What to Do When Blogging Feels Like Pulling Teeth

Brainstorming blog topics shouldn’t be as painful as when you saw your first boyfriend and homecoming date kissing another girl at the homecoming game a day before the dance. {Yes, that actually happened to me. And, I ran home crying and my mom almost killed him when he pulled into our driveway to see why I’d left, because I hadn’t told her what he’d done. I was just sobbing and gasping for air—and she knew it was because of him. Luckily, our next-door neighbor hid in the bushes to make sure my mom didn’t rip his head off. Okay, back to the topic…}

You don’t want to waste thirty minutes staring at a blank screen only to give up without writing more than a sentence. That’ll leave you feeling cruddy.

I know many of you want to blog to help promote your creative businesses, but some of you are struggling to figure out what to blog about.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done a consulting session with a smart, creative woman who’s a talented artist and wants to blog, but doesn’t have any clue as to what to blog about. Once I list off ten or fifteen ideas, she’ll say something like, “Why didn’t I think of that? I can do that!”

I want to help you come up with a long list of blog topics right now, so you stop experiencing those I-can’t-think-of-anything-to-write-about moments.

Grab a notebook or open up Evernote and get ready to jot down ideas. Ready? {Pretend I’m holding up one of those checkered flags and am waving it for you at the starting line.}

1. Use questions you receive from customers.

You might need to rummage through you email or Etsy messages—take a minute to do so. List all the questions you’ve received. Turn all of those into Q & A blog posts.

Then, when you get an email containing one of those frequently asked questions, you can simply link to the blog post where you answered the question instead of typing it all over again.

I get about 50% of my Wednesday Wisdom topics from YOUR emails and questions. Even if you’re not a service provider, you’ll get questions like, “How long does it take you to paint one of your mixed media pieces?” or “Where do you get inspiration for your colorful quilts?”

Don’t just answer and delete those emails. Add them to your blog topic list even if you’re not going to write a blog post about it anytime soon.

Now, some of you might be thinking, “Hmmmm….well, that would be helpful if I actually got questions, but I’m brand new to this whole thing.” That’s okay. In that case, you can do two things: 1. Pretend you’re a potential customer. What questions might you ask? List them. 2. Ask a couple friends to look at your shop and website and send you a list of questions they would have if they were thinking about buying your products. {And, then take them out for coffee, because that’s the nice thing to do.}

2. Write posts that give your readers an inside view into who you are.

People buy from people they know, like and trust.

That’s why I always go to same car guy for our car when it needs new tires or a little fixer upper. {Everyone needs a good car guy, right?} It’s why I buy my facial masks and moisturizers from Naturallogic. And, it’s also why I can’t get enough of Ashley Ambirge and her hilarious blog.

When you give potential customers a way to get to know you, so they can decide if they like you and begin to trust you, you convert those potential customers into actual customers who want to give you money.

Every post doesn’t need to be about your products. How boring! Sorry, but if you’re a knitter, I don’t want to read post after post about scarves and hats. I mean, I’d like to read some posts about the type of yarn you use, where you get it, and why you choose it over others, but I’d also like to know more about you.

What are your favorite books? Who taught you how to knit? What are your favorite television shows to watch while you’re knitting? Tell me about where you live and your family. Share some pictures of your two pugs—in the knitted scarves you made for them! {I really want to see pugs with matching knitted scarves, so if you have done this, please email me.}

Of course, you should only share what you feel comfortable sharing, and you can keep your kids potty training stories to yourself.

But, you need to give us some reasons to LIKE you.

3. Blog about the things that make your business different.

You know the list you’ve started of blog topics? Well, add the ways that you’re different than your competitors. This is the time to show off your business’ sparkling personality.

If you can’t list anything, you’re in trouble {and that’s a whole different post}, so you better come up with something. Now, turn those awesome differences into blog topics.

Tell us about how you hand stamp your packaging, and show some pictures. Blog about how you use all organic fabric for your screen-printed tea towels. Tell us how your moisturizer won an award in Self magazine for being the creamiest moisturizer of all time.

4. Scan your competitors’ blogs.

Ready to steal like an artist? {Awesome book—read it!}

Look at others in your niche. What do they blog about? Add those topics to your growing list.

Now, I’m hoping I don’t need to say this, but I’m gonna anyways. Even though you’re looking at what they’re doing, you want to make yours, well, YOURS. Don’t be a total copycat. No one likes a copycat. Instead, get ideas and then twist them to make them fit your blog and brand. Put your own spin on it. But, you already know that, right? I thought so, you smarty-pants!

5. Scan a magazine.

I’ve written about this tip before, but it’s soooooo good that I thought it was worth mentioning here. Grab a magazine that’s unrelated to your business. For every article headline, try to change it to make it an applicable topic for your blog.

Example:

Magazine Headline: 4 Easy Ways to Reverse the Effects of Time

My Topic: 4 Easy Ways to Reverse the Effects of a Negative Review on Etsy

Use the magazine headline as a jumping off point. You can change it up as much or as little as needed to make it fit your blog.

6. Tell stories.

You know that customer who sent you the picture of her wearing the headband she bought from you? Ask her if can post it on your blog.

Write about how you made that headband, or the inspiration behind it—and how your customer sent you a picture of her wearing it at her sister’s wedding. Include a little testimonial from that customer for bonus points!

Or, how about the recent wedding that you photographed and the groom made the sweetest toast to his bride that you’d ever heard. Share the story and the pictures you took of the groom giving the toast and the bride laughing and crying.

Or, what about the mixed media painting you created with a background of xeroxed photos of your great grandparents? Share their engagement story or blog about how they used to have an ice-cream date every Thursday. Don’t leave out the details like how your great grandmother always ordered pistachio with hot fudge and maraschino cherries.

We love stories. And, more importantly, we love to share good stories. Give your readers stories to share.

Bonus: Want ideas that mean you don’t have to do the majority of the writing? Interview others. Accept guest posts. Feature other artists who complement your art. {Example: If you sell handmade veils, you could features dress designers, florists, wedding photographers, and wedding cake bakers.}

Tip: Break down big topics into multiple posts. Example: Let’s say you want to blog about how you became an artist. You could break this down into: your favorite art teacher and how she inspired you, your experience of art school, how you wound up working at a bank after college and how you found your way back to art, your experience of the first week of working as an artist full-time, what is was like when you sold your first painting, and your top ten favorite things about being an artist. That means you’ll get six blog posts out of that one theme.

At this point, I hope you’ve got an overflowing list of topics to blog about. Start there. As you write blog posts, you’re bound to come up with more and more ideas.

Where do you get topic ideas when you’re running low? Please share in the comments below!