So you’ve set up your new blog, or you’re just trying to breathe some new life into your old one. And that’s when it hits you, “What do I even write about?”
But that’s thinking about it backwards. To write a good blog post, think about your readers. When they type a search term into Google, it almost always takes the form of a question. So websites that answer questions show up at the top of Google searches because they’re considered—by Google and users alike—to be the most valuable.
If you want to best serve your readers, the trick is to only write blog posts that answer questions, either by providing information, education, research, or strong opinions. Here are several formats these types of useful posts can take. By the end of this blog post, you’ll have (at least) 20 new ideas, guaranteed!
Instructional posts
These posts answer Google queries like “How to X” or “How do I X?” The best ones rely on your own experiences to teach people something new. Fill in the blanks:
- How to build the best [media server/manga library] the world has ever seen.
- How to get your life in order and finally [organize your game collection/clean your figures/self-publish your first fantasy novel].
- How I learned to stop worrying and love my [anime backlog/checkered weeaboo past].
List posts
These posts are easy to write and fun to read. Whether about resources or ranking, they share several points quickly and all in one place. Once again, let me get you started:
- The 10 best [cheesy live-action shows/bargain games] that money can buy.
- Fourteen things every [European Gundam fan/Whovian] should do in 2014.
- My top resources for [fandom news/video game tutorials/ legal streaming anime].
Reveal posts
These are posts that get personal. I feel like nobody actually writes enough of these because “I don’t want to bore people with my boring life” but people stories are the most interesting stories of all.
- The [sci-fi convention/video game] that changed my life.
- I was a teenage [cosplayer/employee at a comic book store].
- How I’ll be a better [convention volunteer/anime fan] in 2014.
Other types of posts
- Series posts. Got A LOT to say about a subject? Instead of writing a novel, break it up. It’ll be easier on your readers and you’ll have multiple posts for the week. They don’t have to take the form of Part 1 and Part 2 (though I’ve done that before). For example, this post is part of an informal series on blogging advice.
- Interviews. As I said before, people loves stories about people more than anything else. If you get the chance to talk to somebody with an interesting story or point of view, make the most of it. You can write it as a Q&A or paraphrase it into article form.
- Guest posts. Here’s another way to get other perspectives on your blog while giving you a break. Ask friends to contribute guest posts on specific topics. Here’s how I pitched potential posters on my blog. Even better—do guest post exchanges with a fellow blogger, and you’ll both get interesting new content!
- Link roundups. These are so easy to do, but so useful to readers! The way I do it is by keeping an open sticky note on my desktop all week, to which I paste the URLs of interesting reads I encounter. Then I put them all together for Otaku Links.
For EVEN MORE prompts that are useful but not fandom-specific, I can’t recommend Alexandra Franzen’s 88 fill-in-the-blank prompts. She’s one of my favorite writers, and I’ve definitely used some of her inspiration for my own posts before.
Finally, if this post inspired you to write something, let me know! I’d love to read it.
(Screenshot of Akiyama Mio from K-On! season 1, episode 5).
