You want to write about what you do, but you’re living that cliche of staring at your blank screen. If you’re just starting a blog, you may be asking yourself, “What do you write about?” If you’ve been at it for a while, you may think, “What other blog topics should I cover?”
For fun, let’s say you’re a professional cookie baker.
No matter what you do, there are always new ways to approach a story idea, even if it’s something super common — like cookie recipes.
For inspiration, here are five strategies for coming up with new blog topics. So bite into your favorite crunchy, soft, or gooey cookie and read on!
1. Google Your Competitors for New Recipes
Research your top five competitors or thought leaders in your field. What have other cookie aficionados been writing about recently?
Create a table with columns. On the left, generate a list of the blog topics your competitors have covered recently and compare it to your own. Are there subjects you haven’t covered yet, and if so, can you infuse your unique point of view that your audience will find interesting? Fill out the right column with your ideas for a post.
Sometimes, you’ll hit gold with a competitor, like I just did with Delish’s 125 Best Cookie Recipes to Bake Year-Round. That’s 125 potential ideas right there!
For extra credit, conduct site audits to identify what keywords your competitors rank for based on the content they’ve written.
2. AnswerThePublic for a Full List of Ingredients
AnswerThePublic is a confectionary of content ideas and serves as a direct line to what people are querying in search engines like Google. Enter a topic, product, or brand into their search bar. After hitting search, AnswerThePublic compiles all these suggestions based on your initial search term, or seed keyword.
You know how when you start typing something into Google, and then you have multiple ideas auto-suggested for you like this:
Instead of getting just a few ideas like you would above, AnswerThePublic gives you access to hundreds of ideas based on your seed keyword.
3. Use ChatGPT to Get Your Ideas Cooking
Large language models are excellent resources for idea generation. For example:
Play around with different prompts to get new ideas. Just make sure you’re writing these articles yourself 😉. Google is cracking down on low-quality, unoriginal content — much of which is AI-generated. Simply put, if you’re not writing original content, your blog could do you more harm than good.
4. Don’t Be a Cookie Cutter: Think About Angles
How do you make your article about cookie recipes unique when there are thousands of articles about them already? Find a unique angle.
Here are a few to think about:
- Cookies for every emotion: Write an article about cookie recipes based on someone’s mood. You have “comfort cookies,” “celebratory cookies,” and more.
- Cookie chemistry: Take a scientific approach to baking the perfect cookie. What ingredient mixture and baking techniques create your desired cookie texture and tastiness?
- Cookie culture: Write about cookies from around the world. What are the most popular kinds in each region? What are some authentic recipes created by other cultures?
Creatively blocked? ChatGPT works well here, too.
5. Revisit Blog Topics to Find New Flavors From Old Morsels
When in doubt, review old ideas, whether you wrote about them or not. Sometimes, an idea just needs some time to bake into something delicious. Other times, you just need to think about the process differently.
Then, you’ve got your published posts to ponder. Can any of these ideas be updated? For example, if you wrote about the five most popular cookies in 2021, update the post for the current year. Refresh your content to keep it freshly baked and smelling sweet.
Lick the Bowl With Anthony Writes Content
Creating recipes is easy, but someone’s still got to do the cooking.
Are you ready to save time, increase visibility, and get your baking marketing done? Work with an expert to fill your bakery with fresh new ideas that are consistent, engaging, and on-brand.
Want to see what’s cooking at Anthony Writes Content? Shoot me a message!