So you’ve started your blog and for a few months your content is really humming.
You’ve been writing and publishing a post a week. Heck sometimes you’ve managed two a week.
But the cold of winter started, and so did all your content ideas. Suddenly that dance your fingers did over the keyboard is little more than a crawl. Yikes!
So what are some of the ways you can put that spark back into your writing?
Here are just some of the sources I turn to when I’m stuck for new content ideas. These directions have steered me out of more than one corner, and I hope they help you too.
1. Read Your Favorite Blogs for Inspiration
Over the years I’ve compiled a list of my favorite websites and blogs. These are sites I find inspirational, that have things I love to read. When I’m stuck, I read the content on these sites. It helps me draw connections between different sets of content. And this gives me directions for articles that I could write about to share my own perspective.
2. Read Your Favorite Books
With much of the world now virtual, it’s easy to forget how much value books held for us. There’s nothing better than diving deeply into a great book. I’ve got many books with dog-eared pages where I’ve marked something I read something that moved me. Sometimes I skim through these pages to re-discover those themes that inspired me…and then I write a post about a connected theme.
3. Search Your Experiences
We all have a wealth of experience. Whether we’ve become experts in our field, or have developed a wisdom through trial and error across disciplines, it’s easy to under-rate the knowledge we possess. Maybe you hiked a mountain? Maybe you coach a project to success that was on the rails? A useful exercise is to write down ten experiences that come to mind where you’ve learnt something personally or professionally that made a big difference to you. You’ll be amazed by what you could share with people…and what could be a great post!
4. Look Through Old Note Books
I’ve a stack of old note books. They have bullet points, and sketches, and notes about everything from business decisions to life observations. Sometimes I go through these note books and find general lessons that would be useful to share.
5. Observe What’s Going On, Right Now
When we find ourselves in those times when writing is difficult, it’s easy to focus our energy internally and wonder why we’re struggling with content. Instead, turn your energy outward, and use every sense you have to observe what’s going on around you.
For example, if you’re in a business meeting, observe the pace of the conversation, and interaction between people. This could be a great post about ‘7 steps to facilitating a meeting’.
If you’re on a train, watch how people are going about their daily life, and whether they’re working or at leisure. This could be a post about ‘how to work and telecommute all in one’ or ‘how to stay calm in crowded situations’.
Reality is an excellent source of ideas, whenever we can take the time to look closely.
6. Read ‘Question & Answer’ Sites
So often a great blog post starts with a good question. And we never need look further for interesting questions than sites like Quora and Yahoo Answers. I like to scan through these sites to get a sense for the type of questions others are asking. You can use these questions as inspiration for your own blog post. You could even respond to these questions as a first draft of your own article. Users on these sites are very active in their feedback, so it’s also a nice way to receive feedback on your writing.
7. Read A Conversation on Twitter
Twitter is a great place to do a pulse check on current or trending conversations. Use Twitter to do hashtag searches on topics of interest to help you define your next blog post.
For example, today I did a search for #UserExperience. Here is one of the results:
Rachel Hood @Rach_Hood
Always nice to hear good user feedback on an app you designed over a year ago! #userexperience
Just reading this gives me several directions for new posts, like:
“Why User Research is Still Important, Even 1 Year After You’ve Launched Your Product”
“Positive Feedback – How To Keep Designers Connected With the Experiences They Create”
“10 Tools To Capture Customer Feedback Long After The Product Is Launched”
8. Go Through Old Presentations
Now I know not many of us write powerpoint slides. But in many organisations, we spend a lot of time writing presentations. It’s hard to believe many of us have stored some of our best ideas within the format of a landscape (maybe…oh no…animated) slide. So flicking through those presentations you’ve long forgotten about may just remind you about that inspirational model you dreamed up which would be just perfect for a blog post.
9. Check Your Own Social Feed
Our social feed is a history of what has interested us. Why not mine that data for content ideas? I post regularly on Twitter and LinkedIn. By going through the content I’ve shared on these social sites I can reflect on all the stories that captured my attention. Sometimes I find themes that give me great content ideas.
10. Ask “What Was I Doing X Years Ago”?
If you’re stuck for an idea, ask yourself what you doing 5, 10, or 15 years ago. And then ask yourself what you’ve learnt since then to get to where you are today.
Another way to think about it is to fill in the blanks of this headline:
10 Things I’ve Learnt In [Months/Years] In Becoming [What You Are Now]
It’s a simple but a very powerful technique to reflect on what you’ve learnt, and what experience you have to share with others. And it works effectively for shot or long periods of time, for example:
10 Things I’ve Learnt In 10 Weeks In Becoming First Time Blogger
10 Things I’ve Learnt In 20 Years In Becoming the CEO of a Multinational Business
10 Things I’ve Learnt Since Highschool In Becoming a Person People Count On
Get the idea?
If you’re stuck for content directions for your blog, I hope this post has been of use.
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