One of the main things I see all bloggers struggle with is content. They run out of ideas for their blog posts, they have no idea what they’re supposed to write to their email list, and they even question what sort of content they should be posting on social media. It’s a hard thing to get hung up on because when you don’t know what to share, you just stop sharing, which slows or halts your growth.

The thing is, though, coming up with ideas and then creating content doesn’t have to be as difficult as it feels. Consistently creating content that you enjoy and your audience needs and enjoys comes down to really knowing these three things that drive every piece of content you post online: you, your brand, your audience.

You

A lot of the advice I’ve seen around the web in the last couple of years essentially says ignore what you like and post content that your audience likes. Yikes. I’ll be honest with you: that’s a great way to hurry up and burn out with what you’re doing online. If you’re always posting tip-style posts (like this one) and not really sharing you and what you like – even if it’s just on your social media accounts – you’re going to end up getting to this place where you resent what you’re doing.

Instead of just writing for your audience, take you into consideration.

While you’re sitting down to work on your editorial calendar or thinking about what you want to post online, in general, consider what you like or what you want to talk about. One of my favorite ladies, Holly of A Branch of Holly, did this recently with her own blog, and I truly love her so much for it. She was starting to burn out with sharing what we’re told we’re “supposed” to share, so she took a step back and started sharing more lifestyle posts because she wanted to.

Related: Combining Your Passions Into One Thing You Love

Your Brand

This might seem sort of obvious, but your brand should be driving your content as well. If you’re trying to build your brand and expertise with a certain niche or topic, then it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be posting about something totally random all the time instead of your niche. No, I don’t mean you can’t share something random every now and then, but it’ll come across as disconnected if your blog is mainly about helping people with their branding, yet you’re sharing home decor every day on your Instagram account.

It’s not about cutting everything out, it’s about carefully curating.

My favorite brands are the ones that are well-rounded. They share a little about their life, what they enjoy doing, they share advice that I can actually apply to my life / blog / business, and they are true to themselves. What I’m saying is that you don’t have to totally ditch your blog posts about how you got inspired by something not related to your niche. Instead, you just want to make sure you’re carefully curating everything so that you’re creating a balanced, well-rounded brand. When you’re doing this and working on your editorial calendar, you want to make sure that 1/3 of your content still relates back to what you do through your brand. For example, if you help people get their home organized, you want to make sure 1/3 of your content on social media and your blog is driven by that.

[clickToTweet tweet=”If you’re struggling with your content, you may be ignoring these 3 very important things” quote=”If you’re struggling with your content, you may be ignoring these 3 very important things”]

Your Audience

This is probably the most obvious out of the three points, but your content has to be driven by your audience. There are two types of blogs online right now: those who are trying to grow, create products, and make money and those who are just blogging because it’s something they enjoy. If you’re in the former group, your key to growth with your blog is writing content driven by what your audiences wants / needs from you.

You have to know what your audience needs your help with.

Creating content driven by your audience does not mean writing what you think people need and then going to try to find people that will like your posts. Instead, you want to work on getting to know your audience. Who are they? What do they do with their own blog or business? What are they struggling with? When you pay attention to what your audience and others need help with within your niche, you’ll find it much easier to create content that people truly love and find helpful.

Bonus points: If you’re struggling to consistently come up with ideas for content that will help people with their problems around your niche, pay attention to the questions being asked on places like Twitter and in Facebook groups. People aren’t always going to come to you directly to ask for help with something you know how to do, and if you pay closer attention to what people are posting around the web, you’ll likely get a better understanding of what people need help with that you may have never thought of.

Related: How to Find Inspiration For Your Blog

If you’re struggling with content, look at these things.

If you’re getting held up trying to come up with content ideas that you can post on your blog and social media or send to your email list, I want to challenge you to take a deeper look at these three things for yourself. Are you getting burnt out because you’re ignoring what you like to talk about? Does your audience feel a disconnect when it comes to your brand in general? Are you missing out on growth with your blog because your content isn’t driven by your audience?

If you want to hear me talk a little bit more about these ideas, feel free to check out this Periscope where I discuss these ideas a little bit more!

I’m so excited to finally share with y’all that I’ve been working on a workshop that I know is going to be a game changer for bloggers looking to find their place in what blogging is now while still growing and exploring what they can do. Find Your Focus is a 3-hour workshop that is designed to help you create an intentional path forward.

In the first session, we’re going to really dig deep and get to know you and your audience. You’ll leave day one with a clear idea of your brand and how to get to know your audience on a deeper level. In session two, we’re going to take what we talked about previously and start creating free + paid content ideas that you truly believe in and are excited about as well as creating a 90-day plan that you can feel good about.

This isn’t just another workshop to help you double your audience or start creating info-products. It’s about getting really intentional with what you want out of blogging and how you can move forward to achieve those goals.