So you have a blog

Congratulations! You are utilizing one of the most successful (and underrated) marketing strategies of the 21st century!

You know that buyers consume content before making a purchasing decision — in fact, 47% consumed 3-5 pieces of content before taking the first step towards making a purchase.

The biggest hurdle any business has to overcome is building trust with strangers, and blogs are an excellent way to do that. If you invest the time in maintaining a blog with your current and prospective clients, the ROI will be incredible.

Featuring a blog on your business's website gives you a 435% better chance of being ranked higher on Google, which is an incredible leg up on your competitors who aren't.

Why wouldn't they? Because they’re tech guys. They're just MSPs, but you’re an MSP and a smart business owner.

You know you have to publish content on your website, but what do you have to publish?

Here's a list of 10 topics that you should include on your blog, just to crack open the floodgates of leads that are sure to pour in now that you're a go-to resource for clients who have questions about their company's technology and security.

1. Listicles

• A listicle is an article made up of a list of things.
• Simple enough, right?
• Even better: your audience loves them. It's scientifically proven.
• Even you like them! You're reading one right now.
• Ex) "Top Ways To Do X" or "Everything You Need To Know About Y"

2. How-Tos

• Nobody likes to read instructions.
• Landfills are packed to the brim with lengthy instruction manuals that never got a second glance.
• So how do people figure stuff out?
• "Google it."
• Answer those Google-able questions your clients might have in simple, digestible how-to blog posts.

3. Personal

• People like to invest in people, not businesses.
• What makes your service your service is you.
• Tell your readers about who you are, not just what you do.
• They'll be more likely to relate, make a human connection, and be inspired to make an investment.

4. Professional Advice

• Show off your expertise.
• What kind of technology is awesome and what kind is not-so-awesome.
• That new IoT product that everyone is raving about? Give your input on the best way to use it.
• Position yourself as a thought leader and highly competent professional in your field so that people will trust and respect you when it comes time to hire you.

5. Reviews

• Again, you’re the professional here. Tell your clients what kind of products/services/software you strongly like and dislike.
• You can make this a listicle or you can do a series of individual review blog posts.
• Plus this will add to your position as a thought leader in the space.

6. FAQ

• Disclaimer: this isn't going to make people stop answering the same questions you have answered a million times, but they do serve as a resource. Having a link to share will save you a ton of time when people do fire those common questions at you. Now you won't have to keep writing the same response over and over.
• Plus, Google's algorithm uses FAQs as part of its Knowledge Graph.
• If you score a top hit in this space, you’re golden.

7. Success Stories

• Talk about that one time you saved your client Jimmy from experiencing an entire system crash, or when Karen lost all of her files, but luckily you had backed them up for her on an external hard drive.
• It's okay to toot your own horn, especially on your blog.
• And by making your client's the spotlight of the story, it's really more of a humble brag ;)

8. Myth Busting

• Every industry has it's own set of baseless ghost stories, and internet security is no exception. People love to learn about what they've been doing/thinking wrong all along.
• Call them out.

9. Curation

• Don't want to write of your own stuff?
• Put together a list of resources--articles, videos, etc.---that your clients will find entertaining or educational.
• Bonus: linking to other sites on your blog posts increases your credibility and SEO.

10. Inconsequential Controversy

AKA poking the bear. You don’t need to post 500 words about who you voted for in 2017; it can be something lighter, simpler, and less likely to succumb you to the wrath of internet trolls. People have written blog posts on How To Eat An Oreo Correctly, Taylor Ham vs. Pork Roll, and Which Way the Toilet Paper Roll Should Hang. You’d be surprised at their virality.