Should My Blog Only Be About the Services I Provide?

Blogs have become table stakes for modern businesses, but for specialized brands, there may be the looming fear that you’ll run out of things to talk about. However, there are strategies to ensure you always have something valuable to blog about! Some of the most important guidelines are keeping your topics varied and confirming their SEO value. Subjects should not always be directly aligned with your services or products.

For example, if you own a massage business, you’ll run out of material if you only write about different types of massages. Writing blogs (or having them written for you) about topics adjacent to your service offerings will allow you to reach a larger audience looking for information or services you can complement. For example, you could write about:

• Self-care tips
• Exercise
• Various spa treatments

Get all the details about selecting blog topics that will work for your business.

How to Find Blog Topics for Your Business (Even Tangential Ones)

There’s no one correct answer, but these are the tactics Oneupweb recommends:

• Determine target personas for your blog.
• Use keyword research. (Here’s a guide to blog SEO that will help!)
• Look at competitors’ content to inspire your research.
• Visit major industry publications.
• Check out forums that your target audience enjoys.
• Listen to your audience – on social media, in reviews, and more – to learn what they want to learn.
• Use these content planning tips to keep track of ideas and team members.

Before you start identifying blog topics, sit down and think about what you want to accomplish. For example, are you willing to write about DIY topics to satisfy your audience, even if it deters some users from purchasing services? Will you cover highly technical subjects to help laypeople better understand what you do, or will you keep subjects lighter?

Next, you’ll be able to identify topics that fit this mold.

You might start with topics related to your services, but you may need more than this to maintain a regular content schedule, especially if you offer limited services. This is when it’s essential to look for adjacent services or products and blog topics that may be somewhat related to those.  

Remember that the topics’ purpose is not serving the content strategy alone; it’s serving your target audience and establishing your business as a subject matter expert.

But How Do I Justify Non-Service-Aligned Blog Topics?

Writing about topics that are only loosely related to your business can be helpful because:

• The user’s broader intent (example below) may be relevant to your business, which is an opportunity to generate awareness of and demand for your offering. 
• Topic variation supports healthy SEO performance by preventing keyword cannibalization and creating more opportunities to earn backlinks.
• Topic variation can help make your social media and email activity more interesting.
• Well-rounded blogs help establish your brand as a thought leader in your whole industry, not just your niche.  

Let’s pretend you own a window installation service business. You’re considering writing a blog about window cleaning, even though you don’t provide that service. This is when you might ask yourself, “Won’t I draw people to my website who are after things I can’t offer?” The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think.

If someone is looking for window cleaning, their broader intent is to care for their windows. You can offer great advice about window cleaning first. Then you can cover some “dirty window” situations that necessitate window replacement, such as mold between two panes of glass. For the reader, this may spark a new plan for home maintenance.

How to Become a Thought Leader

For many brands, one primary goal of content marketing is to become a thought leader. Blogs, videos, and social media posts are all highly effective ways to do this. This is where blogs about non-service-related topics can truly shine. If you only talk about your services, your blog will seem like a series of infomercials. Don’t get us wrong; you should have blogs about what you do and what you know. However, marketing isn’t just about selling a product; it’s about selling your brand by educating and helping users. Your target audience will appreciate your authenticity if you’re willing to inform them without selling to them.

Authenticity is key. When you’re offering information that isn’t sales-related, you’re conveying that you care about customers beyond their value as customers. This means your readers are more likely to remember you, and when they need a service you provide, being top of mind can’t hurt.

How to Use a Blog for Business

Properly using a blog for business promotion can be a tricky process. It requires a lot of SEO research, high-quality writing, consistent publishing and an excellent multi-channel promotion strategy. Oneupweb is filled with people who know exactly how to do this. If you want to expand your blog or get one going, we can give you the support you need. For help with content of all kinds, including blogs, web pages, videos and more, contact us online or call (231) 922-9977.