Tips & Talk 82 – How to Find Good Blog Topics
What should you write about in your blog when you’re a maker and sell your handmade products?
Your blog should compliment your business goals in some way. Attract new customers, inform, educate, answer FAQ’s or share other information your reader will find valuable. Plus, the most important part … it should be SEO friendly.
All this ultimately leads a potential customer to trust you and see you as an expert that they’d want to buy from. For current customers, it reinforces their smart decision of past purchases and reminds them of you when it’s time to buy again.
Let’s talk about how to find topics that will achieve these goals so your blog works for you 24/7 to grow your business.
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Transcript
Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk
Speaker:Day. These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions
Speaker:and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small
Speaker:business. If you'd like to submit a topic DME over on
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Speaker:What a great topic today.
Speaker:Thank you,
Speaker:Mel, for requesting that we cover this.
Speaker:Mel is wondering what to write about in her blog when
Speaker:you're a maker and sell your handmade products.
Speaker:I talk about this in Tips and Talk episode 67,
Speaker:but let's dive deeper here.
Speaker:I wanna start out by talking about the purpose of your
Speaker:blog. As a product based business,
Speaker:you aren't blogging just to have a blog.
Speaker:It needs to serve a purpose and compliment your business goals
Speaker:in some way.
Speaker:Different articles may feed into different goals.
Speaker:Some reasons to put time into blogging can be to attract
Speaker:new customers,
Speaker:to inform potential customers about the quality or certain characteristics of
Speaker:your products,
Speaker:to educate them on how to use your products or various
Speaker:applications for your products to answer frequently asked questions that will
Speaker:advance someone towards choosing to buy or to share valuable lifestyle
Speaker:information on topics related to your products.
Speaker:All of these ultimately lead a potential customer to trust you
Speaker:and see you as an expert that they'd wanna buy from.
Speaker:For current customers,
Speaker:it reinforces their smart decision of past purchases and reminds them
Speaker:of you when it's time to buy.
Speaker:Again. Now that we've put into proper perspective why you'd want
Speaker:a blog and a few of the general categories of content
Speaker:you could write about,
Speaker:let's get even more specific about how you can find topics.
Speaker:Here are seven approaches to get inspiration and ideas for blog
Speaker:topics. First off,
Speaker:you can do a Google search,
Speaker:either on your product,
Speaker:an ingredient or a use for your product,
Speaker:and then write down in that first initial search screen,
Speaker:you can scroll and see what topic variations come up.
Speaker:This can give you great ideas.
Speaker:I just entered the simple words beaded jewelry and looked at
Speaker:the various options that appeared.
Speaker:One of them was beaded jewelry trends 2022,
Speaker:and that sparked my curiosity,
Speaker:so I clicked on that and it led me to articles,
Speaker:products, and Pinterest pins that all are connected with the topic.
Speaker:While you aren't going to copy someone else's article,
Speaker:this can inspire you and you can take on this topic
Speaker:and spin it in your own way.
Speaker:Another place to look is magazines,
Speaker:just regular consumer magazines.
Speaker:Take a peek at them with a new eye,
Speaker:honestly, a browse through good housekeeping.
Speaker:Real simple cooking light can spark a number of ideas for
Speaker:your own writing.
Speaker:A third way to find blog topics is consider your customer
Speaker:interactions. The next time you're talking with a customer or working
Speaker:at a craft show table,
Speaker:take note of the questions you're being asked.
Speaker:Do you continually demonstrate how to tie your scarves?
Speaker:Do you generally make suggestions about how to barbecue with your
Speaker:unique blend of spices?
Speaker:These could both be great topics for a blog.
Speaker:Number four,
Speaker:pay attention to social media content.
Speaker:How are others even outside of your industry positioning topics to
Speaker:match their offerings?
Speaker:Go on TikTok and look at reels.
Speaker:Even look at Facebook groups for ideas.
Speaker:Again, not to duplicate what's already there,
Speaker:but to prompt new versions that you can do.
Speaker:It gets the creative juices flowing,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:Another thing you can do is consider current events or seasonal
Speaker:triggers. Is there a brand new must see movie out that
Speaker:you can associate with your products or the newest out of
Speaker:the norm?
Speaker:Seasonal color?
Speaker:If you can catch the wave on anything that's trending,
Speaker:it will attract new viewers through search.
Speaker:When you have a title of an article that has the
Speaker:wording of that current trend,
Speaker:finding ideas for blog topics.
Speaker:Number six,
Speaker:if you wanna do a blog article around your newest product
Speaker:launch, create an angle that goes beyond discussion of what the
Speaker:product is and where to buy it.
Speaker:How about what inspired you to choose this direction,
Speaker:a challenge that you had in getting the product completed and
Speaker:available for purchase or what you learned in the process.
Speaker:Maybe you have a story behind your launch that would be
Speaker:inspirational to your reader that they can use and apply in
Speaker:their own life.
Speaker:Or if a portion of your product's proceeds go to a
Speaker:cause, definitely highlight that cause and why it's important to you,
Speaker:so you get the idea here.
Speaker:Finally, number seven,
Speaker:how might your readers answer this open ended question?
Speaker:Ever wonder about fill in the blank.
Speaker:Here you can write about what you know in relation to
Speaker:your product that others might be curious about.
Speaker:If I were to brainstorm some examples here,
Speaker:what's the best yarn to use for a knitted beanie?
Speaker:And then you can go into various yarns,
Speaker:the pros and cons,
Speaker:and then your suggestion or what determines how long a candle
Speaker:will burn.
Speaker:Here, you can talk about different sizes and waxes and the
Speaker:advantages of each plus how to get the most time out
Speaker:of a burning candle.
Speaker:That could actually be a separate article entirely.
Speaker:And one more.
Speaker:As I'm thinking about topics on this,
Speaker:how about a recipe that includes your fresh herb mixes,
Speaker:recipes, how-tos and checklists make great content that will be saved
Speaker:and shared?
Speaker:So to summarize,
Speaker:here are the seven ideas that I've just given you in
Speaker:ways of gaining inspiration.
Speaker:To find great topics for your blog,
Speaker:do a Google search.
Speaker:Look in consumer magazines.
Speaker:Consider customer interactions.
Speaker:What are people asking you?
Speaker:Pay attention to social media.
Speaker:Think about current events and seasonal triggers.
Speaker:Review your next product launch,
Speaker:but in a way that's interesting to your reader and not
Speaker:just selling.
Speaker:And finally,
Speaker:answer this open-ended question.
Speaker:Ever wonder about blank?
Speaker:Regardless of the topic of your blog articles,
Speaker:keep in mind that it needs to be titled and positioned
Speaker:so it's interesting to your readers.
Speaker:You can talk about the exact same thing and have it
Speaker:be read or rejected solely by the words you choose for
Speaker:your title.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:instead of saying Introducing our new autumn designs,
Speaker:which we all know means you're leading to sell us something,
Speaker:title a blog.
Speaker:Why We always incorporate pumpkin into our autumn spice blends.
Speaker:In this example,
Speaker:you can talk about health benefits of pumpkin or some fun
Speaker:little known facts about the history of pumpkin.
Speaker:It still ties back to your products,
Speaker:but brings additional value to the reader.
Speaker:Observe your own style.
Speaker:Take a look at what entices you to click through and
Speaker:read others articles.
Speaker:Now, having said all that,
Speaker:I'd like to conclude by reminding you that your blog articles
Speaker:should be housed on your website in a section dedicated to
Speaker:them, but just because you've written an article doesn't mean your
Speaker:job is done.
Speaker:You need to let people know it's there.
Speaker:Not count on Google.
Speaker:Search entirely for traffic to your blog.
Speaker:That's where other forms of promotion come in.
Speaker:Social media for one,
Speaker:creating posts stories or going live and directing people to your
Speaker:blog articles to do this,
Speaker:your messaging should be explaining what the reader will get out
Speaker:of reviewing your article.
Speaker:Don't give it all away.
Speaker:Poke at their curiosity and then include the link to the
Speaker:article that sits on your website.
Speaker:Another great way to draw people over to your blog articles
Speaker:is through email,
Speaker:and that brings up the topic of a newsletter.
Speaker:Also, do you have one tune into next week's tips and
Speaker:talk where we'll continue the conversation of promoting your blog articles
Speaker:through emails and expand on email content overall and what's appropriate
Speaker:there, because blog copy and email content are not the same.
Speaker:I know this is a huge obstacle for many of you.
Speaker:You've started collecting emails but don't know what to say in
Speaker:them on a regular basis.
Speaker:That's what's on tap for next week,
Speaker:and I'll see you then.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl,
Speaker:and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn.
Speaker:Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
Speaker:We want them,