image credit: addicted eyes (modified under cc 2.0 license)

Many marketing bloggers are swooning over Twitter, FriendFeed, and other instant, fast-paced social communities lately.  It is easily forgotten the blogosphere is still the single best place to build a well-trafficked home for yourself or your business on the web.  Blogging is alive and well, despite what the cynics say – look around at all the people creating new content and the millions reading it daily.

While many have been enticed by the siren song of Twitter and her instant gratification, plenty of us still enjoy the longer format content that blogs are becoming known for.  Also consider that so much of microblogging is actually made up of people discussing and linking to blogs.

With so much talk about use of the newer platforms, I thought it would be worthwhile to throw some blog post ideas at you that never go out of style and always generate buzz.  These should be applicable to any niche.

45 Blog Post Ideas That Always Generate Buzz

1.  Aggregate and filter information, facts, stats or content that currently exists in different places in a single post.

2.  Answer ultra-specific questions or obscure problems in deeper ways than currently exist. The more specific you can get, the better.

3.  List the 101 essential people, sites, or posts in your niche.

4.  Devise a way to tag as many people as possible in a post without doing so directly (work it artfully into the content).

5.  Post why someone popular is wrong, with facts or opinions backing it up.

6.  Gather a bunch of images from Flickr under creative commons that have to do with your niche and make a gallery (with attribution, of course).

7.  Make Digg bait – every blogger can probably hit page 1 at least once if they create the right type of post.

8.  Make a list of bite-size tips for your industry that are quick and useful.

9.  Write something counter to what the rest of the world thinks.

10.  Create a series of posts unique to your site (for example, Daily Blog Tips blogger face-offs).

11.  Write a stream of consciousness post that is extremely emotive.

12.  Show off samples or case studies of your most impressive professional work on your blog.

13.  Analyze/interpret current trends in your industry, drill down to specific examples.

14.  Crowdsource your next post idea to your readers.

15.  Start your own tagging meme.

16.  Run a contest and give something relevant and interesting (not necessarily expensive) to your readers.

17.  Create a list of your most popular posts, your favorite posts, most commented-on posts, etc.

18.  Give away your marketing secrets that have enabled your blog’s success to help your readers do the same.

19.  Write part 2 of one of your posts that was extremely popular.

20.  Write something to inspire/motivate your readers, especially if you don’t normally do that.

21.  Create a collection of the most stumbled/dugg/tweeted posts in your niche with links and a short description under each back to the content (bonus points if you grab images or logos from those sites).

22.  Challenge your readers to change the world and give them actionable ways to do so.

23.  Throw your blog over to the commenters for a day.

24.  Walk readers through a day in your life.  Take photos or even use video.  Put a fun spin on it too (this one is clever).

25.  Interview someone who is upcoming in your niche/field.  This is perhaps more interesting than interviewing someone who already made it – those who are upcoming will be even more passionate about answering your questions.

26.  Write a strong rant.

27.  Ask a question everyone else is afraid of asking.

28.  Ask your readers to de-lurk.

29.  Encourage others to blog by showing the benefits you have personally had from blogging.

30.  Write an interesting analogy.

31.  Coin a phrase which describes a phenomenon that currently has no description.

32.  Write a post about a blog which is popular but is shallow or gimmicky – explain why.  You’ll kick over the hornets nest, but you’ll draw attention.

33.  Do a Twitter search for tweets on a particular subject – display them together on your blog (compile in photoshop).  Create bullet points of trends you notice at the bottom of the post.

34.  Create a sense of urgency, for example  write a post titled “How _____ is already reshaping the world” or “Why you need to know about ______ for future success”.

35.  Write what you notice your industry is doing wrong, and ways it can get on a better path.

36.  Tell a story using pictures.

37.  Point out something ironic.

38.  Create your own spin on a popular meme.

39.  Write a post aggregating smart, inspirational quotes from others in your niche.

40.  Write a post listing the most important news items in your niche over the last 15, 30, 60 or 90 days with a quick yet compelling editorialized description of each.  Build upon it over time by making it a series with a sticky name.

41.  Create a summary/main points of a popular or interesting white paper, book, or any longer format content that is scanable and summarizes it quickly (sample).

42.  Share your blog statistics with readers.

43.  Create an inclusive list of nice-specific jargon with definitions (sample).

44.  Write a post discussing things you can learn by studying “insert popular web personality here”.  For example, you could do something like – “Identifying The Keys to Chris Brogan’s Success” if you were in marketing – but make it industry specific.

45.  Use compelling graphics/charts outlining interesting numbers/facts about something in your niche.

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