Generating blog ideas – are generic or niche blogs best?

When you’re working internally to come up with new blog ideas for your business, you might find some differences of opinion on what kind of subjects to target. Do you choose something generic and accessible to a broad audience? Or do you focus on niche blogs that explore and solve a very specific problem?

What’s the purpose of your blog ideas?

Coming up with blog ideas – niche or otherwise – is one thing, but before you even start, you first need to understand your purpose and objectives, as this will influence your approach.

Are you promoting a specific product or service? Are you trying to build brand visibility and attract new customers? Are you wanting to expand your audience by offering something new? Do you want to create a name for yourself as a leading authority in your industry?

Knowing who you’re speaking to, and why, will help you to start honing down on suitable blog ideas. But there’s still the question of whether to go for generic or niche blogs to answer…

Niche blogs vs generic subjects

There’s a lot of argument on which type of blog is better – but there’s no simple solution that suits all businesses. From blog length to blog focus and keyword targets, there are gains to be made from all approaches providing your content quality is high.

For many businesses, blog frequency is the primary objective – keeping the search algorithms interested so they revisit the site, index new keywords and assess overall site context and value, while also giving you some helpful content to share on your socials, or to populate newsletters with. For this type of blogging, more generic, industry-related subjects are ideal, as you can create a 400-500 word piece addressing a broad but relevant audience, without needing to get too technical – or having to generate additional content to support your copy e.g. photos, diagrams, charts, infographics etc.

Others may create a more targeted strategy, coming up with niche blog ideas that are focused on very specific customer pain points, in-depth explanations, or nitty-gritty technical details. These are often longer-form pieces, grabbing the extra authority that comes from 2,000+ word pieces that are detail-rich and backed up with respected resources.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you have to say – and if you have an audience that is interested in hearing it. Any content you create must have a purpose, whether it’s a quick-fire guide to provide an overview or an insightful whitepaper that breaks down and explores each point.

Choosing keywords for blogs

In honesty, from a data point of view, most businesses won’t be able to access accurate search volumes for keywords, so we won’t go too deep here. But another argument for blogging forms around long tail vs short tail keywords – which should you target, which brings more value?

It’s a similar story to the generic vs niche blogs situation. Shorter keywords are great for broader subjects, while long tail keywords provide the opportunity to home in on audience and intent – possibly bringing fewer visitors, but almost definitely ones more likely to convert.

Blending keywords can sometimes offer an effective way of spanning both benefits, but you may need expert help with this kind of SEO content strategy.

Need some creative input for your blog?

Creating a robust blogging strategy and incorporating SEO can deliver great results once you identify the right direction. It’s important to keep the above points in mind while working things out, and always ensure that whatever you produce, it’s well-written, engaging and relevant to your reader.

If you need help coming up with fresh blog ideas, developing a content calendar or writing generic, technical or niche blogs, our team are here to help.