So you are contemplating a blog and now you are seeking inspiration to get you going. Before we delve into ‘How’ (coming up in later articles) I though it would help to give you some types of blog which you might like to consider. This is, by no means, an exhaustive list, but a few suggestions to get the creative juices flowing for you. And you don’t have to be tied to one style – you may find that you can mix and match between different types. In fact, I’d recommend it – it keeps things fresh for you and for your audience.
Sharing wisdom
We all have unique knowledge skills and talents in our professional and personal lives. So you can blog about it – be it a new perspective, knowledge, your experiences or just handy hints. A blog like this is even more powerful if a guests to blog for you too – getting their wisdom to combine with yours. For example, on my sister website, the illustrator of one of my books blogged about creating the artwork.
Enhancing customer experience
This is most relevant if you have a customer (in other words, if you are a business or charity) and is to help your customers get more from the product or service you provide. If, for example, you are the manufacturer of an cooking ingredient, you can suggest new dishes to try it in. Or, if you provide a service, you can blog about things that are relevant to your client base. One of my client – an accountant – recently wrote a blog about preparing for self-assessment, for example.
Charting an adventure or challenge
Suppose you are planning to cycle across the Himalayas this summer, or are emigrating to Italy to fulfil a life’s ambition. You can blog on the highs and lows of the preparation, the event and the aftermath of that adventure. These usually have a limited lifespan but as well as being of interest to friends family and others in similar positions, it is a nice way to create a record of something significant
Your experiences of…
If you are promoting a cause of any kind, you can blog on the different perspectives that relate to it. Charities do this a lot of course, and again guest blogs are part of the make-up of these. So, if you have experiences of something you can share, you can blog on what life is like with a particular health condition or lifestyle (life as a commuter, for example).
The existential or experiential blog
I have occasionally pondered with the idea of doing this – just creating a ‘stream of consciousness’ and putting out into the the world to see what happens. This is writing as a pure art form and there is nothing wrong with that. It may have a very limited audience though (or, possibly, attract a rather strange one!).
Or you could just blog to entertain. And why not? If you have something to say worth hearing, then why not say it?