21 Blog Posts Every Blogger Can Write
Sooner or later, every blogger faces a blank computer screen with no idea of what to say. The key is to have a sure-fire mechanism for generating fresh blog post ideas to keep your writing demons away.
What shall I blog about?
To ensure you’ve always got something to write about, forget what you learned about writing in elementary school. Keep a working list of ideas and titles to get you through your dry spells. Here are twenty-one blog post suggestions to help get your creative juices flowing.
- Trending topics. Examine the hot topics on Google Trends or Twitter. Can you craft a post that takes advantage of this interest?
- Evaluate the news. What’s happening in your blog’s niche and what does it mean for your readers? This doesn’t mean regurgitate the news but rather add insights that enlighten readers.
- Analyze recent research. Is there new research in your vertical? Don’t just restate the findings. Add your assessment to provide value for your readers.
- Interview influencers and other people of interest in your category. This is useful for a writer who’s hit a dry spell since you don’t need to think up all of the ideas yourself. Pose the questions and let your guest carry the weight of the conversation. You can do interviews via video or in text format. Don’t forget to link to your guest’s website and social media profiles.
- Gather input from a set of experts. Instead of one person, ask a few influential people in your category for their answers to a major question. Of course, you should link to their blogs or websites. Similar to an interview but it’s short and for one point.
- Profile customers. Similar to interviewing well-known people in your category, ask your customers for their point-of-view.
- Ask readers what they want to know. While most readers won’t comment, they may be more willing to submit questions they want answered, especially if it’s via an email or a form.
- Add to other bloggers’ commentary. What are other bloggers in your category discussing? Do you agree or disagree with them? Write your own perspective in response explaining your position. Don’t forget to link back to the original post to give the blogger credit.
- Respond to blog comments. Since most bloggers don’t amass many comments, these comments don’t have to be on your blog. They can be on another blog covering your topic where you have a lot to say. Haven’t you seen input on blog posts and articles that are long enough to be stand alone pieces?
- Engage in a Twitter chat. Exchange ideas with others on a topic in which you’re interested. Take note of the topics and questions that arise. Are any of them blogworthy?
- Answer common questions in your niche. Source questions from Q&A sites like Quora. Provide meaty, useful information. Also, if you’ve got a business blog, respond to customers’ questions. Gather questions from customer service, social media and your competitors.
- Show them how. Explain to readers how to do something, whether it’s a recipe for cooking or steps to clean out your garage. Embellish it with images.
- Collect a set of resources. Offer readers a list of the best resources in your niche. Organize them in an order and include a comment about each one. These posts are great for attracting links and social sharing.
- Review new products. Offer a third party perspective on new items in your niche. This can be clothes or the latest tech gadget.
- Give a book report. Provide your readers with the salient take-aways for the important new books in your field.
- Cover cultural and/or political events. Of course, this depends on your blog’s category. Think broadly in terms of theater, concerts, dance and art shows.
- Review media openings. Include movies, television and video games that are relevant to your audience.
- Use conferences and other live events to source new ideas. Go beyond live blogging. Give your insights on the topic. If there are exhibits, gather input or other type of review. Don’t overlook gathering input from attendees but make sure you let them know you’ll be publishing their feedback.
- Be picture pretty. Photograph items of interest in your category with captions to get your readers interest.
- Talk to the camera. Can’t commit words to paper? Have a conversation via video. Don’t forget to associate text with it to ensure that it’s search-friendly.
- Create an infographic. If you’ve got creative resources to support you, integrate information into a user-friendly infographic to attract readers with limited writing.
When you’ve got a case of I-can’t-write (aka writer’s block), you can’t just take a break and hope inspiration will magically come tap you on the head. Instead, you must jumpstart your writing. Using external suggestions, at a minimum, will make your own ideas seem very appealing. Of course, you must not steal other people’s ideas or content. Further, give credit where appropriate. (BTW, if you’re still stumped, here are 125 blog topics for inspiration.)
What suggestions do you have for sourcing new blog post ideas?
Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen
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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grafixer/3180236074/
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