In the recent MLSP webinar, Tracey Walker shared on how to create and find content for your blog.

I have personally asked myself where do I get content from and what do I write about when I started out on this blog. Perhaps, the easiest thing to say is to “Just Do It!” After my initial post, I have realised that ideas come flowing into my mind every couple of days with which I can share with the community of marketers out there. In my opinion, always have a notepad near you, so you could just grab it and write down the topics you may wish to blog about.

To all my friends out there who may not have the time to attend the weekly webinars, I plan to give a summary on the learning points that I have gathered from the webinars when I attend them. This week… *drum roll*… I’m going to share with you where you can find materials for your blogs!

So firstly, what can you blog about?

1. How To’s: In this blog post.. for example, it will be a “How to search for content for your blogs?” Most people out there are always searching on more information and wish to know “How-To”

2. Stories: Share your personal experiences and what lessons you have learnt from them. “Smart people learn from their mistakes, smarter people learn from the mistakes of others.” Well, the smarter ones also learn from the success of others and model them.

3. Interviews: This is one of the great ways to get content on your blog. Interview the leading experts or uprising stars in your target market. This places you as an expert too as your visitors would relate them to you, knowing that you know the “big guys” in the industry. So start recording interviews with the experts! Technology has enabled us to make it so much easier these days.

I’m sure some of you may wonder how you can get on a call with an industry leader if you do not know them. Well, there’s always Facebook! Connect with them, and just send them a message asking if you could do an interview with them and share the information. These guys will gladly help you… remember ask and you shall receive.

4. Reviews: Monitor new product launches or programs in your industry. Should you purchase them, you could always do a review such as a youtube video sharing the internal system and how it may help someone. People wish to make an informed decision before making a purchase, so get them as much information(well.. just leave a tiny bit out so it sparks their curiousity!) that they may require to make that decision.

5. Audience polls: Using free survey services such as surveymonkey.com can help you gather more information on what people are looking for and this would provide you with a platform on what to blog about.

6. Tutorials: Similar to “How-To’s”, you could record a video on your computer screen using Camtasia or Screenflow guiding your readers on how to perform a certain task. For example, on teaching them how to track their google analytic statistics or how to create an attractive Facebook profile page.

7. Observations / Thoughts: Last but not least, sharing your observations and thoughts on certain topics. This would spark off an interest in people who have similar perspectives and you, thus attracting them to connect with you and following you.

In addition, you may wish to look at the following sources to find content for your blog:

1. Other bloggers in your market: check out the blogs of your market leaders and expert and share your personal opinions with respect to their posts.

2. News stories: Google has got to be one of the greatest search engines if you want information on any topic. Go to Google and click “News” on the top left hand corner and key in your search terms in the search toolbar to find current news on topics you wish to blog about.

3. Youtube: check out the videos that others are posting about and you could share them by embedding it onto your blog.

4. Article directories: Check out what many people are posting on article directories such as Ezinearticles.

5. Blog directores: These sites have links to tons of other blog sites you may wish to draw inspiration from such as Technorati.

6. Blog carnivals: Carnivals are where people find great blog posts and collate them onto one blog post of their own. Check it out at Blogcarnival.

Before I end my post, I would like to share 2 great take-aways I got from the recent webinar. If there is nothing else you gained from it, these 2 would be essential.

Firstly, you need to have your own voice. It means being true to yourself and not try to be somebody else you are not. People follow and trust genuine people, so be true to yourself and those around you. Secondly, if you want to start blogging, stay committed. If you are going to blog once a week, make sure you do it consistently, you determine the frequency with which you wish to blog – However, stick with that commitment so that your readers can expect to come back to your blog as often as you post.

If you wish to watch the recorded webinar conducted by Tracey Walker, click HERE!

Till my next post, I wish you great success!

Darren Spruyt

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