Top 5 Tips On How To Find Great Blog Post Ideas

Creating a blog, either for pleasure or in the hope of making earnings, is an interesting prospect. More and more people are deciding to start one in their own specialised area. Interestingly, many people jump straight into it with more thought to the concept than to the topic and the posts. Thus, before you start your blog, I would like to challenge you to sit down and write out at least 50 post ideas, and write no less than 10 of them.
For what reason should you think of 50?
There are a lot of great reasons to actually do this activity (and not just read about it).
To start with, it’s your make it or break it test. Thinking of starting a blog on a certain topic? Well, if you’re unable to bring to mind at least 50 topics off the top of your head either you aren’t really keen on writing about it, or you have chosen too narrow a topic. Understand that most blogs take about a year to actually get started. Therefore, if you can’t come up with at least 50 then you’re going to be having difficulties after 6 months and probably quit before you eventually make it.
Next, one of the most important things in starting a blog you wish to be popular is to post ‘epic content’. Content which is amazing, informative, sets you up as an authority so people revisit. Taking the time to list out 50 possible topics will allow you to pin point the amazing ones from the less amazing ones.
Third, if epic content is the most important thing, then being consistent as a blogger certainly is the second most significant. Nobody tunes in regularly to a blog that might or might not have something new that week/month. Whenever people first visit a blog, they look at it as more authoritative and interesting if there are regular updates. Therefore you really need to be posting 2-3 times a week if you want to make a good impression and keep people returning. Therefore, when you have a list of topics already written out, and can even suggest in posts about future relevant topic you will be writing about, your blog will probably look a lot more organised and long-term.
How do you think of 50?
So, have I convinced you that you need to have a list of possible topics written out? Awesome. Now is the time to look at which you could acquire the best ideas from. Here are some top ideas for building up your list.
1. Start with Google Keyword research. You must already know what keywords you are targeting in your blog (otherwise, definitely work this out first). Making use of keyword research tools you can then find out what related words people are looking for. It’s great information regarding what your target audience wants to learn about. For example, thinking about writing a blog about Young Adult fiction? Once you look it up, Google will show you that many people search for the related ‘Twilight – Meyers’. Blog post? I think so.
2. This is a good tip from Pat Flynn as Smart Passive Income (would love to claim it as mine, but the academic in me is screaming plagiarism). Go to Amazon or Google Books and try searching for your keyword. This will show a selection of books related to what you want to write about. Making use of the preview function, take a look at their content page. Bam! In front of you is a range of topics that you could be writing about.
3. Another great suggestion I’ve picked up is try splitting your posts into different types for your area. For instance, if you’re playing to post three times a week you might have Information Monday, How-To Wednesday and Review Friday. Then you just need to ponder on about 20 ideas under each one of these. For a blog on house building you might have some Information posts on different types of architecture, How-To numerous renovation projects, and Review the top tools of the trade. This will make it much easier to think of topics, and figure out what to write.
4. Related to the last tip, I highly recommend dividing information posts into series. You don’t want your posts to be too long, yet still give enough important information making people feel like you know a lot regarding the area. Writing a series of posts every Monday on a topic can help you narrow it down so it’s not too large, but still cover everything people need to know. For instance, take a post on barefoot running. With this one idea, you could make at least three high quality posts that link to each other. You could do one about the history of barefoot running (why it has suddenly become so popular), major techniques you need to know to run efficiently, and a post on the various types of barefoot and minimalist shoes. One idea, at least three posts.
5. My last tip has helped me so many times. Go to Forums. Go to the places that your target audience already are at and see what they want to learn about. Forums are great places to get post ideas as your audience is literally indicating ‘I want a post about this.’ I am often surprised by the questions people ask and think ‘How can you not know that already?’ But fortunately for me, they don’t and I do. Further, after writing your blog post then you can go back to the forum, answer their question and put a link to the full post!
So, using these tips, it should only take you a little bit of research to come up with 50 topics for your blog. This is time that’s not wasted. Once you have completed this, take at least 10 of those topics, write up the post and save them as drafts. You’ll thank me for this later. Trust me.