Blogs can be a great asset to your business’ website because they are a way to connect with potential and existing clients. However, it can be a struggle to come up with fresh content on a regular basis. The content should be determined by the purpose of the blog, and here are a few tips for generating ideas:

1. Think about your audience

   What information are they looking for? Find out by talking to your clients, looking at client review sites, and reading comments from previous posts. Check out the comments for your competitors’ blogs for ideas too.

2. Promote events for your business

   Write about sales or special events that you’re holding. If you have an e-commerce site, mention coupon codes that clients can use for a discount; this could be an effective way to encourage people to read your blog and pass it on to others. If you’re hosting a seminar, tell your clients about the speakers and the topics to be covered. Write a post after the event to talk about how successful it was.

3. Discuss seminars that you’ve attended

   Talk about the ideas that were presented and what you think of them. Use this topic to generate discussion in the comments.

4. Write about industry-related news and trends

   Keep up-to-date on what’s happening in your industry and pass the information on to your clients. Read related publications, newspapers, and blogs. Join discussion groups and attend networking events.

5. Write down ideas as you think of them

   Ideas can come at odd times, so make sure that you always have some way of writing them down. Keep a list of potential topics, no matter how vague they are, and refer to it whenever you’re stuck for material. It’s obvious that blogging takes a lot of time—not just writing posts but also coming up with the topics for them. Use these tips to help you get started and if you have any others, add them in the comments below.