What to Blog About? Epic Guide on Getting You Started on the Right Foot

Starting a blog should be fun. It is your writing, and the ideas are in you. However, before starting, call yourself to a meeting and consider your goals, niche, and target audience. Most people have started blogs but ended up lacking ideas to get their blogs up and running. Hence it is important to create time for critical thinking. I don’t mean to scare you but rather prepare you. Writing is dynamic and requires patience. Through practice, you can get ideas for exciting posts that will reward you in the long run.

This article has divided what to blog about into three sections. The first section explains how knowing your niche will help you generate ideas, the second expounds on the classes of blogs and shows you how to use them to generate ideas, while the last section points how you can use the Rekey phrase research tools to generate blog post ideas.

Let’s dive in!

What should you blog about? Your Niche

Everyone wants to start blogging but deciding on what to blog about is stressful. The problem here is not finding something to blog about; instead, it is in choosing from tens if not hundreds of probable niches. There are probably many niches you can blog about; however, you need to focus on one. You might probably consider blogging on health, relationships, or making money on the internet as examples.

Of course, not every blogger is having problems choosing what to blog on. There are chosen few who know what they want to do, and they do precisely that. On the other hand, the rest of us can’t figure out what we should blog on. Don’t worry, you can become a better writer with time.

This section is meant to give you insights that will help make your decision fast and right. Remember, if you write great content, then you attract a lot of blog traffic.

Let’s start!

Finding your niche

Choosing a niche may be a dream come true, mainly if you are a newbie. Below are ways to help you choose your place on the world wide web, churning fresh content in no time. Following this thinking process will give you ideas for a blog topic.

1. What’s your passion?

What do you love doing? Think of the one thing you wouldn’t get bored doing. Ask yourself if it will translate into blog content. Most bloggers begin their stories here. Passion is one thing, you would not give up on your blog even if all the other factors like money failed to cooperate. As the saying goes, if you love (passion) what you do, you will never work a day in your life.

Do you enjoy telling stories to people? Maybe you love cooking. What is that one thing you can do comfortably and efficiently without straining to research on? Turn your passion into a blog. Being passionate makes you realize your dreams, and in no time, you will have a successful blog.

2. Teach what you know

The best way to build an audience is by teaching. The good thing is, you don’t have to know everything to start teaching. Not at all. You just need to know something that other people don’t know.

Perhaps your friends always call you asking for advice on cooking; start a blog about cooking. Maybe they get to you when their cars break down; start a blog about car maintenance. Perhaps, they consult you before buying any electronic device; start a blog on electronics. Possibly, they call asking for parenting advice; start a blog on parenting. Here is the thing: every friend or family member keeps on consulting you every time; start a blog about it.

3. Figure out the gap

Have you ever read a blog and wondered why didn’t the writer talk about this issue? Or why was this issue lightly covered? Well, maybe, you should write about the topic! If your favorite blog has been for a long time focusing on IOS and Android as the only mobile phone operating system, you should consider covering the gap; the windows phones. You can look for a gap and write content about that.

4. Present solutions to problems

Successful businesses are built on giving solutions to certain problems. Look for the issues that are devastating people the most and write a blog on them. For instance, if you realize many people are having problems operating on Kali Linux; perhaps, you can start a blog to help people understand and use that operating system. The most important thing about this is observing the market problems and immediately planning how to provide a solution.

5. Consider the blogs you read

You have probably heard of the saying, “if it walks like a duck quacks like a duck, then it is a duck.” If you love reading blogs about cooking, you love cooking, consider writing a blog about cooking. Blogging involves a lot of research. Therefore, if you chose to start a blog on a topic you enjoy reading about, you won’t get bored of researching. It would be best to join a blogging platform or social media to get ideas for your new blog. Social media apps like Twitter and Facebook are a content milling gold mine. Consider investing time in these sites.

6. A blog for income opportunities

It’s not that bad to think about money before starting to blog and do some research for potential earning opportunities. Think about eBooks you can sell on that particular topic; think about the courses (read this Fat Stacks review for more info) you can offer based on your blog or what you can be an affiliate on. Affiliate marketing allows you to earn from content marketing by pushing e-commerce products to your audience resulting in better sales as an affiliate.

But why should you think about money? Like any other business, as you grow, expenses will increase, and therefore, you need the income generated to increase. You might need to change your hosting plan, improve your mailing list, and advertise your blog, which all translates to money. Therefore, check for potential sources of income in the blog you are thinking of starting.

7. Write as a leading learner

When I joined high school, our physics teacher came to class the first day and said, “we are learning together; I’m only the leading learner.”

The same applies here; you don’t have to be an expert in a particular field to start a blog on it. Many people didn’t know much about what they are blogging about but are currently seen as expert bloggers. They started as leading learners but have learned a lot of things with time. Blogging is a process, and if you wait for the right time when you are “ready” to start a blog, sadly that time might never come.

8. Blog about blogging

Blogging is a business like any other. Therefore, every business has experts with experience in the field. People who teach about blogging have been very successful in the field. Teaching blogging is a very lucrative niche that you can also pursue. However, your start-up blog shouldn’t be about blogging. This is because you need to create a portfolio first, which has successfully ranked well on Google to gain credibility.

People and companies are willing to invest a lot of money to rank well in certain topics on search engines. Therefore, it would be great to start a blog about blogging, especially if you have a field portfolio.

9. Talk to a specific person

When writing, it is always a hit to have a specific person you are writing to. This helps you question your writing in several ways; is your reader benefiting from the content? And, would you enjoy working with the person? For instance, John Lee Dumas talks about an imaginative “avatar” in his blog “entrepreneur on fire.” All the writing he does is based on an avatar. This will help you to personalize your content significantly.

Therefore, if your ideal reader is a software developer and aims to help them achieve the skills from the start-up to the career, converse with him passionately and correctly. Consequently, create a blog about it.

Now that you have settled on the niche let’s look at the other disturbing factor; what you should blog about. But first, what are the classes of blogs? If you understand the blogs’ classes as a blogger, you will undoubtedly know what you should blog about.

What should you blog about? The classes of blog posts.

Classes of blog post ideas

Can you think of a class type of blog post idea to write on? Well, we have found out something that will ensure the answer to this question remains yes.

Every blogger, even the most successful ones, at one time go through writer’s block. To ensure you don’t face it hard, we have prepared this list to help. This list provides a class of blog ideas that have proven to be successful.

Let’s see which one begins!

1. Fun blog post ideas

This class of blog post ideas is widespread in personal blogs. However, businesses and professional blogs do it too to interact with readers. Some of the funny blog post ideas include;

• Conspiracy theories about people or events, such as the famous moon landing was fake; the bigfoot is real; the earth is hollow and flat.
• Talk about how you surprise your kids, wife, and your loved ones.
• Compare the movie versus the reality in your life.
• Talk about your pets and other things you value.
• Write about some of the silliest things you have done in your career.

2. “Meta” blog post ideas

If you have been blogging for some time, you probably have some tips and experiences you love your reader to capture. This is more of what have you done to be where you are? How did you achieve that influence? Some of the ideas you can focus on are;

• What makes you stand out in your niche?
• How do you write your blog posts?
• What worries do you have about your writing career?
• How do you handle writer’s block?
• What keeps you going?
• How do you grow your traffic?

More often than not, these blog posts are not compared to normal blogs.

3. Productivity and personal development

Everyone is looking for a way to be more productive. You can write about this type of blog. Therefore, sharing with your readers wouldn’t hurt. If your niche is on fitness, help your readers on how to go about fitness. If you blog about blogging, help your readers on how to blog. Here are examples of some ideas you can write on;

• How do you meet deadlines?
• What are the best habits you have in your life at the moment, depending on your niche?
• What are the tips for better performance in your niche?
• Start your challenge and ensure you have numbers following your routine. For example, Earn your first $1000 challenge by Bamidele of the writer in charge, etc.
• Share your biggest regrets and mistakes.

4. Timely blog posts

These types of blogs focus on what is happening at the moment. This is perhaps one of the most popular types of blog posts. In this kind of blog posts, you talk/write on;

• If you have an occasion that is coming up in your life.
• Tell your readers about something that happened to you today.
• Talk about a movie you have seen.
• What is trending around your niche?
• Talk about the day you hit 1000 subscribers.

5. Repurposing content

Smart bloggers have discovered and mastered this art of repurposing content. Repurposing content is packaging content you have already written. This allows you to;

• Reach many potential readers with your content.
• Get more organic search engine traffic.
• It helps you polish up your content.

Below are some ideas that will help you in repurposing your content;

• Transcribe your YouTube videos into blog posts. A lot of bloggers do that.
• Compile your tweets, which talk about a certain issue, and then polish them up.
• Update your articles.
• Expound your subtopics into comprehensive blog posts.

6. Peculiar blog posts ideas

The possibility of your blog going viral with this idea is high. These types of blogs are the most exciting and weird. Creating a video series, increases the chances of the topic going viral. These blog posts often talk about something which most people view as usual but, in the real sense, have an unfortunate reality. In this type of blogpost ideas, you can write about:

• A rare or unknown disease that is caused by common actions and contrasts famous myths and facts.
• Look into the world’s most mysterious places, like the Bermuda triangle and the dragon’s triangle.
• Talk about mysteries that have remained unsolved.
• Share some of the most controversial traditions in the world

7. Educational blog posts

Despite all the entertainment and fun, we value a useful blog post. Such blog posts receive more shares. Therefore, blogging about this type of post is an ideal choice. Some of the ideas you can blog about in this type of blog are;

• A step by step guide of a process.
• Write FAQs posts.
• Write product descriptions and reviews on a certain topic.
• Write on discoveries.
• Compare two products and have a best of series.

8. Inspirational blog post ideas

This type of blog is the best when you are feeling burned out. You can craft a blog that will help you encourage other bloggers. When writing this type of blog, you remind yourself of the journey. Here are some topics you can cover;

• Write on how to balance work and family.
• Share activities that ignite you.
• Talk about how you set your goals and achieve them.
• Share a success story from humble beginnings.

9. Lifestyle blog post ideas

This blog is ideal for personal blogs, although they can also be used in a business blog to show its different sides. They help to build relationships between the business and the customers. Some ideas which can feature in this type of blogs include;

• Talking about your writing space
• Telling a story about your hobbies
• Some of the best books you’ve read.
• How do you stay organized?

What should you blog about?

Perhaps you are now worried about the topics. What are the issues I’ll write on? Well, before you curse, we have come to your help. We have analyzed 11 ways to help you find the specific blog topics using key phrase research tools to find blog topics to cover in your niche.

It’s effortless to find blog topics you can cover. To show you how easy it is, we will assume that our niche is on health. Additionally, in health, we will major in bones.

Stay with us!

Eleven ways to find specific blog post topics

1. Use Google’s suggested topics

Good old Google saves the day once again.

You do this every day. When you search on Google, the search engines provide you with some suggestions. These suggestions tend to auto-complete what you query on the search engine. As a blog owner, you might think this was built for searchers; you are not wrong. However, this feature can be instrumental to bloggers.

You will type a word in the form of a question (which, where, and what) and what you are majoring on. In this case, we are focusing on bones; Google will provide the questions.

However, this process may be a bit tiresome. Luckily, some tools ease the work for you. These tools include the Keyword tool and Serpstat. Keyword tool pulls, which have a high demand for search engines, are likely to bring traffic to your site and attract more visitors.

On the other hand, Serpstat searches for keywords and removes questions and phrases. However, this search does not filter any duplicates or close words that match the keyword. As a result, there is a wide range of questions, but you can simply pick the most appropriate.

The tool has received many endorsements from very influential people in the blogging industry, like Brian Dean of Backlinko. It will be beneficial if you subscribe to one of their plans.

2. Jump on a trending topic

Google trends is a very instrumental tool in your blogging career. It shows how phrases have been trending over a given season. See how our topic bone has been performing.

Be very careful about time because the trend may not even last a month. Also, Google trends is excellent in comparing which topic is much more popular than the other. For example, we reached the popularity of searching for “head bones” and “leg bones.” Check below.

3. Find topics that your competitors are ranking for

Rankings on search engines are public, and there are very many tools that will show you rankings for any website. For instance, we have SERPWatcher, SEMRush, AHrefs, among others. However, in this instance, we will talk about SEMRush.

Enter any competitor, and you will get the list they rank for. This is excellent because the results are blog topic ideas that have the SEO advantage. If you try the 10-day free trial on SEMRush, you will get the first ten topics they rank for; however, the paid version gives you all the topics a competitor ranks for.

4. Get ideas from Google keyword planner

The keyword planner is the ultimate tool for researching keywords. You only need to log in using your google account to use it.

The results show the blog ideas you can write on, which have a ranking advantage.

5. Pick topics being shared a lot

Buzzsumo is one of the most resourceful tools, and you should use it here to get the most shared content on social media. Either you are using the paid version or the free version, you can do the content search.

Create an account and enter a phrase in the Buzzsumo content research tool, and you will see the most shared results you searched, the shares are broken down to show which content has the most social shares.

Similarly, you can use the Buzzsumo analyzer to search the trending topics on Facebook. You can use the time limit that works best for you; 24 hours, a month, a year, etc.; after getting the most shared content, find out who shared the content; then reach out to them or collaborate with them to find out if they will love your content. Buzzsumo is a goldmine if you fully explore its potential.

6. Find FAQs on other websites

Life is effortless these days. Everything is automated! FAQ fox is a tool that scrapes the website for questions. Just enter the key phrase or topic and then pick the category. The search will produce a very long list of questions that your readers might love addressed.

7. Recycle the topics your readers loved

Google analytics is very instrumental in this. The tools can help in finding the number of views on your page. However, the most viewed page doesn’t mean it is the most loved one. Therefore, we should consider looking at the time the viewer spent on the page. It is the metric more likely to show the interest the viewers have in the topic.

Your readers are telling you something if you properly look at the time spent on each page. They might be telling you they love certain topics. Therefore, you should consider blogging more on those topics.

8. Check for upcoming events

How informed are you about upcoming events? Consider spending some time here for great blogging tips. Events affect how people search and the content they read and tend to consume. For instance, traffic will likely increase in blogs written about cancer on 4th February. This is because 4th February is world cancer day. In our sample blog about bones, our traffic is likely to rise on 20th October every year because that’s the world’s osteoporosis day. If you have a problem identifying these days, you can google search National “topic” day or world “topic” day or get a copy of Chases’ Calendar of events.

Understanding these events shows your audience that you are very informed and resourceful.

9. Use automated headlines

Blogging is a journey, and the good thing is, the pros who started the trip before you are always offering some free help. The pros have created tools that ensure your cup of ideas never runs dry. Here are a few mentions;

Jon Morrow’s Headline Hacks

Filled with 52 mini templates for headlines and topics

Klockwork infographic idea generator

VENNGAGE has given bloggers dozens of ideas, just a click away.

Impact’s blog title generator

The impact’s blog title generator is impacting bloggers by giving new title formats every time you click. What is more, you can save the headlines for later reference. You can particularly use these headlines to write a blog.

10. Mining Quora top questions

Quora is the swimming pool in which questions and answers swim. As a result, from this platform, you can get topics, research, and, more importantly, people you can collaborate with through guest ghostwriting. You can always get the best topics which people have asked as a question. Also, the answers given by a member of the network give you a perfect foundation for the topic research. Lastly, the network member referred to as Quoran can be very resourceful if you could collaborate with them.

You can search on quora to see some of the topic ideas you can cover. In our sample blog, searching “bones” gives a lot of topics and ideas to cover.

The answers give you an excellent foundation to research. You can also approach different Quorans interested in your topic for a collaboration, which is essential to content marketing. What’s more, you can post a subject that doesn’t appear here to test its audience.

11. Write more about topics you have ranked for

If you have ranked well on a particular topic, that makes you stand out on that topic. You will know what’s working and what’s not. As a result, you can focus more on what’s working.

Look at the queries report analytics to show the links you are ranking for. However, for the report to feature in the analytics, you must connect the Google search console to your Google analytics. The report will show data for the last three months. If you need help setting that up, don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Check instructions here on how to set up google analytics.

Set the search query to exclude your company name in the search results. As a result, this gives you a list of phrases you have already ranked in. it would be wise to focus on these topics and write even more thrilling content on the topic ideas. Most importantly, whenever you write on a blog topic idea you have previously registered, always embed internal links.

FAQs

How do you start blogging?

These days it’s very easy to start blogging.  While you can use free blogging platforms like WordPress.com, I recommend getting your own domain with your own hosting so that you control your website.  It also gives you more ways to make money from your blog.

Yes, the tech is a bit involved when you start out but you need only do it once.  Once your blog is live, that’s when the fun starts.  You get write and create sharing your information, inspiration, knowledge and creativity with the world.

As for the technical components of starting a blog, check out my epic “how to start a blog” article.

What are blogs useful for?

There are many reasons to start a blog or purposes for a blog.  They include:

• Inform
• Entertain
• Humor
• Educate
• Inspire
• Make money
• Creative outlet

And yes,  your blog can incorporate all of the above. Your blog can be a personal blog, niche website, corporate blog or small business blog.  Check out the many types of blogs here.

What do you write in a blog post?

What you write in a blog post depends on what you’re trying to do and what your blogging objective is. There really is no limit but if you’re trying to get free search traffic from Google, then you definitely want to learn some basic SEO principles and follow them in your blogging.

If Google search traffic isn’t a concern, you can write on anything you like and write it any length you like… whatever you think your audience will like.  Heck, a blog post can be one image or 50 images.  It can be text, images, videos and audio.  Blog posts can be inspiring, funny, informative or entertaining.

How long should your blog posts be?

If you don’t care about search traffic, length doesn’t matter.

If you want to rank in Google, you’re going to need to write some lengthy stuff for the most part.  Google tends to give preference to thorough content for most search phrases unless it’s incredibly obscure.

For search traffic, expect to write 800 to 5,000 words.  The lion’s share will fall in the 1,000 to 2,500 word range.  Take this article for example… it’s coming in around 5,000 words.  This is definitely longer than most.

How do you promote your blog?

Most folks ultimately end up relying on Google search for traffic.  Facebook was great  a few years ago but these days Facebook is greedy and only really promotes person FB posts that don’t send folks off of Facebook.  I don’t blame them.  Facebook doesn’t make money from its users when they leave Facebook.

Depending on your niche and your style, you can have excellent promotional results by writing or getting featured on other sites with a huge audience.  For example, if I were inclined, I could pitch BusinessInsider.com to publish an article on blogging as a business.  If accepted, that would be excellent exposure for this site.

In my experience, the very best traffic source is Google search.  It’s plentiful and consistent.

What are the disadvantages of blogs?

The answer to this depends on the context.  One context is blog vs. website.  This distinction is blurred lately because most “blogging software” like WordPress is used to create both websites in the traditional sense (think small business website) and blogs.

Another context is whether blogging is a good business model.  IMO, it’s an amazing business model.  It takes a long time to get decent traffic and to earn good money, but once you get there, it’s money on autopilot.  It’s also a ton of fun.  I prefer monetizing my various blogs with display ads but I also incorporate affiliate marketing.

Why should you start a personal blog?

A personal blog usually refers to a blog that is the voice and personality of a single person.  These can be just for fun or grow into a huge business (think influencers).

The biggest reason to start a personal blog is you have something to say to someone.  Whether you keep it personal or expand it into a business with revenue streams like many influencers is up to you.  In fact many folks start a personal blog with the intention of it being a business.

What kind of blogs are popular?

You name it, there’s a big blog or website on the topic.  I like to think of blogs these days as online magazines.  Therefore, whatever topics are covered by print magazines, you can bet there are some huge blogs on the same topics and by huge, I mean popular.

Think fitness, woodworking, crafting, cars, martial arts, home decor, gardening, cooking, travel, fashion, beauty, hobbies, yoga, technology, business, finance.  On and on it goes.  All of these are very popular blogging topics.

What types of blogs make money?

Almost any blog with website traffic (aka website visitors) can make money.  Whether the owner chooses to make money from a blog varies.  Most do, but some don’t.  It’s not uncommon for bloggers to start for fun and in time traffic grows considerably at which point the blogger realizes just how much money the blog could make.

How do bloggers get paid?

If monetized with display ads, a blog can easily make $15 per 1,000 visitors.  If the blog gets one million visitors in a month, that’s $15,000 for the month; nearly $200K for the year.  First of all, many blogs earn far more than $15 per 1,000 visitors. Second, many blogs get more than one million visitors per month.  As you can see, blogging can be a huge business.  My various blogs earn quite a bit.

However, display ads aren’t your only option.  Bloggers can make money with affiliate marketing, selling courses, coaching and selling sponsored posts.  These methods if done well can earn far more than display ads.

Which method of monetization by bloggers really boils down to the blog topic.

Can you create a blog using your phone?

Yes, you you can but I’ve never tried and I probably won’t.  You could do it way faster with a laptop or desktop computer.  Even a tablet would be easier just because you have more screenspace.  However, yes, technically you could create, launch and run a blog with a phone.

What is the best advice for blogging?

IMO, the best advice I can give is to choose a niche or topic that you like and/or know well.  Getting a blog to earn a lot of money takes time and you will spend a great deal of time on it likely writing a lot of content.  Therefore, it helps stick with it and publish better content if you like and know the niche.

What are the easiest blogs to begin with?

Starting a blog is easy and can be done in five minutes, but just a handful of people can create blogs that matter.

Being focused and putting the right amount of effort can build an online audience. But then again, it isn’t easy to know what to write about. Some topics will win you an audience. For example, people love traveling, and you can do a travel blog.

How do you write a catchy blog post?

There are five steps involved in creating a catchy blog post. However, this is just the framework. A catchy blog post must also have very compelling content. It must be pure gold!

Here are the steps;

• Structure your post’s details by choosing your topic, creating an outline, doing research, and fact-checking.
• Craft a compelling headline.
• Write your post.
• Use images to enhance visuality and flow.
• Edit your content.

Which is the best length of a blog post?

For purposes of SEO, the best length should be 2100-2400 words. However, the length does not guarantee ranking well in the search engines; some even shorter blogs rank way higher. Check how well HubSpot explains this here.

Publishing your blog

You might decide to blog for free, but a free blog is hard to turn into a successful business. A free blogging platform comes with limitations, including not owning your domain name, you can’t run ads, and it looks unprofessional. If your budget allows, then spend money on a blog hosting plan.

You need software that provides you with a method of managing your website. This is referred to as a content management system. These provide the features needed to create and maintain a blog, publish it on the internet, give it a title, and organize it under categories. These features range from the sophisticated ones to basic ones, which allows you to concentrate on writing. The blogging tool takes care of the site management. WordPress is one tool. It has rich features that provide an administration screen that allows you to compose a blog post and publish it on the internet at the touch of a button. As a blogger, this gives you ample time to work on your projects. It is important to understand how WordPress works.

While WordPress is good for simple blogs and personal websites. Choose a basic plan with an affordable and reliable web hosting company like Bluehost, their packages include a free domain for one year, instant WordPress installation that comes with 24/7 expert support to mention but a few.

Below are some of the features that make WordPress exciting and beautiful to use.

Great collection of Themes- this is like a skin designed to customize how your WordPress site looks and feels.

Plugin – this is a program that is added to WordPress.

Widget – allows users of WordPress to add content into their theme or plugin.

WordPress dashboard – This is the first page seen upon logging in.

You can add pingback, which notifies you that your site has been linked to another website.\

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways through which you can get ideas to write on. Like I said, social media plays a great role to you as a blogger. Use it wisely.

However, this article enables you to have a well of ideas that never goes dry. We hope this post will be a complete and comprehensive source of blog post ideas.