If you’re anything like me, you periodically find yourself in front of your computer, with your WordPress dashboard open, staring at your monitor like a deer in headlights.
You’re having content brainfarts.
There you sit, experiencing content emaciation, with little direction on which way to go. You had all of these great ideas, and now that you’re on the main stage of starting a blog post… you freeze.
You Are Not Alone – No, Really I Mean It
Trust me, this is normal. Absolutely normal. At least I’m hoping it is, because this is the kind of thing I deal with every time I sit down to write a blog post. So if it’s not normal, and you struggle with the same thing, at least we can cope together.
I’m here to tell you that there’s hope. There’s a way for us to come together and produce quality content – you know, the kind of content that draws linkbacks, retweets, and comments from your users. I’ve cobbled together a list of places to find what you’re looking for – the holy grail.
Places to Find Inspiration for Blog Content
- Similar Blogs in Your Niche
Yes, this one is pretty obvious. If you write about underwater basket weaving, why not visit other blogs that cover the topic. Reading content that is written by others, and is drawing attention and conversation is proof in itself, that you can have an audience. Now, please hear me when I say this – I’m NOT saying that you should copy their content. I’m saying that you should be inspired by it. Huge difference. - Do a Twitter Search
There are literally millions of people who babble online (in 140 characters or less) about everything from the Grammy’s to yes, underwater basket weaving. (here’s proof) What better way to write content about a subject that you know people are already talking about. Scan through the results of a Twitter search, and see if there’s commonality in what they are saying. See if people are asking questions, and if so – write about it. - Subscribe to Google Alerts
This is something that I’ve been doing more and more lately. It’s pretty genius, as a matter of fact, that though Google Alerts we have the capability of having targeted inspiration delivered to our inbox literally minutes after it’s posted. If you want to cover that latest breaking news in underwater basket weaving, setup an alert to have Google send you links to blog posts and news articles as they happen. This is also a great chance to link to the source that you reference in your post, which might probe the source author to check out your own site. - “For Dummies” Books
Yesterday I went to Barnes and Noble for this very reason – I want to write more about my experiences with blogging and the internet, but I freeze every time I’m in front of the blog writing camera. So I did exactly what I’m telling you now. I purchased 4 “For Dummies” books, with the intent on reading them to provide inspiration for new content. All you really need to do is rip out the table of contents of each one, as that should give you all the inspiration you require to kickstart your content producing endeavors.
Google Alerts also help you discover newcomers to the community. It’s a great way not just to find new content to talk about on your blog, but to strengthen the community as a whole by building up newer bloggers. Engaging them on their sites brings them back to your own and fosters discussion. It’s just a lot of work, and can be daunting for many.
I haven’t tried the “For Dummies” book route yet, though. But that will definitely be next on my list.
When I was at Barnes and Noble, I was amazed at how many “For Dummies” books there were. Just in the personal finance section alone there must have been at least 10 different kinds. Sometimes all it takes is seeing a table of contents with “Places to Sign up for Online Banking” and you can have an entire blog series there to be had.
Hi Brian
Content brainfarts do suck, don’t they? LOL Thanks for the giggle, love that terminology!
Just wanted to stop and add one more thing to your list that usually helps me… industry forums. Whatever your ‘industry’ is, belonging to forums or other community driven sites is a constant source of inspiration for me. Topics of discussions, or questions asked are a great way to determine target market needs and interests.
One other source of post inspiration? Blog stats… look at the keywords bringing search engine traffic to your site. You may be surprised by some of them, which may spark an idea or two for a post
Ginger – thanks for dropping by and adding your two cents. (which is always welcome, by the way!)
I agree – that community forums around the niche, as well as blog stats (or Google Trends) is another great place for inspiration. For me, it makes sense to focus not only topics that are informative and help others, but also about things that people WANT to discuss. After all, engagement with your audience is really important to building your brand and blog.
I suggest taking a look at some of you own posts especially the most read ones, and then come up with a new post along the same basic concept. It gives you a reason to link to your own content, and adds to the consistency you should have.
You might inspire yourself!
Great suggestion Doug. If you have a post that received a lot of attention, retweets or comments – why not follow it up and link back to it? Good one!
I really like the Google alerts idea. I acutally use one to find candidates for my primary Theme showcase posts.
Right on, Google Alerts can be used for all kinds of things!
Brian, these are all great tips and especially the tip about ripping the table of contents out of “For Dummies” book. I never would have thought of this.
Personally, I keep a list of post topics/ideas. My problem is that when I actually have time to blog, I’ve lost all drive to do so. However, I do feel pretty darn good when I force myself to publish something.
Thanks Josh – the table of contents idea is a pretty good one, in my humble opinion.
People have a tendency to plagiarize, and this would help keep them from that. I know this post was conceptually taken from the title of a chapter in a “For Dummies” book!
Hi Brian,
I like it!!!
First, I have to ask- which child theme is this?
I hit Barnes & Noble often for inspiration (in life too… no such thing as too many books). Even browsing through the magazine section you can pull in topic ideas (or great headline ideas).
I’ve also found some great inspiration/ideas in the Studiopress showcase! I’ve clicked through to sites that aren’t relative to my niche but I like the design or a headline catches my attention.
I also wanted to share a site I found a while ago that puts out a daily prompt /question. You can look through their list of prompts to browse more ideas (think I get them once a week). Some are pretty random questions, but a few have definitely given me post ideas.
The site is free- here’s the link:
http://www.plinky.com/
Thanks,
Kim
Important thing is that you have to fully devote yourself for this business, That’s the only way you can do all these research and write some quality content – if you don’t have time then you will be among those many who failed here.
I find reviewing my web stats and looking at my most popular post and write an updated post on the topic.
I find google alerts very useful as well!
I like the idea of using the contents of a “For Dummies” book to create your website content. I might just go do that to be honest.