You know that a blog will get more eyeballs to your website, right? I should know, as I've been blogging for nearly 16 years. It's one of the single most effective tools I have used to build my business. Whether you blog or not, you pretty much know that every Maker needs to maintain a blog at their website.
The biggest resistance I hear on this topic is that you don't know what to blog about. This blog post smashes that resistance and leaves you no choice but to open up your website and start simultaneously attracting search engines and customers. Here are 10 easy blog post ideas to attract target customers to your website.
10 Easy Blog Post Ideas to Attract Target Customers to Your Website
- Tell your fans how to follow you on social media
Let your customers know where you are most active on social media. Don't make a huge list of every single social media outlet you have. Just share the main ones so they can choose what works best for them. You can Tweet this post out regularly to let people know how to find you.
- Share a holiday food recipe
You may not be able to get away with recipes for food at your blog all year long, but one time when they are acceptable is the holidays. Your favorite stuffing, desert, drink, or side dish is a great way to let people know about your lifestyle and what makes you tick. This is an especially good opportunity for Indies whose products reflect a certain lifestyle. For example, if you make vegan products, then a vegan food recipe is a perfect complement. Publish this a few weeks before Thanksgiving.
- Answer your customers' questions
To be successful in your business, you must become an entrepreneurial multiplier. Answering your customers' questions is an easy and effective way to to this.
You get customer questions all the time, and you must answer them, right? After you do, turn them into blog posts. Nothing is as easy as this.
In fact, you are looking at an example of it right now. I cannot tell you how many times I get the question: “Donna Maria, I don't know what to blog about.” Boom.
Need blog post ideas? You already have them. Publish answers to your customers' questions at your blog. #bloggingClick To TweetDonna Maria, Indie Business Network
Browse your emails and customer comments on social media, and find a question a customer has asked about a product, ingredient, or whatever. Cut and paste your answer into a blog post. Use your customer's words throughout the post so you can mimic what people online may be asking. Make a great headline by turning the question asked into a declarative sentence. You can share this forever and ever to drive new traffic to your site.
- List your favorite trade or Maker shows
If you do shows, tell your customers which ones you regularly attend. It's a handy list you can share over and over again, and it'a a great answer to an email or Facebook question if a customer asks. If you don't do shows, then create a similar list to highlight your most loyal stockists in different cities, or your favorite natural product ingredients, essential oils, fragrances, and so forth.
- Share a DIY video
Tell your customers how they can make a product that is somewhat like yours in their own homes. Tell them why yours is better, of course, but empower them to make something cool, and let them know how they can buy it from you and get an even better result without all the mess and fuss. If you don't have time to create your own video, pull one from Youtube. There are so many good ones to choose from.
- Promote a product
Yes. A blog post that says my product is awesome. Do that every now and then. Link to it. Make it easy to see and buy. Brag about it. Tell the world what problem it solves. Again, you can share this over and over again, as long as you carry the product.
- Share your morning or evening routine
Tell your customers about your morning or evening routine, and how you incorporate your products into it. If you make candles, how do you use them in your daily life to achieve specific moods or decor results? If you make skincare, how do you care for your skin daily so it remains healthy and so forth? If you make perfume, how to you layer it or use it to get your day off to a great start? If you make jewelry, how do you choose the color or the stone to complement your outfit or you mood?
Lifestyle related posts are great ways to simultaneously provide a behind-the-scenes look at your life and promote your products. Make the headline something related to your successful or enjoyable/happy life. Everyone wants to have a successful and enjoyable life.
Lifestyle posts showcase your products and offer a fun behind-the-scenes look at your life.Click To Tweet
- Inspire with holiday or party ideas
This is a seasonal post that your female readers will love. What sort of easy DIY holiday or party decoration ideas can you share? What are you using that's lovely and low cost in your own home? Share your ideas in ways that appeal to the type of customer you serve, and sprinkle in images of your products. Here's an example of this from our member, Emily Caswell, over at The Favor Stylist. They will love that you're thinking about them in ways that do not make them feel like you're asking for their credit card numbers every time you come around.
- Feature your customers at your blog
Don't keep product testimonials on a product page! Pick the best ones, and email the customers who submitted them and ask for a photo and elaboration that you can use the feature them at your blog. People love stories, and each one you tell will complement your brand perfectly. the stories of your customers. Every time you feature one customer, all of them will feel loved and acknowledged.
We do this all.the.time here at the Indie Business Blog. Example. Example. Example. Example.
- Publish a year in review
Tell the world about the awesome things you did this year. How many shows did you do, and what were they? Did you launch any new products or social media outlets? A podcast? A Youtube show? Did you update your website? Facebook Live? Facebook groups? Start writing this now so it's ready to go as you close out the last week of shipping before closing for the holiday. Here's mine from last year so you can see how you can categorize things and just make a list of what you did.
We have done this many times over the years (like here and here and here). Not only does a year in review article remind you of the great reasons you have to celebrate and be grateful, but it also reminds the world of the amazing contribution you are making. Your business is making the world a better place. Go tell everyone that! No one is going to do that for you.
Donna Maria, Indie Business Network
Don't have a blog? That doesn't mean you get a pass. Publish articles in your newsletter.
Whatever you do, do NOT wait until you need sales to start wooing your customers. They will see right through it, and they will not like that you neglected them for months, and now, you want their money. Don't be **that Maker.**
If you have a blog, and you don't blog these ideas over the course of the next few months, I don't want to hear you complain that you don't have anything to blog about. All I could conclude is that you just don't want to blog. (Which, sadly, means you are choosing to have fewer website visitors … which is, sadly, a bad choice.)
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Question
Is this article helpful to you? What blog posts will you be publishing over the course of the next few months? What other blog topic ideas can you share that would be useful to others? What has worked at your blog? If you are inspired, or have something to add, feel free to share in the comments below, or share on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
