As a small business owner, you know that blogging provides great payoffs; it makes a big impact on your internet marketing and search engine optimization, it positions you as a subject matter expert, and it costs next to nothing. The question is, how do you blog and still have time for all that other “more important” stuff, like run your business?

First, start to shift your thinking that doing a blog is a big deal because, quite simply, it’s not. A blog can be as little as 100 to 300 words and you don’t need to be a professional writer to pull it off. It’s just a casual, informative way to keep up with your customers, vendors, fans and others in your industry. As long as the content is relevant, you’ll get a great return on your investment of time and effort. According to HubSpot’s 100 Awesome Marketing Stats Charts & Graphics:

• Blog readers keep growing and blog articles influence purchases;
• Most people read blogs more than once a day;
• Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors;
• Companies see 67%-88% more leads per month when writing a blog.

Do you want your blog to really get noticed? Add a graphic, a video, an infographic, or a downloadable tool like our Social Media in 15 Minutes a Day handout to really add some zing. Keywords are also important for search engine optimization so you rise to the top of the heap in Google.

The bottom line is that you have no more excuses because we’re giving you 100 great ideas of things to blog about.

Company News and Promotions

1. Company History

2. Sharing how the company has affected others

3. Press releases

4. Lessons learned

5. Events

6. Team profiles

7. Highlight a service

8. Highlight a person

9. Highlight a product

10. Announce partnerships or memberships

11. Mission and vision discussion

12. Share the process of making your product/performing your service

13. Provide extended testimonials

14. Highlight a customer or vendor

15. Share a successful case study

16. Share an unsuccessful case study and lessons learned (we are all human!)

17. Create a poll

18. Commentary on life of a small business

19. Commentary on life of a small business owner

20. Contests or promotions

21. One thing done this year that made a difference from last year

22. What there is to love about a small business

23. Description of office culture

24. A list of “musts”

25. What keywords are important to use and know

Industry-Specific

1. Best Practices

2. Conduct an interview

3. Debunk or support an industry myths

4. Define jargon (i.e. SEO, domain names)

5. Provide a tutorial

6. Analyze industry trends

7. Describe whether formal education is needed or not

8. Discuss how to gain experience

9. Find commonalities with a business in another industry

10. Compare your industry to the same industry in another country

11. Provide a group of industry-specific resources

12. Give commentary industry trends

13. Describe the supply chain in very general terms so that no trade secrets are given. For example, the process of the cocoa bean to chocolate.

14. Explain prices or costs

15. List of industry leaders and bios

16. Discussion on innovation

17. Make a prediction about the industry

18. Review 5 most influential milestones

19. Industry financial data

20. Relate the economy to the industry

Reviews

1. New technology

2. Conferences

3. Books

4. Movies

5. Business tools (i.e. Outlook vs. Google)

6. Blogs

7. Articles

8. Local chambers of commerce

9. Companies

10. Industry-specific norms

Using Others’ Content

1. News articles (national and local)

2. Blogs

3. Trade journal pieces

4. Infographics

5. Magazine articles

6. Videos

7. Scholarly research

8. Case studies

9. Websites

10. Forums

*Be sure to cite your sources, relate how they apply to your company and link your pages to increase your ‘findability.’

Business and Miscellaneous Topics

1. Leadership

2. Commentary on life/work balance

3. Community happenings/Community organizations

4. Fun fact of the day

5. Business etiquette

6. Holidays

7. Hobbies/Leisure activities

8. Work environments

9. Work culture

10. Management

11. Customer relations management

12. Commentary on customer needs

13. Legal awareness and issues

14. Quizzes

15. Environmental impact

16. DIY tutorials

17. Top 10 Lists

18. Comedic stories (short and appropriate)

19. Organizational Development

20. Teamwork

21. Accounting discoveries

22. Job finding tips

23. Interviewing tips

24. Job skills

25. Emotional Intelligence

26. Logo design contest

27. Strategy

28. Brainstorming Processes

29. Life experience

30. Individual research

31. Motivation

32. Disciplinary actions in the workplace

33. Product name contest

34. Productivity solutions

35. Email etiquette

If for some reason your head hasn’t exploded from this list, here are a few other blog posts with even more blogging ideas:

• 50 Blog Topics For Small Business Owners
• 15 Blog Ideas To Kick Start Your Writing When You Don’t Know What To Write About
• 67 Ideas For Blog Topics
• 9 Blog Post Ideas For Your Small Business Blog
• 10 Free Blog Topics to Help You Get Your Blog On
• 81 Topic Ideas For Starting A Blog That Matters
• 100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write
• 25 Blog Ideas That Will Rock Your Readers World!
• I Started A Blog! What Will I Say?

Leave me a comment on what your favorite thing is to blog about and I’ll catch you in the blogosphere!