How to brainstorm blogging topics for your auto body shop

When we blog for auto body shops and auto mechanic shops we usually start to see a boost in traffic within the first 90 days. The reason we are successful is because we know how to blog the right way for auto repair customers, and in a way that boosts SEO. Many of our shops rank in the number one spot on the first page of Google, and in many cases it is for a blog that we wrote.

If you’ve made the decision to start blogging regularly for your body shop, the task might feel very overwhelming at first.  For many business owners, the first question they often ask when it comes to blogging is, “How to I come up with enough topics to write about?”  As digital marketing experts, we’ve studied this question extensively and have learned to apply solutions from some of the best business bloggers out there. 

Are you having a bad case of writer’s block?  Let me help you get the blogs flowing:

Rule # 1: They ask, you answer. What I mean by that is, sit down and write a list of every single question a customer has ever asked you about their vehicle. Right now there are about a100 people Googling that same question right in your market area. These are your prospects.

So first, start with questions.  For instance, “How much does it cost for body work?” or “Do you do custom paint work?”  Take one of those questions and dedicate an entire blog post to answering it in detail.  In our experience at Stratosphere, this is hands-down the best way to come up with excellent and relevant material for a body shop blog.

(if you have 12 minutes to spare, our president Tom Zoebelein explains our process in depth in this video. https://youtu.be/YYPZAxMs_GI

Review your top performing keywords.  First of all, if you don’t have tracking installed on your website, then get thee to Google Analytics (or an equivalent tracking service) pronto!  Once you’ve started tracking your pageviews and leads, you’ll also be able to see which keywords have brought the most people to your site.  Use those words and keyword phrases to help you craft multiple blog topics to keep boosting your search engine rankings.  For instance, if you discover that “bumper repair” is a big search term, then formulate all the blog posts you can think of that revolve around that subject.       

Review your top performing blog posts.  Once you’ve developed a decent arsenal of strong blog posts, you can begin to track which ones are the most popular.  For instance, maybe your blog post about dents has performed particularly well and ranks high among all of your blog posts.  If that’s the case, then formulate other great questions you can answer about dent repair.  If someone is searching for answers to questions about dent repair, then the more information you can provide, the better.

Follow the news.  When something relevant to body work on cars hits the news scene, try to be on top of it so that you can keep your customers updated.  For example, when news stories started appearing about the counterfeit airbags from China that some shops were selling, that was an opportunity for us to let our body shop customers know what was going on.  We were able to explain what to look out for and to reassure them that our shops would never sell them something like that.

Follow social media.  Sign up to be a part of various social networking groups on sites like LinkedIn and Twitter that discuss body shops and auto body work.  You’ll get lots of inspiration for blog topics when you participate in or follow such groups.

Another thing you can do?  Hand it over to the experts!
If you’re having a hard time coming up with blog topics for your body shop’s website, then consider having a professional marketing team handle it for you.  At Stratosphere Studio we specialize in marketing for body shops.  We have crafted plenty of great content to attract over 50 leads per month to our clients’ websites.  If you’re interested in building your business with digital marketing, then we’d love to help you!