When it comes to blogging one of the things I find the most difficult is finding ideas for blog posts. I seem to get a block every now and then where I sit and wonder what to write about next. I’m sure it happens to most bloggers at certain times.
So what I have done is develop a process that enables me to have plenty of ideas on hand when I need them. Now I’m not about to tell you anything new that you haven’t heard before because my process is simply a matter of writing down any ideas as I think of them. Actually I don’t write them down, I just add them to my iPod Touch so I can access them at any time.
Prior to this, I would think of an idea at the most inopportune time and then by the time I got around to needing to write up a blog post, I would have forgotten that fantastic idea and I’d be back to staring out the window again wondering what to write about. So since I carry my iPod Touch everywhere I go, there is no excuse for me not to keep track of those light bulb moments.
My ideas don’t always just come out of the blue however. A lot of the time, I get ideas from other bloggers. So I’ll keep note of these ideas as well as I visit other blogs on the net.
So my list of potential ideas is growing but even so, I thought it might be worth checking out other methods to see if there are other worthwhile techniques used by bloggers around the net. Here is what I came up with:
- 101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle – This is a great one to start with. If you can’t find ideas here then you are really in trouble.
- 45 Blog Post Ideas that Always Generate Buzz – Another list of ideas that is worth checking out. I’ll be using at least a couple of these.
- 100 Ways to Find Ideas for Your Blog Posts – You should be able to find a few ideas from this long list. I particularly like the idea of going to wikianswers to look for questions.
- 50 Blog Post Ideas You Can Use – This is focused towards business blogs but I think the ideas will work on most blogs.
- 82 Blog Post Ideas For Desperate People – If you like complaining about stuff then you will like this list.
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I purchased a white board recently and keep all my ideas for blog posts on that.
I get my ideas from Yahoo Answers, EzineArticles and blog sites.
Thanks for the links to those blog posts – I can see my white board filling up!
Andrew
.-= andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Interview: Pawan Agarwal – MaxBlogPress Owner =-.
I love whiteboards. Wanda always laughs at me because whenever we go out to those stationery stores I am always looking at the whiteboards.
One of the best investments I made is my white board – would be lost without it now.
Andrew
.-= andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..How You Can Win $6921 In Prizes When Two Social Media Business Players Get Together =-.
Oh no, my white board would have to be tacked to the side of the house. I have no problem with idea generation, just time to publish them all! LOL
For quite a while now, blog commenting has been my main source of promotion & traffic, so I get 99% of my article ideas from other blogs & comments.
My blog is always open. When I get a thought I immediately pop into it, draft a title and maybe the first couple lines, pop back over and finish reading.
Easy-peezy, but it leads to hundreds of drafts. lol
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..Do You Have a Good Website/Blog Designer? Meet CJ – My Awesome New Designer! =-.
LOL – I know what you mean about the ‘hundreds of drafts’. I finally cleared out all of the drafts I had for this blog.
Deleted? POOF?
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..48hr Downtime – Lots Done-LOTS More To-Do! =-.
I meant to add, that’s an awesome list of lists, thanks! :)
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED – $100 – 10 Winners – Comment Contest! ‘Till Months End… =-.
There are so many ideas out there, you just need to dig them up and write it up with your own style. I find great content ideas from reading other blogs as well. My rss reader my best friend. :)
.-= Jack | Online Marketing Blog´s last blog ..5 Ways To Dramatically Increase Your Alexa Ranking =-.
I agree reading other blogs is a great way to get ideas.
I usually have lots of ideas for blogs, sometimes it’s choosing which to do first that I get caught up on.
I find removing myself from my environment and going to a coffee shop with a book and pen is the best way for me to get clarity and focus. I usually have a notebook with me most places I go so I write down ideas when I think of them.
.-= Shirley´s last blog ..How to Revive your Relationship in Retirement. =-.
That’s a great idea. Sometimes leaving your normal environment can clear the head and give you greater focus.
Paula, I”m pretty new here so maybe you already do this, but I don’t see monthly earning reports? Those are always fun to look at and I loved viewing the one for November where you two made $14k (wowee!)
Always inspiring ;)
.-= Moon Hussain´s last blog ..Clash Of The Titans: Pros & Cons of Various Types Of Passive Income Streams =-.
We’ve thought about doing that but we aren’t really comfortable revealing our income. It was actually quite a tough decision for us to write up that $14k blog post.
We did write up a blog post listing other sites that reveal their income. You can take a look here – http://www.affiliateblogonline.com/2009/10/06/top-10-blogs-that-tell-you-how-much-they-make-online/
I have no idea to write anything for my blog, so thanks for your post!
No problem, glad to help.
Paula,
That’s so true about getting great ideas at the most inopportune time. I need to utilize my iPhone much more for capturing those ideas before they escape me.
For me, it’s not the lack of ideas that lead to my writing droughts, but the lack of inspiration to write. It seems to either flow like a tidal wave or drip. I love the links you posted, but do you have any post suggestions on keeping the inspiration flowing?
Brad
.-= Brad Harmon´s last blog ..Why God Makes a Lousy Business Partner =-.
I know what you mean about the “lack of inspiration”. I have that plenty of times as well. I haven’t any ideas for you although I did find this post that I quite like. It’s about how to stay motivated:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-to-stay-motivated.html
Hey Paula,
I’m reading Margaret Mason’s “No one cares what you had for lunch – 100 ideas for your blog”.
Check it out.
.-= Noel´s last blog ..Job Satisfaction Theory =-.
Thanks for the info Noel. What did you think of the book? It has mixed reviews on Amazon.
Yea, I’ve ran out of Ideas of what to write about as well. But doesn’t matter. Seems everything I write about, no one has interest in. I can write about me Giving away Money and people would still have no Interest :(
Well we are feeling sorry for ourselves.
I can almost guarantee that you get very little traffic to your site or the traffic is highly untargeted. Only someone without traffic would say something like this. Just remember that you could have the most interesting articles in the world but if nobody sees them then they aren’t worth a thing. Concentrate on the traffic and when you start getting a decent flow of people through to your site then and only then can you decide on whether anyone is interested in what you have to say.
Lol, I have to say that writing a post that is a list of other good inspiration lists is (in and of itself) genius. Hillarious.. Great Job @ Wanda & Paula keep it up and thanks for the great resource!
.-= Justin Bartlett´s last blog ..Reverse Mortgage Process =-.
Thanks for visiting Justin.
i think a great way to generate article subjects and titles is to do it ‘on the fly’, by that i mean as soon as you discover or learn something new, get it drafted in admin> posts> ASAP, if you don’t do this you may forget about what you just discovered :D
.-= Herbie Hysteria´s last blog ..Case Study: Splash Car Valeting, Nelson =-.
That’s a good idea. I have the WordPress plugin on my iPod Touch so it is easy to type in a draft while I am out and about.
great, bloggers going mobile now! i think its useful because you can then just work on the draft as and when u wish, at least you have a subject and title at that point. :D
.-= Herbie Hysteria´s last blog ..Case Study: Splash Car Valeting, Nelson =-.
Nice article, I have found many times my self wondering what to write and waiting for hours for a new idea. Many times when I don’t have the time to write something or I have not new ideas I am searching in youtube for quality videos and I post them in my blog. This has save me a lot of times…
.-= Online Opportunities´s last blog ..How To Make Killer Marketing Videos =-.
That’s a really good idea.