In What Should I Blog About Next?, Nicole Dean asks several experts their best tips for coming up with fresh blogging topics. Or:
What do you do when you're out of blogging ideas??
I participate in Nicole's "expert briefs" every chance I get, but since I didn't contribute to this post I thought I would share my thoughts & tips on the topic with you here.
There was great advice offered in the post, and even a free download. I was inspired with an idea for my next blog post while there (!) and I'll share the details in a few...
Some of my favorite tips & sources they shared for coming up with content or blogging ideas include:
- Current News & Events
- Questions People Ask You
- Things You're Reading (Blogs, Books, Social Media updates)
- Keyword Research
- ASK Your Readers/Followers!
- Known & Not-So-Known Holidays
See the full post here: What Should I Blog About Next?
Blogging Ideas for Product & E-Commerce Sites
I mentioned a great tip in my ASW11 Recap post that came from the SEO Site Clinic, regarding blogging and social media content:
If you have a product-based (e-commerce style) site, use social media & blogging for link bait instead of “making a sale”. Use content to engage your market with viral, outrageous, humorous topics – with the focus on getting quality links & valuable exposure.
For those of you with product-based or commercial websites, you'll want to get creative with your content. Let's say you have a gift basket site, for example. Blog post ideas might include: Top 10 WORST Gifts of All Time, What NOT To Give A Woman For Christmas, etc.
By keeping it light, fun, and engaging you increase your chances of readers sharing your content - and getting those much needed quality inbound links.
Of course, you'll always end with a call-to-action and link back into your specific product pages. 😉
From the ClickNewz Archives...
30 Rocking Search Phrases To Inspire Great Content For Your Blog
My Top Sources For Web Content & Blogging Ideas
5 Types of Web Content That Readers Love
The Secret To Writing Really Great Content
THIS Post Is A Good Example
The post you are reading right now... serves as a great example of the tips offered in Nicole's blog post. I read it, liked it, wanted to share it, and decided to take their advice and expand on it here at my own blog. Bingo - blogging idea turned published post! That was easy, wasn't it? 🙂
Best,
About Lynn Terry
All great ideas but I especially like the Holidays idea. Will have to check to see what motorcycle holidays there are.
Thanks
Lynn, I like your idea of writing a post based upon questions people ask. We recently changed our "contact us" page into a page where people can ask us questions about their porch - and their question automatically becomes a "post" (after our approval). Then we incorporate our answers into their question, adding photos and related links - and we have a really nice web page that was actually created by one of our readers.
Also, like you mentioned, I like to get ideas by looking at the search terms that our site pages are found by. We get that information in our SBI dashboard as well as in Google Analytics. It's fun to see what people are looking for.
Thanks for the neat post and the good ideas for creating interesting content.
Mary, that is such a cool idea! Do you do all that manually, or with some kind of a plugin? Great post Lynn. I am positive that I"ve been making blogging way too hard. I guess from not thinking of myself as a blogger.
I always get my blogging ideas from google trends and sites like alltop, where the current hottest topics are listed. Then I'll check the google keyword suggestion tool to find relevant keywords.
Hi Lynn
Yahoo (remember them!) Questions are a great source of inspiration for many topics!
Regards
David
Hi Lynn,
Thanks for sharing this, I got some new fresh ideas on my mind that probably I will put in place. Is good to interview recognized people to start new blogs and SEO is very important as well. The only problem is that sometimes you have to do MAGIC because almost everything is on the net already. Anyway!!! Thanks !!!
FITNESSHEALTHGYM
Sometimes people try to hard to find something to blog about instead of just making a blog post an extension of your own thoughts.
You can try to force yourself to be more aware of what you are thinking - perhaps when you are reading an interesting email, when you are searching for something online, see something interesting in a coffee shop, anything really.
Your entire day is inspiration for content. That of course doesn't count instructional things, like when you figure out how to solve a problem you had. You can bet other people have the same problem.
I opened up, what I considered to be an interesting email this morning, and there I go...I turned my experience of reading it and my expanded thoughts about it into my latest blog post. And it's a good one I must say 🙂
Thanks for these great suggestions about different ideas to blog about. I think it is very easy to get bogged down in the every day to day writing and not even consider different kinds of topics you could be writing about. I especially liked the idea of the "what I'm reading" type post and the ideas for articles for e-commerce sites are awesome!
Great post Lynn!
Personally, I have found that the simple task of commenting on blog posts is a great way to generate new ideas. Leaving comments really gets my brain going with ideas and I end up having the juice for a whole new post. I may agree or disagree with the author, but either way it is great fuel for the fire.
I also like Mary's comment above about answering her readers' questions in the form of a blog post. This is an awesome way to provide useful benefits to your readers and get fuel for great content at the same time.
Have an AWESOME day!
Anthony
Being a technology consultant I just go to Amazon and look up some products to write a post about, or I think about writing about something I enjoy or love and that makes it easier to come up with post ideas. Recently I wrote an article about a Tibetan book on living and dying because being a Buddhist that was of interest to me and close to my heart. I have put in to a standard practice and everything Lynn says should be in a good blog post and I think the quality of my posts is getting better.
Thanks Lynn!
great post, i always use the twitter website and look to see what is currently trending. this seams to work quite well.
I always go for a run when i'm out of blogging juice. Or a bike ride. Exercise helps me think, and when an idea comes to me I can run home fast and improve my PB! You'd be surprised how getting out into the fresh air helps you come up with ideas.
great information for blogger thanks for good information.
These are some great ideas for coming up with blog topics. It can be a very long day when can't think of anything good to write about and are feeling uninspired. Another good idea is to check the top trends on Google and Twitter, to see what people are searching & tweeting about.
I think original content is essential to finding new readers. People who follow places like problogger are mostly out for money. I don’t think that they care for blogging so much as to what they gain from it. It is people who truly love blogging that will chart the vast open space of possibilities.
Books and Newspapers are my main source of blog topics. The newspapers have to be high-brow quality ones with articles on science, medicine, history, philosophy, astronomy, theology, cosmology,....oh yes and some up to date political news. 😉
John
Blogging in Leamington Spa, England
As Lynn helps us in blogging ideas, let me share you one more resource.
Last week I stumbled on WordPress.com and I found PostADay/ PostAWeek challenging activity. The activity doesn't excited since I'm very busy with my site activities.
But I immediately jumped into PostAWeek 2011 because they help providing one topic every day. It fun. Check this out;
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/how-to-sign-up-postaday-postaweek/
Thanks for sharing, Lynn. 🙂
Not knowing what to blog about is a problem that many people face. Though I have never faced that problem yet so far. 😛
Lol. On the contrary, I have so many things that I want to blog about that there's not enough hours in a day to accommodate all of them. 🙂
Cheers,
Allen
When i run out of ideas i usually take a walk in the park or simply start doing something else.
Thanks for these great suggestions about different ideas to blog about. I think it is very easy to get bogged down in the every day to day writing and not even consider different kinds of topics you could be writing about.
I especially liked the idea of the “what I’m reading” type post and the ideas for articles for e-commerce sites are awesome!
At least for me, writing regularly about the same topic can take its tole on my productivity. I think switching it up once in a while can be important. That can be difficult on a business's blog, but as long as the tone stays light and friendly, even less "on-topic" posts can have value.
There are no shortage of places to look for ideas - besides the above I might add, top celebrities, movies, events, life experiences during the past week and Google/Yahoo trends. Such ideas help when you're really stuck, and can lead you to writing some interesting and alternative-styled posts.
When i need new ideas for my blog i turn on my tv and my radio or i just go to walking around. This help me to get new ideas. If this 2 methodes not bring me any result i just read my favorite blogs. This will keep me in touch with online news and most of the time bring an idea for a new post on my blog.
I always keep a text file with story ideas handy. I use it more like a brain storming list. A couple times a month I'll sit down and brainstorm story ideas and add them to the list. Even the ones I know I'll never write, because sometimes it's like train of thought. An idea (even a bad one) sometimes takes me to a much better idea.
I was confused when i had to write content for same topic in my company. you have shared nice blogging ideas. it will really help me in my professional life. Thanks for this informative post.
What I mostly do is think of 2 different topics that can be merged into one (such as trust marketing + SEO), and try to make a post as detailed as it can be for it to offer real value. But in getting more ideas, I think its best to observe social voting sites like digg, and try to see what kinds or formats of content are trending and really getting people's attention.
Nice post!
Cool of you to talk about finding things to blog about in this way. Topics are everywhere aren't they? It's amazing! I've found that when you're conscious of finding topics throughout your day, they come a lot easier!
You can always relate stuff that happens in your day to day grind to what you write about. I totally agree that product based commercial websites should focus on being a bit different and creating playful content!
Great post, I can dig.
Ryan
Thanks for sharing your favourite tips and resources, Lynn.
I particularly like "Things You’re Reading (Blogs, Books, Social Media updates)" I should use these more often.
Ros
Thank you so much! I struggle almost everyday on what to blog about. I love the Holiday idea!
thanks for sharing this infomation i have alot to do still to promote my blog bt with these ideas im sure i will have more luck thx one again!
I have noticed that while watching TV, I come up with some of my most awesome Ideas. So don't forget to try TV for inspiration, find something that moves you emotionally.
Thank you all for sharing your experience and thoughts here. I have learned a lot from all the sharing. My goal is to put everything in notepad start doing. Thank you once again to all and our mentor Lynn