A guest post by Sue Keogh This post first appeared in Sweet Retweets
[Picture credit: Arundo]

Right. We’re going to come up with ideas for your next 25 blog posts.

Don’t say we’re mad, and don’t run away screaming. With a bit of thought it need not be as daunting as it sounds, and you’ll find a little planning goes a long way!

Let’s break it down. Your schedule could look like this…

• A post a month about your new products of offers. This can be more, or less, frequent depending on your type of business.
• Four posts a year about events you are attending. Plus a follow-up post for each with some lovely pics.
• Seasonal angle – how can you build a post around Christmas, Halloween or Valentine’s Day? Sometimes you have to crowbar it in, sometimes it’s a natural fit.
• Something topical. What’s in the news and how does it relate to your product? From a general election to the World Cup there are always big events looming in the calendar around which you can base a post. You could aim to write one a month. Great for SEO.
• Handy guides. What issues are the people who use your products likely to have? If you’re a health charity you could write a guide to spotting the symptoms. A travel company can tell holidaymakers the best times of year to visit, say, the Tropics and what to take with them.
• Industry developments and the impact on your customers. Fuel duty goes up – what does that mean for them? A new medical treatment is being prescribed – who can take it and what are the side effects?
• Guest posts from key figures in your company. They can share their expertise and offer a new perspective on a current issue, either with the business or the industry as a whole.
• Guest posts from thought leaders in your sector. Hopefully they’ll promote the post on their channels too so you get publicity out of it too.

Hopefully now it doesn’t look so daunting! How many have you got?

One last pro tip: Set some time aside to write a batch in one go. Then schedule the posts to go out accordingly. This takes a lot of the pressure off and acts as a framework. You know you have four scheduled for the next six weeks, so all you have to do now is find a couple of topical events to respond to and…bingo.

Sue Keogh runs workshops and helps organisations write content through her company Sookio
Find her on Twitter @sookio