Blogging with a purpose increases market share, consumer engagement, revenue growth, and ROI. Of course, you want to do that.
I mean, just look at this:
But a lot of people I know are still stuck on the fundamental question:
What do we blog about?
For brands, the question is easy enough to answer.
You need to understand: 1) what you’re selling, 2) to whom you want to sell, and 3) what blog topics are relevant to both.
For individuals or other organizations who want to start a blog to monetize, the question can be a bit trickier.
About a year ago, I came up with an idea. I wanted to show you how to generate $100,000 a month from a new blog.
I picked a topic and have been making progress toward that goal.
But what if you haven’t picked a topic yet?
That’s why I wrote this article. A great blog has to start with a topic.
These are the types of articles, topics, and approaches that have demonstrated massive success in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
1. Listicles
Marketers have a love/hate relationship with listicles.
They’re among the most popular articles online, used by Buzzfeed, defended by the NY Times, and even discussed at this year’s SXSW tech conference.
Some people think listicles lack quality. And that could be true for some of them. Listicles, like any form of content marketing, have their pros and cons.
But let’s face it, people love to read listicles. It’s not just a trend. It’s scientifically proven!
That’s why the article you’re reading right now is a listicle.
2. How-tos
People generally hate reading instruction manuals. When was the last time you snuggled up with a glass of wine and the instruction manual to your toaster?
How do people figure out how to do stuff?
They Google it.
WikiHow became insanely popular based on how-to articles alone.
You might be surprised to see the kind of things people are Googling.
If you can find your niche audience, cater to their curiosities, and give them some helpful answers, you can’t help but create a popular blog.
3. Politics
Politics are popular during every election year. Whether national or local, find a political topic to discuss, and join this conversation.
Politics can be dicey, however. People tend to get really polarized around political topics, so be prepared to handle some controversy.
4. Bacon
Everyone loves bacon.
Huffington Post is one of the most popular blogs online, and it has an entire archive of bacon articles.
It’s not a trend going away soon, so get on board.
5. Recipes
Recipes are a great way to draw traffic to your blog.
There’s always a new diet fad, e.g., today’s Whole30 is yesterday’s Atkins, so there’s always new recipes to be discovered.
6. Beginner guides
Before you can convince someone that you know the advanced stuff, start with 101 beginner guides.
My own beginner guides have been very popular.
Everyone has to start somewhere. Beginner guides are often the way bloggers build organic search traffic at the start, and they can even be done using infographics like this guide to Sharepoint.
7. Ultimate guides
Subject matter experts, on the other hand, are always seeking out the most credible ultimate guides for their areas of expertise.
The term “ultimate guide,” however, is a bit overused. You can use some alternate terms if you want, such as these from Business Casual Copywriting:
Essential Guide
Complete Guide
Uncensored Guide
Last Guide to ____ You’ll Ever Need
If you’re an expert on something, creating an ultimate guide is an ultimately awesome way to do some ultimately popular blogging. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/72x72/1f609.png" alt="