I’ve been writing on this blog for around 8 months and I usually don’t miss a day, sometimes I even write more then once (or even twice). A few people have asked me where I keep getting my blog topics from so I thought I would share a few ideas with all of you. First of all I’m assuming your blog covers a particular are, for example, this blog is pretty focused on online marketing and social media type stuff. If your blog is about anything and everything, then you really should have no problem at all. BUT! if you are like the other 99.9% of bloggers out there who do have a particular topic then it can be challenging to keep cranking out new content.
Here’s what I do.
First of all I read industry related blogs such as techmeme to get a good glimpse of what the top stories are. You need to find the “techmeme” of your industry.
I also take a look at the Google news page and also the NY Times and CNN to see what’s going in the world
I’m a big fan of the Adage Power 150 list of blogs, and usually find something interesting on there, there are over 600 blogs listed all in the marketing/social media/online marketing/ advertising space so this is really a fantastic resource (yours truly is on there as well!)
I use my RSS reader to subscribe to many of the blogs I enjoy and that’s also usually more than enough content for me to ponder, I subscribe to around 30 or so feeds which I find to be plenty.
I also really enjoy using alltop.com as a great reference for particular topics. All you do is visit the site, pic your topic, and you are presented with around 50 top related blogs which all have to do with your particular area. For example I read socialmedia.alltop.com and marketing.alltop.com to get a good idea of what the hot button issues are. I like to diversify my reading though and also read non tech stuff, like art and history. Think of alltop as an online magazine rack, it’s a great resource, use it.
You can also use Google Alerts or Google blog search to search for and monitor specific topics as they pertain to your industry.
Then I draw upon life experiences, encounters, conversations, etc. If you think about how much you know or have experiences you can actually come up with quite a lot.
Of course there are always lists of topics, like the one that Chris Brogan created, but I prefer to write topics or ideas that I come up with. The above ideas are really more then what you need. I don’t keep a reserve of posts that I put up (as many bloggers recommend you do) and that’s simply because I always have something to talk about, sometimes I will write a day or two in advance but that’s about it. I like the pressure of having to think/create something, but that’s just me
What tips/ideas can you recommend for coming up with new blog topics, how do you do it?
Thanks for reading
You ONLY subscribe to 30 RSS feeds?!? I have about five times as many…and counting! But I use different categories that I check on daily or weekly frequencies.
haha ya, i find that 30 is a good amount for me, plus i read other news sources and look at several alltop.com categories.
i really only subscribe to feeds that i actually read. i dont need to spend 5 hours reading feeds.
150 feeds is a lot 🙂 apparently steve rubel has 600 which i think is a bit much, then your job becomes a “feed reader.”
thanks for the comment!
I used to post on a lot of different topics but it seems to have focused on WordPress, a little bit of Twitter and the odd article with personal information (my readers seem to like the personal stuff). So, my article ideas usually come from things I've been trying out on my test site or from questions that people ask me.
Other ideas pop into my head all the time – I just have to be sure to write them down immediately or I won't remember them. I have over 70 drafts right now containing various things that I might want to write about. Even if I don't write them all on the weekend, I usually plan out what I'm posting that week in advance.
hey kim!
wow 70 drafts!? that's definitely more then i have (which is 0). i do have a little whiteboard where i write down ideas though, im the same way, i always get new things popping into my head, but of course i also do get topics from personal experience as well.
you're much more organized than i am 🙂
thanks for stopping by again kim!
Since my blog is more of a diary of what we've got up to then that fuels the posts. However I do try and stop and look at the wider implications of what I've done or muse on it in some way so sometimes there will be more than one look at an event
Sometimes like Kim a post will be based on something someone said which sort of acts as a title on which to base a post. That serves as a good challenge like being given the story title and having to come up with the rest
Julie
hi julie,
it's definitely important to look at the bigger picture just to get a solid idea of what's going on, not just within your community but with those talking about you that are outside of your community.
i like the analogy with the story title, makes perfect sense.
thanks for reading and commenting!
Well for making my Blog topics headlines usually I go and search the news for what's interesting out there and normally something will pop out in my mind to make me blogging about.I recommend http://newsnow.co.uk for latest news
Well for making my Blog topics headlines usually I go and search the news for what's interesting out there and normally something will pop out in my mind to make me blogging about.I recommend http://newsnow.co.uk for latest news