If you run a surf biz and you’re writing your own blog posts with AI, you’ve probably hit the same wall I once did.
It’s not actually writing the blog that’s hard. That’s kinda easy nowadays. No, it’s figuring out what the bloody hell to write about!
You know blogging helps with SEO. You know AI can help you pump out content way faster. But when you sit down to write a prompt, your brain goes blank.
It almost feels like you’re being mocked by that blinking cursor.
“What should I even write about?”
“Is this topic worth it?”
“Will anyone actually search this?”
After writing a lot of content (and helping a lot of businesses do the same), I’ve found a really simple rule that makes this way easier.
If the topic doesn’t solve a tension your customer is feeling, well… it’s probably not worth writing.
Your best blog ideas sit exactly where customers hesitate
Whenever someone is thinking about booking a surf lesson, joining a surf retreat or buying a new sled, there’s usually a moment where they pause.
That pause is where the good blog ideas live. Because inside that hesitation is usually a question they haven’t answered yet.
Stuff like:
“Am I too old to start surfing?”
“Will this retreat actually suit my level?”
“Do I need a custom board or am I overthinking it?”
“What if I book lessons and still suck?”
You’ve heard these questions before. Probably a hundred times.
They come up in DMs, emails, phone calls and even yarns in the car park before a sesh. That’s a little thing I like to call tension. And despite being a cruisy Australian who despises confrontation, even I know that tension is where your content should go to work.
Unfortunately… most surf biz blogs miss this completely
If you look around at surf blogs, you’ll see a lot of the same stuff:
“5 tips to improve your surfing”
“The best beaches to surf in Bali”
“Beginner surfing tips”
There’s nothing wrong with these topics. But they’re also the exact same posts every surf website on the planet already has.
They’re broad. They’re boring. They’re generic. They’re soft.
Most of all though, they’re not connected to an actual decision someone is trying to make. If your goal is to bring in customers through search, your content needs to sit much closer to the moment someone is thinking “Should I actually do this?”.
The trick is to solve decisions, not just create content
When I’m helping people come up with blog ideas, I usually tell them to forget about “topics” for a second. Instead, think about the decisions your customers are trying to make.
What do people ask before they book?
What do beginners worry about?
What questions come up over and over again?
Those questions are GOLD for blog content. For example, if you run a surf school, you could easily write posts like:
“Am I too old to learn to surf?”
“How many surf lessons does it actually take to stand up?”
“What happens in your first surf lesson?”
If you run surf retreats, maybe it’s:
“What level surfer should come on a surf retreat?”
“Do you need to be fit for a surf trip?”
“How much surfing do you actually do on a retreat?”
Every one of those topics solves a moment where someone is sitting there thinking:
“Is this right for me?”
NEWSFLASH! AI makes writing faster, but it can’t choose the topic for you
AI is incredible for two things. Helping you figure out what dish to make from the leftover ingredients in your kitchen AND writing blog posts quickly.
It can help you outline the article and structure your ideas. It can then turn rough thoughts into something readable.
But AI can’t magically know the real questions your customers are asking.
That part still comes from you. You have the magic, my friend.
Once you feed AI a topic that’s actually rooted in a real customer hesitation, everything gets easier. The content becomes more useful, more relevant and way more likely to bring the right people to your site. Not to mention it’s easier to write about topics that are close to your heart as opposed to generic waffle that you have no interest in.
Think of it like this.
AI helps you write faster.
But the topic you choose is what determines whether the blog post actually does anything for your business.
And the funny thing is: this is exactly what SEO wants now
Another reason I like tension-based topics is that they naturally create better SEO content.
Search engines are getting smarter. They’re not just looking for keywords anymore. They’re looking for content that actually answers questions and explains situations properly. So when you write posts like…
“Should beginners go on a surf retreat?”
“Soft top vs hard board for learning to surf”
You’re creating content that’s legit useful. And useful content tends to show up in search results.
Not because you crammed keywords into it, but because you actually helped someone figure something out.
The question I ask every time I plan a blog
Whenever I sit down to plan content, I don’t start with “what should I write about?” I ask myself something much simpler.
Where are my beautiful surf biz owners tripping up? Becoming frustrated? Hesitating?
What are they unsure about before they book? What assumptions do beginners have? What do people need to feel confident about before committing?
Every one of those moments is a blog post waiting to be written. And if your content helps someone move from not sure to alright, let’s do this, it’s doing exactly what it should.