How To

How To Come Up With Blog Post Ideas

Maintaining a blog involves creating interesting content to engage your audience. When you’re first starting, coming up with topics is often easy — you probably have ideas you’ve been collecting for some time! But eventually, even the most prolific writers hit a roadblock.

So, how do you come up with blog post ideas?

Instead of staring at a blank page struggling to come up with ideas, try new brainstorming techniques that may help spark your imagination and start the flow of ideas. Keep reading for five different ways to generate endless content for your blog!

How often do I need to post?

As you establish your blog and develop content ideas, you’ll need to consider how often you want to post and how many new ideas you need.

Post frequency isn’t an exact science, and these answers will depend on your goals and abilities. Posting more frequently can be beneficial if you’re trying to attract and engage an audience. However, establishing brand awareness requires fewer, more targeted posts.

Overall, the best goal is to keep your posting schedule consistent and be flexible with how you manage your blog. Remember to give yourself some grace and enough space to create.

5 ways to brainstorm content ideas for your blog

Creating website content week after week can be tiring, but with the right tools, you’ll find a way to brainstorm some great ideas. Having multiple techniques at your disposal allows you to try different approaches and switch it up if one method isn’t yielding the desired results.

Check out these five ways to find exciting and engaging ideas for your blog posts.

1. Browse the Internet for ideas

The Internet is a virtually endless source of information you can access at any time to find inspiration for your blog posts. You can:

• Look at related searches: Google’s “People Also Ask” feature is a great way to find related topics for your post. Use targeted searches to find specific topics or browse more generally for ideas, fall down a rabbit hole and emerge with exciting new concepts.
• Browse forums and social networking sites: See what people are talking about and note their questions about different subjects. Social media sites like Reddit, Quora and Twitter feature trending topics you can use to your advantage if you have anything to add to the discourse.
• Conducting keyword research: Identify gaps that you can fill, offering content that’s unique and relevant to what people are interested in. Target popular keywords and phrases that have the fewest hits so that your work stands out. Keyword research tools like SEO.com make it easy to find and analyze the right keywords, helping you make optimize your content without the hassle.

You can make a list of possible ideas and see where your topics overlap and relate. As you post pages, be sure to include internal links to connect your pages.

2. See what other bloggers are posting

Reading content from other writers (or analyzing your competitor’s website content) allows you to see what is already available, possibly giving you ideas about how to spin those topics into your own writing. You’ll see which posts have the most interactions and learn from their success to build your own.

While you won’t steal their ideas, you can use them as a starting point to get inspiration, elaborate or create your unique version with added value or a different perspective. See if there are any content gaps that you could fill.

You can also complete a competitor content analysis to see what other industry names are doing!

3. Talk to industry experts or influencers

When you feel like your creativity is depleted, look to others for inspiration. Picking the brain of an industry expert, an influencer or another blogger is a great way to spark some ideas. Talking to someone else will give you a new perspective or shine a light on a topic you hadn’t thought to write about.

If you format the conversation as an interview, you can use that discussion as the content. Interviews with leading industry experts are popular topics. Go in-depth with one interviewee or do high-level interviews with a few people to create a listicle.

In addition to helping you combat writer’s block, collaborating with influencers and experts allows you to access their audience and gain greater exposure for your blog.

4. Revisit your old content

While it may seem counterintuitive, looking back on your previous work may help get the wheels turning on new ideas. Check which posts have been most successful in the past and see if you can find ways to repeat that success.

You can use your old content as a starting place and build on what worked to make it work again. You can also repurpose existing content in a new way to help it reach a larger audience.

One way to build on old content, get more traffic and create new interactions is to write new content that references your old posts — or group them together to create a “hub and spoke” type of piece.

5. Do some self-reflection

Sometimes the best place to search for content is from your own experiences. People enjoy personal stories because they can connect with you more deeply. Readers get a peek behind the curtain, making you — and your brand — more relatable and personable.

Consider writing about what you’ve learned throughout running your blog, the mistakes you’ve made and how you’ve developed as a writer. You can give readers insider tips to help them create great content.

Another option is to stick with personal narratives. Write about a recent adventure or experience that interests your audience. There’s always value in reflecting on yourself as a writer and sharing that with your readers.

Get help from the blogging experts at WebFX

While GradeMyWebsite can help you evaluate your current standing, WebFX can help you run your blog.

WebFX knows blogging — from finding engaging topics to marketing your content to gain new readers. They will help you optimize your blog to achieve your online goals, whatever they may be.

If you’re ready to start making the most of your blog and creating effective content, contact WebFX today to learn more about blog writing and content marketing services!

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