If you have read any other blogs about blogging, you may have seen articles like “100 Ideas for Blog Posts” and “Topics for Blog Posts.” Those posts can certainly be worthwhile, but determining what you are going to blog about in the first place by developing your blog’s theme should be your number one concern. After all, you wouldn’t feel compelled to follow someone and visit their website more than once if they only had one article that you were interested in, would you?

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Develop Your Blog’s Theme BEFORE You Buy the Domain

If you haven’t already purchased your domain name, you are ahead of the game! I own tons (and I mean tons) of domain names because I get so excited about my idea, want to make sure my domain name is available, buy it, and then realize that it’s not actually the best name for my project. Sound familiar? The best thing to do is go through the steps below to develop a theme for your blog and then purchase your domain name and begin on your branding. Having to do it – or pay to have your branding and URL done twice is something you should try to avoid if at all possible.

How to Develop Your Blog’s Theme

The first step to developing a strong theme for your blog is to brainstorm topics and overall theme ideas. Grab a notebook – not a piece of paper or a Word doc on your computer – and begin making lists. Make lists for each topic that you may want to write about. Even if you want to be a lifestyle blogger, you still need to have a niche – writing about traveling, shopping, cooking and working out is a bit too random for your readers. They expect consistency!

Next, turn the page and make another list. Without looking at the list you just made, brainstorm titles for blog posts. If you think it, write it down. Nothing is a bad idea here. Don’t stop until you fill up the page.

Go back to your original list and begin to number your topics. For example, if your list looked like: travel, shopping, cooking, working out, nutrition, design, and weddings, you would number them accordingly, 1-7. Once you have this accomplished, flip over to your blog title list and begin to place the appropriate number by each post that corresponds with your topic. If you have, “The Top 10 Places to go for your Honeymoon,” this would fall under the travel (1) category and a weddings (7) category. Blog posts that fall in multiple categories will be the best posts for your blog!

Take a good look at that blog title list. What do you see? Do you naturally gravitate toward a certain topic? It may have been a bit eye opening. Just because you are interested in a particular topic doesn’t mean that the ideas will flow freely. Write what’s easy for you and what you are truly interested in – it will show!

Give yourself permission to be yourself. If you don’t, it will show.

You may need to create multiple blog title lists before you really hone in on something specific for your blog’s theme. It’s certainly okay to veer off-topic from time to time, but always try to relate it back to the overall theme of your blog. The ability to create links to additional blog posts on your blog and to similar blogs in your field is of utmost importance for SEO.

Still stumped? Schedule a FREE 10-minute discovery call with me and we can go through a few strategies for honing in on your specialty BEFORE you invest too much time on something that isn’t right for your business or blog.

Tiffany