Blog content can be compared to a well.

If you’re lucky, it’s a very deep well with some of the most refreshing and crystal clear water you have ever drunk.

However, if you are unlucky, that well is pretty shallow. And the water you get out of it is muddy and has worms and bits of mud and wood in it. Don’t drink this water.

How can you make sure you have the nice fairy-tale well with the awesome water that never runs out?

Well, first let’s end the well metaphor and clarify that we are now talking about fresh blog content. And then let’s investigate the following five tips.

Learn from your mistakes. Keep up with your posts. Keep an eye on what posts generated the most comments and feedback. Similarly, find those that didn’t generate conversation or backlinks. Use this as a formula as to what sort of content you should be creating.

Be personal. Share content about your personal experiences. Share your successes and failures. Let people know what had worked for you and how you approach things like content, marketing, and customer service. Keep it specific to your own business and nothing generic.

Make a list. With a list, you’ll never be left with a blank page when you start writing. Make a list of possible topics and brief outlines for the content. Make sure you refresh it fairly often, keeping at least 5-10 future topics primed and ready to go.

Help others. This is more than just providing advice to your readers. Share links with them to other content that you found useful. This is not only helpful to readers, but can also help generate new traffic for you in the form of backlinks.

Stay up to date. Try to keep up with current trends and hot topics. This will help you churn out relevant content that people are looking for. It also makes you look like an authority in your industry while supplying you with more topics to write about.

Where do you get the majority of your content ideas from, and what works best for you?