Earlier, I got your creative juices flowing (I hope!) with eight ideas for blog posts for your business blog.

But what if you get started on a post and just keep writing … and writing … and writing … ?

That’s when you may want to write a series of posts rather than a single long post.

Ideally, you want your blog posts to be fairly short and to the point.  (These days, I tend to limit mine to about 1,000 words, but that’s a rule of thumb rather than an absolutely non-negotiable limit. Around 300-500 words seems to be a good length.)

So if a topic is more complex than can be covered adequately in, say, 600 or so words, think about breaking the topic up into a series of several posts.  (For an example, see my “Ten Commandments” series.)

Here’s one way to plan a series:

1. Brainstorm your post list. Take your topic and break it out into logical sub-topics.  Use an outline if that works for you.  Then go back and add a one-sentence summary for each major heading.  Now — you have a structure in place.
2. Do rough drafts. You don’t have to draft these in order, nor do you have to finish one article before you start another.  Go ahead and start making notes for each one.  Start writing posts in the middle if you have to.  You can always save the drafts and edit later.
3. Plan your release strategy. You’re probably not going to want to post your entire series at once.  Part of the beauty of setting up a blog is you can embargo posts (that is, schedule the release of your post to your blog for a date and time you choose) within the blog software.  You can schedule post #1 of the series to be available tomorrow, post #2 to be available three days later, etc.  Just choose a post frequency that will suit your readers.
4. Ask for feedback. At the end of every post, invite comments — ask questions, solicit ideas, etc.  You may find that reader comments give you great ideas for revisions to existing posts and/or future posts in the series.
5. Tease and link. Link backward to previous articles in a series, and leave a “teaser” in the end moving people forward to the next post in that series for continuity.  (Here’s a great link on the technical aspects of interlinked series for those using WordPress.)
6. Create a “sneeze” page. If your blogging software supports it, create a static page that links to all the articles in that particular series as a courtesy to readers (and a convenience to you when you want to link to that topic in the future).

Now — start thinking about topics you can build a series on.  What about those “10 questions” topics I referred to in the previous post?

A friend of mine — a consultant — is starting to blog at the behest of her company’s webmaster.  “But I don’t know what to write about,” she said when we had lunch recently.

So, for anyone out there who’s just starting to blog for business and doesn’t know where to start (content-wise), here are a few memory-joggers that’ll get your creative juices flowing:

• Ten questions your customers/clients ask. I’ll bet if you sit down with a pencil and paper for 5 minutes, you can jot down ten questions that you’re always being asked.  Now you’ve got ten 300-500 word blog posts right there.
• Ten questions your customer/client ought to ask. I’ll also bet there are some areas of ignorance that your prospects have that you’d like to clear up.  There’s another ten 300-500 word blog posts.
• Ten myths about your professional area. Granted, there may be a thin line between this one and the one directly above, but surely there are a few persistent myths you’d like to clear up.  Here’s your chance.
• Seasonal issues. Are there any issues you deal with on a seasonal basis?  For instance, tax preparers are always busy giving advice at calendar-year-end and during tax season.  You probably have at least one of those issues as well.
• “I wish you’d talked to me before you did that” moments. These are the forehead-slappers, the “doh” (think Homer Simpson) moments when you want to tell a prospect/customer/client, “If you’d only come to me first — I could have saved you time/money/frustration!”  Jot those down as they happen.
• Editorial commentary. If you keep up with news in your field, either with a tool like Google Reader/Alerts or by trolling various websites and blogs in your professional domain, you’ll probably find items you want to comment on.  Go ahead and link to the source, then comment away.  Your regular readers will probably appreciate the heads-up, and you’ll add to your reputation as a thought leader in your field.
• Case studies. If you’ve been in business any length of time at all, you’ve got some success stories to tell.  Get the subject’s permission, then write up the story of how you solved their problem.
• Product/service reviews. Has someone published a particularly good (or bad) book in your field?  Is there a related service you want your readers to know about?  Review it in your blog.

And if those 8 ideas aren’t enough to get you started, here’s one of the most comprehensive blog post idea lists I’ve ever seen: 20 Types of Blog Posts.  (The whole “Battling Blogger’s Block” series on ProBlogger.net is here.)

Get writing!