Welcome to the inaugural post here at Mark-Hayward.com! If you know anything about me, either from my Twitter profile or my former site MyTropicalEscape, then you know I am very much pro-collaboration and in favor of using the power of social media and the internet as a tool that allows us to help each other. (I want to see us ALL succeed in 2009.)
As a small business owner in tough economic times, I thought it was time to assist others and provide information and inspiration for those in the world who either own a small enterprise, or for those who would like to take the next step and become an entrepreneur.
Truly, I want to give back and spread the knowledge that I have gained over the past couple of years in terms of moving beyond fear (and actually owning a business) and also in online promotion for small business.
Sometimes we are too busy to do anything else but act as customer service manager, webmaster, and head toilet scrubber. Thus 31 Blog Post Ideas for Small Businesses is my first offering to what I hope will become a space for collaboration and creative growth.
When thinking about the thirty-one ideas, I wanted to avoid posts that are nothing more than simply spamming folks with “My Business is Great” style missives.
The real power of blogging is not the hard sell, but rather, to help connect you and your (potential) business customers on a more human level.
Moreover, I have found that the most successful blog posts allow the reader to learn something new and provide some type of value. I tried to remember that as I brainstormed these particular ideas.
So, as the New Year dawns, if you find yourself lacking in time to come up with creative ideas for blogging, below are 31 post ideas that should help to get you started.
(Please note: It was supposed to be 52 Blog Post Ideas for Businesses but my ferry arrived at its destination early and I ran out of time. :-) If you have an idea for a small business blog post please leave it in the comments below.)
- What are you passionate about?
- Have you done something unique such as complete a marathon, serve in the Peace Corps, veteran, etc?
- How did you get started (securing financing, permits required, etc).
- What allowed you to move beyond fear and pursue small business ownership?
- What cause do you care about (refugees, stray animals, etc)? How has your business supported your favorite charity?
- A day in the life of…your bookstore, shoe store, marketing firm.
- What makes your business different or separates you?
- Define your customer service philosophy.
- Promote your competitors.
- Photo or video walking tour of your business.
- How is your business or service conducted in other cultures? Are there any differences between carpet cleaners in NYC and Afghanistan?
- Interview your customers.
- Monthly or weekly wrap up post about your biz.
- Humorous post on horrific client.
- Why you love doing what you do.
- How does your business cope during a tough economy?
- Monthly specials, promotions, or clearance items.
- Feature any eco/enviro friendly products or infrastructure that you have.
- Provide the most convenient methods to get to your business and perhaps list out any unique or historic landmarks around you.
- Describe any improvements or upgrades you have made.
- Comparison post – if you sell sneakers why are Nikes better than Adidas? Or why would a customer want a WordPress site as opposed to Flash?
- Tutorial post that’s specific to your industry, which might be a common task for you but could really help the readers (e.g. programming an Iphone).
- What do you do during your time off (shows you are human)?
- Does your family have a family history in the business? For example, was your pizza place, marketing firm, or bike shop started by your great grandfather?
- Highlight a special client.
- When do new shipments arrive?
- A helpful post or tutorial specifically for others in your industry.
- Define the origins and shipping procedure of your product (How did that coffee get to your café? Where is it grown?)
- How can I get into your line of business – – What type of training is required to be a web designer? Do you need certain skills to run a B&B?
- What is your personal history and qualifications?
- Why are you located where you are?
Please feel free to leave other blog post ideas in the comments! And if you like, join the growing list of folks by dropping your social media information into The Sandbox.
Sir! It is an honor to be mentioned in such august company, and within the cozy confines of such an important post. I’ll try to continue living up to the standard. Also, I will steal ALL of these ideas, as I’ve committed to ramping back up to posting 5x/weekly (ulp!) in 2009.
As a side note, how much are you loving Thesis?! I was really late to that party, but I finally plunked down my money when I got ready to launch the marketing project blog: the thought of spending the kind of tweaking time on it that I did communicatix…well, let’s not think about it, shall we?
Best to you in ’09. Will you be coming to any big mainland events? SXSW? (She asked, hopefully.) I do hope this is the year we meet in person; I had SUCH fun meeting up with all kinds of Internet homeys last year!
Hi Colleen – thank you for your kind words! I must say that I am duly impressed that you’ll be writing 5x per week. And I look forward to reading your well crafted posts. :)
Thesis is truly awesome, especially cosidering I put exactly 0.00% of effort into the layout thus far…
Best to you in 2009 too! The only time I know for sure that I will be in the states is in April. My wife will be running the 113th Boston Marathon (and I will be drinking beer).
Congrats, Mark, on your first post! Can’t wait to read more of what you have to say!
Some great ideas here! I think a lot of business blogging targets corporates or larger businesses. Nice to see some ideas that target small business bloggers. There are plenty of us about.
Good luck with your blog. Look forward to seeing more.
Great ideas to kick off the new blog, but you distracted me with the link to your other site. I’d much rather be there than thinking about business right now! I tried Thesis and found it frustrating and wound up going with other themes for my other sites.
One helpful hint that was mentioned to me when I was starting my blog was to turn my clients questions into blog posts. This way I’m posting about an issue that probably other people are wondering about too, and it will hopefully give potential clients/readers more confidence in my abilities as I respond with a confident answer (oh, and the whole ‘make you look like an expert in your field’ thing too!)
Great post, looking forward to more!
~ jackie
What great suggestions! I’ve had my business for five years now. In 2009, I’m determined to get a lot more video and blog entries onto my site. Thank you for all these great ideas.
@kathleenbuckley (btw, came her via tweet from @chrisbrogan)
Congratulations on the launch of your blog and thank you for some great tips…. many of which inspired me.
Look forward to reading more of your stuff!
I also made it to your blog through Chris Brogan (Twitter)
Mark,
Happy Holidays and congrats on the new blog! Love the Sandbox concept, too…much more fun/engaging than a Guestbook. :)Thesis was a great choice…I’m currently in the process of rebuilding my blog with Thesis too!
This post is fabulous — great way to launch your new blog. Your ideas are valuable and I plan to use them! :) Here’s a couple more:
1. Talk about either your blog demographic or your business demographic…using human descriptors, not just stats/numbers. Paint a picture of your business community.
2. Share technology tools and other resources/vendor support that have helped in your success.
Looking forward to more in 09,
Jaculynn
Congratulations, Mark, on this new launch. I’m excitedly looking forward to exchanging more small business ideas with you.
great post – thanks for sharing. Like Stephen Covey says, “there’s enough success to go around for everyone” – that’s what makes social media so cool. Best wishes in ’09
Keep moving forward, Patty
Chris B tweetted this – good stuff; actually they are great! Thank you very much.
Liza
Excellent post – the missing key – that is obvious to the rest of us is WHY these things would help a business. So many people don’t get the connection of blogging and biz. A more detailed explanation of the value might help them. I think this is a great post to get new and old bloggers started! Well done!
This is a great list Mark, will be sharing it with my clients today! I have one I’d like to add: Interview the movers and shakers in your field/market.
Congratulations on your debut here! I’m here due to Chris Brogan’s tweet as well. Way to get out of the chute with a bang! These are most helpful.
Another really helpful article….you are making it easier for me to do a blog and again, gave me some really good ideas!
Thank you, thank you for taking the time to write this fabulous article and including some great links. I’ve been studying and working at this “new age” marketing for my business as well as for others. Wish I had seen your article long time ago.
Best wishes!
How about the owner who contracts out the blog job? How should the writer proceed if the writer is offsite and doesn’t work at the small business.
Any tips on this scenario?
That’s some great things to consider.
It can be difficult to know what to share with the general public and not at times.
Being really passionate about what you do sure helps if you want to keep your blog audience captured.
Thanks for the tips :)
Great stuff. I will definitely bookmark this for future reference.
I like your idea about interviewing customers. I just spent an hour on the line with Verizon customer service. They would not want to interview me for their blog.
Rick
Great blog post. Thanks for sharing your tips for small businesses. There is so much to consider there and no excuse for me to ever run out of blog posts again!
I’m following you on Twitter.
Love it as usual. I set up a notepad document, copy and paste all advice from the pros into it so I have it all in one place. As soon as I reinstall Office I’ll use a more advanced text editor so html links remain clickable inside the document as well.
Mark, I really, really, really appreciate all the tips! I recently started my own blog and often find it hard to get started on a new post. Your post ideas are going up on my office wall next to my visualization board. Thanks again!
I think that the biggest challenge for folks is knowing what to say. I think you’ve outlined some great questions here that’ll inspire/trigger some good posts. What I tell folks to do is turn the questions that they’re getting from customers/prospects into blog posts; in other words, rather than answering a question directly to that one individual, blog the question and your response!
As professionals (in whatever industry), there are a ton of questions we get asked on a daily basis so really, we shouldn’t have a problem with writing new content!
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great points. i hope they’ll help me in making out more posts related to my blog!
This post is exactly what I needed when experiencing writer’s block. Thank you!
Thanks for this post. It would help me in my first week in blogging :).
Hey Mark,
I don’t actually have a small business but I do have 7 websites that I had built for affiliate marketing and 2 main blogs. However right now this is like a business because I treat it like such. I am also trying hard to grow my 2 blogs, i-blogger.info – about the journey to becoming a successful blogger and hcg411.info – which has up-to-date information on the HCG 500 Calorie Diet and Hormone Injections.
What makes these 31 tips so great is, you don’t even need to have a small business, they can even help with something like growing your blog. I especially like #13. “Monthly or weekly wrap up post about your biz” because in your wrap-up post you can mention, and of coarse link to, all of your posts that you had written earlier that week. This is a great way to give your readers access to posts they may not have been able to find on their own.
Thanks for this helpful list Mark! (Even it it’s not 52)
Brian M. Connole
i-Blogger.info
hcg411.info
really good list of things, keep it up, I would like a post about how to choose a right business type for some of us who are just starting out. good article
Mark these are GREAT tips! It can be so extremely difficult to get past writer’s block. Thank you for your ideas!