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When we start a blog, we’re told we need to write about something we can sustain over time. Have you written so many blog posts it seems like you’ve covered everything in your field of interest?
I’m on my 206th how-to blog post, but I’m still able to find ideas for posts. Coming up with ideas may be less difficult for you who write journal-type blog posts, but these tips may help you too.
I write posts on writing, blogging, and speaking. You may write blogs on everything about horses, quilting, photography, or gardening. Whatever your field is, these tips should work for you.
Tips to Try
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Tip 1: In the process of writing or building my platform, I schedule various tasks. When I’m looking for a post idea, I ask myself, “What am I working on now?” My answer is what is most beneficial for me to research and write a blog post on. Try asking yourself that question.
Here are examples of blog posts I’ve written from projects on which I was currently working.
How to:
- have a successful book signing
- fix an unlikeable character
- write discussion questions for a novel
- enlist endorsers/write an endorsement for another author
- write a book based on blog posts
- plot a story using the Hero’s Journey
- give an editor a pitch for your story
- present an engaging speech
- add humor to your story
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Tip 2: When I’m invited to teach writing workshops, I create posts on the content I’ve prepared for those events. If you teach, speak, or lead workshops in your field, your preparation work may provide enough content for multiple posts.
Tip 3: Sometimes I review past posts I’ve written. Often a different angle on a subject comes to mind. Rewrites incorporating something new are perfect for posts.
Tip 4: When I’m not working on something new, I peruse my issues of Writer’s Digest and my writing-craft books for blog ideas. Once I find a fresh idea, I research the subject further from articles online.
A benefit: you can apply the fresh idea to your work in your field. An example of how a post helped me improve my manuscript was: how to add suspense to any genre.
Tip 5: When I attend writers’ conferences, workshops usually inspire several ideas. Be alert to ideas at your next conference or interest-group meeting.
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Tip 6: When I give back to others in my field, I receive ideas. For example, I judged 9 stories for a contest. I observed common areas of weak writing. I wrote a post on those. Also, my blog readers have asked me to cover certain subjects.
Tip 7: For me, I ask God to guide me. Then as I follow the above tips, I come across writing topics I want to know more about. After I research the ideas, I have fodder for posts.
Are you running out of blog post ideas? Try these 7 tips. Click to tweet.
How do you come up with blog post ideas?
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Great post, as always, a Zoe! I needed this. Thank you!
Thanks, Delia. For myself, it was good to have my ways of getting ideas listed.
Another way is to pick a theme and write, write, write until you have explained parts of it in 365 ways or 52 ways – kinda like writing a book with 365 short chapters or 52 short chapters. I am going to be doing 24 guest blogs for someone next year and that is how I am going to do it. I will send all of them to her at once and I’m done with it for the whole year.
Being done with it sounds really good, Katheryn. But I learn so much from my research that it’s good for me to write the blogs on a regular basis over time.
I do a daily blog of inspirational Bible verses and my comments. I have them already prepared and just copy and paste every morning.
I do like it when I’m have a few blogs ahead, Katheryn. Great to schedule in advance when I go on vacation,
Since my weekly (+/-) blog posts are on the inspirational side, I usually base them on what I am experiencing personally, or issues that I am praying for others about. Intercession provides a pretty deep well of subject matter, but I try not to write until I feel I have a little wisdom on the subject.
I would love to have a bunch scheduled, and better, written ahead of time. However, right now the type of posts I’m doing is in-real-time subjects. (When I’ve picked subjects to do ahead of time it dried right up.)
I may start another blog soon to support my books, and I can see that being an area where I can apply your suggestions, and even stockpile the posts. Yeah!!!
Thanks again, Zoe.
Yes, Jane, your blog is more a journal type, which lends itself more to Tip 1—what’s going on in your life at the moment from an inspirational viewpoint. I hope you’ll need to set up that second blog soon!