Struggling to find ideas for great content is one of the most difficult tasks a writer working on a deadline faces. And as a blogger, if you don't think you're working on a deadline - try going a few days without publishing a post and watch your subscription numbers and readers drop like the Time Square New Year's Eve Ball - slowly but most assuredly!
The key to keeping the proverbial "juices flowing" isn't as difficult as you might think.
1. Your World - Contrary to what you might think family life and work can give readers some of the most entertaining posts. It's something about reading about the daily joys, struggles and hi-jinks of everyday people that makes us all realize we have a lot more in common than we think.
2. Visit YouTube - Popular videos can give you great ideas for a blog post or BE the center of the blog post.
3. Stumble it! - You can find lots of really great posts that can give you ideas or insight about things that are really interesting to readers
4. Subscribe to News Feeds - A seething opinion about what's going on in our world is always a great way to stir the political pundit in all of us.
5. Reading Like Minded Blogs - Write about posts you've read that you found interesting with your own spin.
6. Join a Blog community or Forum - These type sites are gold mines for finding things that a multitude of people seem to be interested in.
7. Comments - This particular source for ideas has a special place in my heart. I visit lots of blogs and always leave comments. Occasionally, you'll come across a post that really strikes a chord with you. It's during these times you'll find inspiration through the thoughtful and totally awesome comment you've left.
8. Mind Mapping - Topic/Idea exploration at it's best
9. Guest Posts - You may approach other bloggers in a similar niche as you to guest blog. Other bloggers should have no trouble understanding that this is mutually beneficial – You get interesting content to your readers, and the other bloggers get a link back to their blogs.
10. Ask Your Readers For Suggestions - This is a sure fire way of determining what your readers really want to see!
11. Expand on An Older Post - Every once in a while we all deliver a post that for one reason or another winds up being far more popular than others. Sometimes revisiting these posts gives you a new perspective or perhaps you'll find something that you hadn't thought about previously and can expound on it.
Group Effort
Of course this isn't THE KNOW-ALL-END-ALL list of blog post ideas. Do you utilize any of these methods to find post ideas or if not, share how you find inspiration for your post ideas.
