5 Creative Ways to Brainstorm Blog Posts That Convert

Everybody who writes a business blog wants their blog posts to “convert.”

In other words, they want their readers to become customers.

But almost nobody brainstorms blog posts from that point of view.  Which is kind of bonkers, in my opinion.

In my experience, most small business bloggers are thinking about what they can write about instead of what they can write about that will convince their readers to become customers.

That’s actually a really big distinction.

Some readers become customers by accident… but do you want to rely on that?

It’s true: some people reading your blog right now are going to become your customer no matter what you write.  It wouldn’t matter if all you did was throw up funny cat gifs and recipes for your favorite brownies, they would still buy from you. Some of them might not even be your mom.

But that’s a finite number of people, and eventually, you will run out.

And what will you do then?

Gotta think like a sales person.

I know that a ton of people think it feels “sleazy” or icky to think or act like a sales person, but let’s be super honest for a second here. Who makes sales? Sales people make sales.

There’s a reason for that.

My best advice for people who want to use their blog to sell, but don’t want to feel like a sales person is to remember this: You are solving a problem for people, and you are helping them by telling them how to solve their problem (with your product or service).

When you approach it from that place of service, “selling” suddenly becomes a lot more palatable.  It’s no longer solely about you making money, but about you helping people.

Brainstorming blog posts that convert.

So, the key, then, is to come at your blog from a selling perspective and a helping perspective.  Here are five things to think about when brainstorming blog topics that will help convert your readers to customers.

1. Think about pain.
   Every product solves a problem.  (Yes, even luxury products.) Think about your customer’s problems and how you solve them. This will likely open up a whole treasure trove of ideas for your blog.  The cool thing about this is that by reminding them they have this problem—and reminding them that you can solve the problem—you’re creating desire for your product or service (see the next point). Problem too big to solve in one blog post?  That’s great.  Work on solving (or even just improving) one tiny problem or part of a problem with each post.  Get uber specific.  You’ll have lots of posts that way.
2. Think about desire.
   Every potential client wants something.  In fact, they probably want lots of somethings.  Think of all the desires your product or service fulfills for your clients.  Every one of those desires is the potential starting-point for a blog post.  Reminding them about what they desire (and how you can give it to them) is also great for business.
3. Think about what they need to know first.
   What does your customer need to know right before they click the buy button with you?  That might be information about you, or your product or service, but it might also be information about their problem or desire.  What do they need to know before that? And before that? Prime them to be ready to click.
4. Think about what they need to know next.
   What does your customer need to know right after they buy? Are there other steps they can take after working with you or your product? How to they get to the next level? How do they work towards becoming an expert?
5. Think about how you can be even more valuable.
   What’s the most valuable thing you could tell your potential customers right now?  What could you teach them or show them or give them that would make them love you for life?  That’s a blog post worth writing.