Got business blog burnout? Whether you’re stuck on your 100th post or still drawing a blank on your first, this is a safe space. We’ve all had that experience – even beloved authors like Maya Angelou and Neil Gaiman have suffered writer’s block. That’s why we’ve created this list of blog content ideas to keep your business blog posts flowing!

Why Does My Company Need a Blog?

Blogs have awesome powers for small businesses and charitable organizations, because content and conversions go hand in hand. Fresh, optimized content will help all of your site’s pages earn a good position in search results, and attract new website visitors. More traffic means more opportunities to gather leads, make sales, or get support for your cause.

Check out these exciting business blogging stats from OptinMonster:

• Websites with a blog have 434% more pages indexed by search engines, and 97% more links
• 72% of online marketers describe content creation as their most effective SEO tactic
• B2B marketers who have blogs get 67% more leads than those who don’t

Blogs are also a great resource for other small businesses. Being known as a trustworthy source of information bodes well for referral business, as well as website traffic. If you create high quality content, you can earn a place on lists like Fundera’s best small business blogs for stellar advice.

When it comes to non-profits, blogs (which can also be called ‘news’ areas) are a free place to promote your values, story, and initiatives. Plus, the SEO boost you get from quality blog posts will help attract potential donors and volunteers to your site.

• Upward of 76% of non-profits use content marketing, with 87% of non-profit marketers writing articles for their websites
• 45% of the most effective non-profit content marketers use a blog subscription model to gather leads (source)

Now that you’re back on the blogging bandwagon, let’s dive in! Here’s our proven list of blog post ideas.

20 Blog Content Ideas for Small Businesses and Non-Profits

There are probably hundreds of unique blog content ideas that any organization can write about. If it’s something your audience would care about, it’s a great topic. What’s most important is that your content is unique, well-written, and optimized.

Run through our content optimization checklist to make sure you’ve covered all the bases before publishing!

1. Explainer Posts

This is one of the most obvious blog post ideas, but that’s because it’s so good. It’s easy to take for granted how much industry knowledge you have, which newcomers or outsiders are struggling to grasp. You or someone on your team can write an explainer article about a term or practice that people find confusing.

This kind of content also lends well to audio and video.

2. FAQs

If people often ask a question, it would be super helpful to have content that clearly answers it. These could be specific to products or services, questions about your company, or about who you serve and how.

It’s easy to unearth the best questions. Ask your sales team, IT department, social media manager, or the person who goes out to do pitches and presentations. You can also check reviews, comments, website search logs, and data from SEO tools and Google Analytics.

3. How-To Content

There are few people in this world who haven’t Googled how to do something. How-to videos are one of the most popular types of YouTube content, and a good how-to article is something your audience can bookmark and share.

Whether you sell products or services or you support a noble cause – you and your team members do something in your day-to-day that others don’t know how to do. It could be how to use your product or troubleshoot it, or it could be how to lead a meeting, share constructive criticism, create a killer spreadsheet, or reduce your environmental footprint while working from home. The possibilities are endless!

How-to content is awesome for sharing on social media.

4. Unpopular Opinion

If everyone in your industry or non-profit space shares a similar viewpoint but yours is different, speak up! Dissenting opinions are a great way to challenge the norms and share new information. You might publish an interview, opinion piece, or data-driven article.

5. The Good Guides

Search engines love rich, long-form content that’s authoritative and thorough. A guide takes significantly more time to produce, but the payoff is exceptional for both your traffic growth and for your audience. Creating a ‘complete guide’ or a ‘beginner’s guide’ are two excellent blog content ideas.

6. Previews and Reviews

Reviews have always been popular content. Right after fire was discovered and used to cook meat there were probably cave drawings reviewing the meals. You might review industry tools, or share customer reviews of your services.

And don’t sleep on the previews! You can write previews for upcoming industry events or your own company events, as well as new features, products, initiatives, and more.

7. Comparisons

It’s easy to think of a comparison blog as simply pitting two things against each other, and one product, service, or company is the loser. For lots of businesses that’s great content! It’s highly valuable to read expert insights before making a purchase.

But you can also write positive comparisons that help people weigh multiple options, such as your own pricing plans, service packages, or the different ways to support your charity.

8. Tips, Tricks, and Hacks

If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well – but if you can do it better, faster, and with less effort, do that instead! Share unique ways to use your product, tricks to get more out of tools used by your industry peers, tips for hosting a fundraiser, or any other insights from your team to benefit your audience.

9. Resource Roundups

A resource roundup is one of our favourite blog content ideas, because it shares links to your best content on a single topic or set of related topics, and encourages lateral movement around your website. This reduces your website’s bounce rate, and increases a visitor’s time on site and number of pages viewed – all of which are directly or indirectly included among Google’s quality ranking factors.

You can also create roundups of important third-party content, such as recommended reading on topics that your audience cares about.

10. Don’t Do It!

Teaching people how to do something, or how to do it better, is helpful. But what about what NOT to do? Fear-based marketing is a strategy that turns a negative emotion into a positive outcome. It sounds worse than it is – you can create blog posts about common industry mistakes, PR mistakes, errors you’ve made while working on projects, or a time when you disappointed a customer.

Then, share what you learned or how to do it better.

11. For the Love of Listicles

Seriously. Everyone loves a listicle. And all you need to do is create a list, then expand on each of the points. What you’re reading right now is a listicle of blog post ideas.

12. Real World Stories

We’re part of businesses, but we’re also consumers. And we’re all tired of companies shouting at us about how great they are. A better way to share your awesomeness is by letting your audience see it for themselves.

Similar to a case study, a customer success story or real-life use case (like user generated content) makes great content. It lets someone else speak to how your product, service, or charitable initiative benefitted their life.

13. Event Reports

If your team has even one person at an industry event, write about it! There will be others who couldn’t attend and will appreciate reading your takeaways. The same is true about other types of events where you have a presence, whether they are put on by your community or your own organization. Don’t forget to include photos!

14. Interviews

You don’t have to know a celebrity to publish a great interview! If you think a partner, client, or industry peer is brilliant, others will too. And almost every team has at least one person who is a subject matter expert, either through education or experience.

You could ask your interviewee about current industry trends and predictions, or for expert advice on how to do a specific task (think next-level tips and tricks). Think of unique questions that will drive an engaging and relevant story for your reader.

15. Lessons Learned

Not to be confused with the fear-based ‘what not to do,’ these lessons share that sage type of wisdom that comes from either years of experience or a single, impactful experience. One example is the popular “advice I wish I’d had” topic. It could also be a lesson learned from a mentor, industry expert, book, podcast, peer, or someone totally unexpected.

16. Blog Takeover!

If the face of your blog is typically one person, shake it up! Let someone else on the team create content (within your brand guidelines) for a fresh style and perspective. You can also use guest bloggers to give your audience something new – while giving your content writer a much-needed break.

17. Outreach Initiatives

If you’re a non-profit, of course you want to write about the work you’re doing! That content can be shared with media outlets, to your email list, and on social media. And it’s awesome to enhance it with your own perspective and your own data.

Small businesses can also write about company initiatives. Do you support a local organization or sponsor an industry event? Or maybe your team does charitable or environmental work as a bonding exercise. These are all great blog content ideas.

18. Tell Your Story

If your organization has a rich and interesting story that’s too big for your About page, get into it in a blog post or series. The fascinating tidbits about your history and values will establish trust with potential customers or donors. Your story might include your team members and their own journeys.

19. Survey Says

If you want to write a unique article entirely based on your own data – create a poll! Use the results to craft an interesting post that highlights any expected results, surprises, and findings that could be useful to your audience. Your article might even end up being cited as a resource by other business bloggers.

20. Repurpose and Rewrite

If you’ve had a business blog for a few years, there’s a good chance that you’ve got outdated content. But the good news is that old content makes excellent new content.

You can use a simple content audit checklist to review your older posts. Some posts might need only a few details updated, while others could use an entire rewrite with fresh sources and information. Updating content can give you an SEO boost, and makes that old content instantly more shareable.

Hopefully this list of blog content ideas has given you a creative spark!