Topics For Your Blog Posts
(Or Newsletter)

Last week I shared why you might want to consider adding a blog to your website (or posting to it more often.)

I also shared who may not need to have a blog right now.

Regardless of whether you have a blog, it’s important to stay in touch with your list of subscribers by providing them free valuable content. A simple way to do this is by sending out content in the body of an email.

With all this talk about blogs, you may feel overwhelmed with all the writing you want (and need) to do.

I totally get it.

Writing is time consuming, and there’s a lot to keep up with…

• writing blog posts or newsletters
• social media posts
• free opt-in gift content
• content for your clients
• creation of new programs
• sales pages
• and promotional emails.

Are there weeks (or months) when you skip sending out an email or blog to your list, because you don’t have the time or energy to write?

Today, I’m sharing 3 easy ways to QUICKLY generate content.

#1: Get ideas from your clients

With this approach, I’m not necessarily suggesting you ask your clients for ideas of what to write about.

You can certainly do that, but what I’m suggesting is much easier…

Write about the things that are coming up with clients and program participants.

Imagine that earlier this week a client asked you what they should be eating for breakfast. (You may take for granted that people know what constitutes a healthy breakfast, but the truth is that people are confused.)

This sparked the idea to write an article or blog post entitled “3 Best Foods for Breakfast.”

When you’re writing about a topic you covered with a client, you don’t have to include EVERYTHING you shared with the client. That said, be sure to share valuable information and tips. This is what will keep them coming back for more.

BONUS TIP: Keep a post-it note handy during your client sessions and jot down things you discussed or questions your client asked that would make a good article/post. You can then transfer your ideas to a google doc or Evernote so you have a running list of topics to pull from.

What I love about this approach…

You can feel confident that your topics will be interesting to potential clients. Heck, if one of your clients is asking a question, you know that people similar to them have the same questions.

I find that the hardest part is coming up with a topic. But once I have a topic nailed down, the words start easily flowing.

#2: Draw from your own experience

With the first tip (we just discussed), you’re drawing from the questions and topics that are coming up with clients. With this tip, you’re getting inspiration from what’s going on with YOU.

This could be sharing your new favorite recipe, a time-saving cooking tip, or how you’ve been struggling with low energy and what you did to turn it around.

What I love about this approach…

You’re able to bring your personal experience and your story into your writing.

People love when you share your stuff, because it gives them a chance to be “a fly on the wall” and get a glimpse of your life, how you eat, how you take care of yourself, what you struggle with – and how you overcome your challenges.

All of this strengthens your relationship with your audience – making them much more likely to want to work with you.

#3: Recycle content

Most of the time you’ll want to produce new content, but as you grow your arsenal of articles and/or blog posts, you can absolutely recycle your content every once in a while.

Here’s how to easily recycle content:

• Go into your email marketing system such as AWeber, MailChimp or Constant Contact and make a list of the emails that have had the highest open rate. (This is the percentage of people who opened your email.)
• If you link to a blog post or article from within your newsletter, you’ll also want to identify the emails that had the highest click through rate. This is the percentage of people who clicked the link in your newsletter. If you have multiple links in your newsletter, pay specific attention to the click through rate to your article or blog post.
• You’ve now identified your most popular content! You can narrow this down by selecting topics that you haven’t written about in a while AND are seasonally appropriate. (You might not want to send out an article about making bone broth in July!)
• Then you can simply resend the old content as-is, or update it to include new ideas you have on the topic.

Is recycling content legitimate?

While you don’t want to recycle old content all the time, it is totally fine to do. In fact, I think you’re doing your audience a favor when you recycle your best stuff because it serves as reminder to those who’ve been on your list for a while. And, you’re able to share this older, yet powerful, content with newer subscribers to your list.

This strategy will also help you stay consistent with being in contact with your list of subscribers. Have a vacation planned and don’t have time to write something new? No worries. You can still send out your regularly scheduled emails.

What I love about this approach…

You know you’re sharing content that people are interested in, because you’re only recycling your most popular stuff. If you update an old article or blog post, you’re able to go deeper on the topic or share a new way of looking at something you’ve shared before. Plus, you’re able to save time, and who doesn’t love that?

Now I’d love to hear from you!
What have been your most popular topics? Have questions about what to write about? Post your questions and comments below so I can support you.