them through the beginning of the journey towards a purchase.
With high-quality, high-value content, you become their authoritative source for information about your industry.
That’s going to increase the odds that they’ll work with you in the future.
The “Step By Step”
In every industry, there are processes.
From an application process to a buying process or something more complicated in-between, your customers will eventually need to do something that takes a few steps.
Normally, those processes and steps are obvious.
However, during the buyer’s journey, there may be other processes they’ll need to handle before they get to the purchase.
Take carpet buying as an example.
They’ll need to do research into the carpets they want, get quotes for new carpet, check out other flooring options, then choose to either have it installed or do it themselves.
That process is a series of steps, but some of those steps might have their own process.
If you can guide someone through every step to becoming your client, they won't go to your competition. Click To TweetA carpet installation company might create a step-by-step guide to getting a floor covering quote.
And you’ll do similar with your small business blog content.
Find the parts of becoming your customer that might take several complicated steps.
Break that process down and explain each step completely.
The end goal should be that your reader feels comfortable walking through that process, preferably with your company.
If your company isn’t involved in that process (the way the installer isn’t part of finding the right color and style carpet), you’ll want them to come to you for the step you are a part of.
In this case, it’s not a sales pitch but your helpfulness that leads them to become your customer.
The “Expert Interview”
Sometimes your creativity is far too tapped to even switch formats.
You’ve written everything you can think of and you’ve got nothing more to write.
It’s a real problem that many small businesses face when trying to maintain a blog.
It speaks to the reality that you, as the business owner, aren’t learning as much as you need to be.
In the long-term, the only solution is to intake more knowledge.
However, for now, you need to create content for your small business’ blog.
Time to interview someone else.
The fastest, simplest way to make content that requires no creativity is to conduct an interview.
Borrow someone else's brain. Click To TweetChoose among industry experts you’ve built a relationship with.
Ask them the critical questions your audience has about your industry.
Look back at those “What is it?” and “For Beginners” posts you wrote earlier and get your expert’s take.
Ask about tips and tricks they might have come up with.
Inquire about the way they recommend your customers approach the industry.
Pick their brain about the ways your industry solves your clients’ problems and share the answers with your audience.
Be sure you tout their expertise in the field.
Note any accolades, experience, and notable achievements.
Not only do you and your audience benefit from new knowledge, but you also get exposure to an audience that’s coming to see your expert.
It’s a win-win.
The “Resource Roundup”
Sometimes you need a break from the routine.
Your small business blog content constantly educates your audience in detail about specific subjects.
Every now and then, you need to give them something a little more actionable.
Think of it as giving them a gift for their loyalty.
You can put together a resource list for them.
Resource lists are a collection of different tools, guides, and materials they can use from around the web (in some cases in the real world).
They’re typically free to your audience and can be accessed immediately.
The cool part about resource lists like this is that they don’t take a ton of work to dig up.
Get together everything your audience could use. Click To TweetChances are you already have a swipe file you offer your clients full of things they’ll need to do before they become your client.
Plus, you’ve got a list of recommendations that you likely usually give them along the journey to become your client.
There is also the advice and resources you recommend to new clients that help them along the way.
It’s time to put that all in one place on your blog.
Compile your list, grouping resources together based on their relationship to each other and the reasons you recommend them.
Include a description of what each resource does and why your audience needs it.
Rate it against its competition, which you can also feel free to include.
By the time you’re done, you’ll have something that will truly feel like a gift to your audience.
The “Competition Critique”
Before you jump ahead of me based on the title, hear me out.
I’m not talking about being critical of your competition.
I promise, that method never earns new clients.
In this case, we’re talking about your clients’ competition.
For B2B industries, you’ll literally be writing about your target audience’s competition.
Your small business blog content should focus on all the ways they’re doing something wrong.
Contrast those failures with the ways you can help your reader handle that thing correctly.
Show them that working with you gives them a “leg up”.
Talk crap about their competition, not yours! Click To TweetFor B2C companies, you need to talk about beating “The Jones”.
You know who I’m talking about.
Every consumer has someone in their life that they want to show off for.
Maybe it’s a neighbor they want to look better than.
It could be a family member that’s always looked down on them.
Your job is to show them how your product and service can make your audience look better while simultaneously highlighting a flaw that the Jones have.
It’s an appeal to emotion and their sense of competition.
This angle also allows you to have a little fun poking at some of the common problems you know how to fix.
It’s going to draw your audience in while lightening the mood a bit.
The “Common Mistakes”
Everyone makes mistakes.
It’s normal as humans even though it doesn’t feel like it when we make them.
Many times, it’s part of our job to help our clients get past those mistakes.
But before they become our clients, they don’t always see they’re making them.
You can use your small business blog content to show them.
Now, I caution, be gentle when you point out mistakes like this.
Never make your content feel like you’re shaming them.
The goal is to point out the mistakes while sharing how to correct them.
Everyone screws up. Click To TweetIt should always have a friendly vibe to it.
Even though they’re reading your words instead of talking to you, they might still feel embarrassment.
That’s normal.
It’s part of your job within your article to let them know that they’re normal and that many people make these mistakes before they work with you.
Walk them through the ways to correct their flaw, emphasizing how simple the correction is.
By showing them the error of their ways without embarrassing them, you get the opportunity to earn their trust.
They’re going to like you more.
That ultimately leads them to choose you when it’s time to buy.
The “Personal Take”
Your audience hears from you on a constant basis.
Your blog articles are filled with a professional viewpoint on your industry, your brand, and your products.
They’ve read your case studies full of facts and figures.
They understand that your company does what it does and know why it does it.
But do they understand what drives your team?
That’s where you can make your small business blog content interesting.
Allow one of your team members to write the article every now and then.
Or interview them.
What's your team got to say? Click To TweetEither way, you’re looking for their take on one of the topics you cover.
It could be how a case study affected them.
Or maybe it’s the reasons they feel your company’s mission matters.
The key is to share something your audience can connect emotionally with.
You want them to not only have loyalty to you but the people you employ.
Those people are the ones your clients work directly with.
Loyalty to the brand and the team behind it creates a customer that will be tough to lose.
When your audience knows that your whole team is as invested in your clients as your company claims to be, they won’t hesitate to come to you first.
Sharing the core emotions behind your team does exactly that.
Know How To Switch Up Your Small Business Blog Content
When you’ve run out of things to say, you simply don’t know how to switch it up.
However, with the ideas here, you’ll never run out of great blog content to share with your small business audience.
The variety will keep them engaged.
The simplicity will help you keep creating.
And the ability to stay fresh will help you grow your visitors, leads, and sales.
