Andy Wibbels


  • Andy Wibbels
    440 W Barry, Ste 606
    Chicago, IL
    60657-5500 USA
    773-665-9415

    I'm a veteran blogger and award-winning author of Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging. I've been featured in Entrepreneur, Business Week and other national and international media as a recognized expert in business blogging. My professional blog is at andywibbels.com and my ranty personal blog is at andymatic.com. Email me.

    More Blogs To Read!

    Six Figure Blogging
    Easy Bake Weblogs
    RSS Essentials
    Blog Your Way to a Bestseller

    Books

    Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging ISBN 1591841178
    Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars ISBN 1419505017
    Business: The Ultimate Resource ISBN 0738202428

Subscribe to Business Blogging Confidential


  • Subscribe in NewsGator Online

    Subscribe in Rojo

    Add to Google

    Subscribe in Bloglines

Recent Posts

Main | Top Lies About Blogging »

June 22, 2006

5 Things to Blog About Right Now

A big challenge for bloggers of all experience levels is what the hell to blog out. Here's some ideas:

1. The biggest fear around your business or industry. Vulnerability scares the hell out of anybody - but is one of the fastest ways to build rapport. My post about bookfat still gets me emails.

2. The top news story - filtered through your topic. If your an IT firm, talk about the challenges of deploying networks in disaster areas. If you are in marketing, talk about the marketing genius of Karl Rove.

3. The most popular book in your niche. No-brainer. Go to Amazon, find your category, read the top book in your category, blog your notes, make a mindmap, add an entry to Wikipedia, great a study guide, refute, rebutt, advance, expand, expound.

4. The big elephant in the room. Every industry has one. What isn't being talked about among your colleauges? What's the controversial topic? What is pissing people off?

5. A smart blog post from your colleague. Always feature other people on your blog, colleagues, clients, competitors...

BONUS: What you ate for lunch. Whenever I talk about blogging it always comes up, 'Who wants to read about what someone had for lunch?' That's beside the point. Blog about what you learned from your lunch outing that reflect on your industry or niche. Or have lunch with someone fun/smart/crazy.

But when in doubt write something - anything - you can always save it as Draft, unPublish it, revise it, ask for help, etc. Blogging is about completion, not perfection.

Comments

Nice to meet you, Andy - and I'm glad to see you starting a new blog about business blogging. Judging by your initial post, this will be an excellent blog to follow!

Lack of blog topics
serve a purpose.

If I start to post on my blog
and find the idea well empty,
then I know I'm not staying current.

I should be learning at least one new thing a day on my topic of choice or at the very least finding one good example of something I have found true in the past.

My latest book, "Fixing Performance Problems" started out as a series of blog posts on performance problems. Blogs are a great way to compile a first draft of a book.
Bud Bilanich
The Common Sense Guy
www.CommonSenseGuy.com

Congrats on being guest blogger-smart on John's part! Yep-I'm often faced with bloggers' block! I find if I just write-save in drafts-I get something!
Thanks for Blog2Bestseller class and all your blogging tips-Blogwild is by my laptop-my blog "bible"!
Marcia the Transition Chick!

Stories! I know that may seem obvious, but a good story makes for an engaging blog post. It makes it personal, it creates context, it shows the thought process that led up to the conclusion or principal message of the post.

Stories create depth that an off-the-cuff opinion, rant or rave, or a simple bulleted list (no offense!) just doesn't.

I think the most important thing for blogger is getting people to see your blog.

REF/SK/219/2008

Hi,

We are looking for one way links from websites that have PR5 and above. If you
want a backlink we can exchnage. If you want to get paid for a one way link let us know how much will you charge.

We are sure you are not using "no follow" tags in your site.

Just email us at needlinks_asap@yahoo.com

We will email you back ASAP.

Thanks,
JACOB
www.srinisaripalli.com

As a new blogger I find that it can be difficult to get the balance right in terms of quality versus quantity. Thanks for the advice.

Post a comment

If you have a TypeKey or TypePad account, please Sign In

Things We Like