Almost every business blog that stops, stops for the same reason: somebody wrote the four obvious posts, ran out, and three months later nobody had written anything. The problem is never a shortage of topics. It is looking for them in the wrong place — in competitor blogs and keyword tools rather than in the business itself.
1. The questions you already answer every week
Open your messages and read the last fifty customer enquiries. Every question that appears more than twice is a post, and it is a good one, because somebody has already demonstrated that people want the answer.
This is also the only source that gives you the question in the customer's own words rather than your industry's. You may sell "responsive development"; they are asking "will it work on mobile". Both belong on the page, but only one is what people type.
2. The things you wish customers knew before they called
Every business has a handful of these — the misunderstanding that makes quoting awkward, the thing people assume is included, the decision they have usually got wrong before they reach you.
Writing these down does two jobs. It attracts people at the research stage, and it means the conversations you do have start further along. Our own post on what a website costs exists for exactly that reason.
3. The decision your customers are stuck on
Most purchases have a fork in them, and people search that fork constantly: this or that, which one do I need, is it worth it. Those searches have high intent, because somebody choosing between two options is close to buying one of them.
The important part is being genuinely even-handed. A comparison that concludes your option is better every time reads as an advert and converts like one.
4. What went wrong, and what you learned
The project that overran, the mistake that cost somebody money, the assumption that turned out false. These are uncomfortable to write and they are the ones people trust, because nobody else publishes them.
Anonymise the client and keep it about the lesson rather than the blame.
5. The thing you know that you assume is obvious
This is the richest source and the hardest to see, because expertise makes knowledge feel ordinary. The thing you would explain in thirty seconds without thinking is often the thing somebody is searching for at eleven at night.
A useful trick: notice what you explain to a new colleague in their first week. All of it is obvious to you and none of it is obvious to a customer.
The test for whether a topic is worth writing
Before writing, answer three things:
- Would a customer actually search this? In their words, not yours.
- Can you answer it better than what currently ranks? Search it and look. If page one answers it completely and you would only be rephrasing, pick another topic.
- Does it connect to something you sell? Not every post must, but most should, or you are building an audience for something you cannot serve.
Fail the second one and the post will not rank regardless of effort. Fail the third and it may rank and bring nothing.
On how often
Less than you think, better than you think. One genuinely useful post a month that answers a real question will outperform four thin ones, and it is a pace a business can actually keep for a year — which is the timescale that matters.
Publishing a backlog all at once is also a mistake: it looks mass-produced, and the posts compete with each other for attention in the same week.
If you would rather have this run for you — topics chosen from real search demand, written properly, published on a schedule you do not have to think about — that is what our content marketing work is. Tell us what you sell and we will come back with the first ten topics.