The Center for Sales Strategy - Sales Strategy Blog

How to Come Up With Lead-Generating Blog Post Ideas

Written by Dani Buckley | June 23, 2014
All inbound marketers can agree that one of the toughest parts of running a successful online lead generation program built on publishing great content for your target persona… is actually producing great content on a consistent basis. Furthermore, it can be even more challenging to make sure this content isn’t just fluff, but is actually delivering relevant information your target cares about reading.

This is why I’ve put together some tried and true ways to develop lead-generating blog post ideas and content that will not only attract new readers to your blog, but will enhance your thought leadership position and increase the likelihood of actually converting visitors into qualified leads.

1. Look at your keywords.

If your target audience is searching for certain phrases or asking particular questions online, then this is a green light to create a blog post providing the answers they’re looking for. Having a solid keyword strategy in place that incorporates branded terms (like your company name) and broad terms (like “sales performance” and “inbound marketing”) as well as a plethora of long-tail, niche terms (like “how to start a company blog” or “how many times should I contact a lead?” will ensure you are covering all of your bases when it comes to search queries by your prospects and customers.

Tip: Higher search volume for any keyword phrase means people are searching for those answers often so that’s a good place to start writing. However, many of the more long-tail keywords won’t have high search volumes but can be tremendously impactful in driving more qualified traffic and leads to your site.

2. Think about what your prospects and clients are asking.

What kind of questions do you or your sales team hear a lot from prospects? What answers are you constantly typing up in an email reply to customers? You could even refer to your FAQs for ideas. Think about exactly how you would respond to someone in person or in an email, and turn that into a blog post.

Bonus Idea: Interview some of your busy salespeople about a question they find themselves answering all the time during the sales process. Take that interview, transcribe it, and turn it into a blog post. It will save them time and provide you with a wealth of content. 

3. Newsjack relevant content.

This method is similar to content curation, but different in that it must be done quickly in order to be effective. When news breaks that impacts your industry or target, simply write your spin on it and how it affects your readers.

Take a minute and think about what’s going on in your industry or in the news today. What would make for an interesting blog post that you could put your own spin on? If nothing occurs to you right now, that’s fine—but every time you read a story in an online trade publication or even your local newspaper, ask yourself if it offers you a newsjacking opportunity.

For example: Check out this blog post I wrote about the launch of Twitter’s new profile layout. It was easy to write, and allowed me to give my opinion on a topical piece of news in the digital world.

Remember, the content you create doesn’t have to be fancy or technical—it just needs to answer questions real people have, be genuinely informative, and provide actionable takeaways that will keep your readers sharing and coming back for more.

Happy writing!

If you want more ideas on inbound marketing, join us on Thursday as we discuss six ways to measure ROI of inbound marketing!