6 Ideas for Epic Business Blog Posts

I hate to say it, but at least 95 percent of business blogs are absolute crap. In some cases, these sites fail because they’re rarely updated, but most of the time, the Achilles heel most business bloggers face is developing content that’s actually interesting to their audiences.

Your customers don’t want to read press release after press release, and they won’t give their attention to articles that read like incognito sales pitches. What they want is what blogger Corbett Barr has described as “epic s***” – content that “makes people think, inspires them, changes lives, creates value and blows people away with your usefulness.”

If you aren’t yet hitting these heights, any of the following ideas can help take your business blog from ordinary to epic:

1. Radical transparency. Want to really blow people away? Give them your secrets! The idea of radical transparency is often used on financial posts, in which business owners or individuals talk about their income, their outstanding debts or other interesting monetary tidbits (as in the case of Pat Flynn’s income reports on his “Smart Passive Income” website).

Even if you don’t want to give away your financial info, you can adopt this same “open door” approach by going in-depth on a recent corporate decision or process. It can be scary to open yourself up in this way, but it’s a guaranteed approach to help readers connect with your business on a deeper level.

2. A complete “how-to.” “How-to” posts are always mentioned on lists of recommended blog post formats because readers really respond to them. But how often have you clicked on a “how-to” post, only to discover a sparse list of bullet points that doesn’t leave you any more educated than you were before you arrived on the site?

If you want to really make your mark, make your posts so epic that people walk away with a complete understanding of the process you’re trying to teach (as in the case of the lengthy “How To Use Goodreads” tutorial pictured above). Using a combination of words, images and video files so that any reader can put the steps you’re describing into action is an easy way to generate blog interest.

3. Massive list posts. Again, list posts are a popular blog post format because they do tend to capture more attention than other structures. But that said, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out with lists of five to 10 items. Want to be truly epic? Create a massive list post with around 100 entries (or even more, if you’re feeling ambitious). Check out the following links for great examples of these types of posts:

• “101 Motivational Business Quotes”
• “The Entrepreneur’s Handbook: 101 Resources for First Time Entrepreneurs”
• “84 Styles to Workout Without Any Equipment”

4. Explore a hard truth. There’s so much BS online that readers are sick of it. Despite your spin team’s best efforts, most people know when they’re getting the whitewashed “truth” rather than the real deal.

For this reason, one of the easiest ways out there to gain attention with epic blog content is to explore a hard truth. As an example, check out Common Health’s controversial post, “Why I Quit Medicine.” It isn’t always fun to be so blatantly honest, but your readers will absolutely love you for keeping things real.

5. Long-form thought pieces. To be perfectly clear, “epic” posts don’t have to be long. If you can blow me away with a new idea or a different way of looking at the world in just a few paragraphs, that counts as “epic” in my mind.

But that said, you need to be aware of how well long-form pieces can perform. The State of Digital blog has observed correlations between content length and lower bounce rates, higher engagement rates and longer average time on site. It’s clear that readers want more content -- and it’s up to you to give it to them!

6. Original research. If you truly want to stand out, you’ve got to bring something new to the table. Rehashing the same facts and statistics that are cited over and over again online might provide some value to your readers, but it doesn’t set your business blog apart from others in any kind of meaningful way.

To engage your readers (and boost your blog’s social shares), consider conducting your own original research. Depending on your budget, you can do so using online survey companies, agencies that conduct telephone surveys or even market research firms that orchestrate in-person focus groups. Not only does publishing the results of your work on your blog lead to epic content, it improves your small business’s overall perceived authority and brand recognition within your industry.

How else have you created epic content in the past? Share your thoughts and recommendations in the comment section below!

10 Strategies for Overcoming Creativity Block

As an entrepreneur, I can tell you that starting, running and building a business goes well beyond skill, dedication and knowledge. Entrepreneurs and other business leaders must have tons of creativity for remaining relevant, for cultivating client relationships and for overcoming obstacles. And when we get too close to the forest of our own enterprise, it's often challenging to see the trees clearly. That's when we could find ourselves stuck in a creativity slump.

But not to worry. There are some simple strategies for sparking your creative flame:

1. Check in with your mission statement. Mission statements are often written and then forgotten. Keeping yours on hand for regular review keeps your mind focused on the “why” you're in business. When you're clear about the why (i.e., why your customers need what you provide), then it's easier to come up with the “what” (i.e., what you provide, generated through creativity). If you don't have a mission, now's a good time to write one.

2. Find inspiration from your clients. I recently heard a couple of successful entrepreneurs talk about where they find inspiration. They each said that when they are feeling stuck or frustrated and feel that they can't come up with a single ounce more of creativity, they call their favorite clients and spend a few minutes chatting. Doing so reignites their creativity.

4. Schedule a meeting with employees to bounce ideas around. Your employees know your business from a different perspective than you do. Having regular idea-generation powwows keeps the flow of inspiration and creativity going. This also gives your staff a sense of ownership and lets them know that their voice and ideas matter and are vital to the enterprise's success.3. Read. Personally, I don't read anything that doesn't serve my ability to better serve my clients, simply because I don't dedicate the time to pleasure reading. And often I find inspiration in my daily practice of reading interesting pieces on the web. However, sometimes that's not enough and I have to read outside of my comfort zone to ignite my creative spark.

5. Take a day or even a few hours off and go somewhere that inspires you. Stepping away from your office for a few hours or ideally a whole day sends you back to the office with a fresh perspective. Spending that time in a place that inspires or calms you is optimal for this purpose. For me, that place is the beach.

6. Schedule a meeting with a colleague to talk shop. When I really feel stuck, I call upon my friends who are also coaches. And every time I do, I walk away with so many new ideas that I often have to jot them down in my phone so I don't forget them all.

7. Take a vacation. It could be that your creativity is locked up because it's been way too long since your last vacation. It might not be a good time to take time away from the office, but even an overnight stay at a resort nearby could be just enough to refresh you and your creativity.

8. Disconnect. The idea of an entrepreneur disconnecting from her work even for an hour per day or for a full weekend is enough to send her into therapy. But, one thing I've learned is that when I take some time to disconnect from my work, that's when the floodgates of my creativity reopen. There is something very powerful about creating space between our work and ourselves. It almost feels like magic.

9. Solicit advice from unlikely places. Sometimes someone who is not at all connected to our organization or even to our industry is the best place to find inspiration. Personally, I do this a lot and I find that my best ideas on how to drum up new business come from the most unlikely places and people.

10. Meditate, pray or exercise. You don't have to be a religious type or even spiritual to get the benefit of these soulful practices. (Calling all atheists!) Exercise can have a similar effect. When we try too hard to generate creativity, we can actually block it more. Being in silence for a few minutes a day in whatever capacity feels comfortable can unblock our creative juices because stillness slows down our thoughts and clears the mind. For me, running without music--to the beat of my own breath--has a similar effect on me as my mediation practice.