Series: 5 Ways To Find New Blog Content

Filed in Blogging, Featured, MY BEST POSTS by Matt McGee on June 24, 2011 12 Comments

light-bulb“But I don’t know what to write about!”

Bet you’ve heard (or said) that one plenty of times. Or maybe even said it plenty of times yourself. As my friend (and fellow GetListed.org Local University faculty member) Ed Reese says in his presentations, “Blogging’s haaaaard.” True ‘dat.

There are a lot of things that make blogging hard, but I’d suggest that coming up with things to write about is not one of them. In this era of information overload, when there are more places to find content ideas than ever, there’s no excuse for not knowing what to blog about. If you have trouble with that, here are the links to my recently completed series on finding stuff to blog about.

If there’s a main takeaway from the series, it’s this:

Blog content ideas are all around you. You can find inspiration from the websites you visit, from keyword research, from your analytics and from the people that read your blog. Blogging’s hard, but with a little effort you can make it just a bit easier on yourself.

(Stock image courtesy of Shutterstock, used with permission.)

Comments (12)

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  1. 10 Elements of a Highly Effective Blog | June 1, 2012
  1. Jer Thomson says:

    Good ideas I have a couple more to add that can help get content ideas.

    1.You can sign up to Google Alerts and have then send daily emails of the latest posts and articles that match a keyword or phrase.

    2.Stumble Stumbleupon for sites that are in the same niche as your site.

    3. Use Google Analytics and see what keywords are used the most to find your site and create content based around them

  2. Holger says:

    An other way is what I named “Look was Seinfeld does”. See a simple thing and make a big story of it.

  3. Wiehan Britz says:

    Best way imo is to extend on articles that have been posted by other blogs…. for instance adding your opinion and strategies to it! This provides the user with different approach rather than doing the same as all the other bloggers out there

  4. Liz says:

    I have found that I tend to get ideas for blog topics when out and about. So keep a small notepad with you and a pen so you can jot down the ideas. That list will save you when staring blankly at the computer screen!

  5. I think Yahoo! Answers is a great source of blog content. I occasionally use it as a source. I also read a couple of newspapers every day and a number of magazines each month. I pull a lot of information from these sources. And I use Google Reader to manage my online subscriptions.

  6. Dustin says:

    You’re absolutely right, inspiration is all around us and I find that the best way to find blog topics is to read other blogs. Other blog articles typically inspire spin off articles (not duplication but related information or information presented from a different point of view). Social media sites are another great resource for blog topics, especially sites that allow user to rank the most popular post. I usually see what kind of topics attract the most visitors or produce the most comments on my blog and stick with a similar topic.

  7. What about stumble upon. I think this is great for finding good content to blog about. Been suing it for this reason along for a few years now.

  8. Mike Martel says:

    All the sources mentioned already are great. I also use chapters of favorite books for inspiration.

  9. Suzanne says:

    Also, don’t forget awareness dates! There are days, weeks and months for every pursuit and commemoration under the sun. Scan “awareness dates” on Wikipedia and see which pertain to your business. I also encourage people to take ten minutes every day to write down what happened and then convert that into: comment on relevant news, a question answered, client problem solved, amusing anecdote, case study and more. The hard part is taking the ten minutes!

  10. Katherine says:

    Thank you for some very useful ideas! For many years I have struggled with the “blank page” syndrome. Your awesome suggestions have given me a boost which I hope will get me over my procrastination. I just realised that what is essentially my blog I have called “articles” but now will need to remedy that.

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