Stuck for ideas to post about?

There’ll be times when inspiration will desert you, and you’ll think to yourself “Where… what… argh.  What am I going to write about now!”.

Before you completely throw up your hands in despair, why not try one of these 5 ideas for finding inspiration.

1. Are you active online?

Pinterest?  Stumble?  Read a heap of other blogs?

Look at what the hot topics are online right now.  Instead of skimming over those posts and pictures, really look at them.  Read them.  Study them.  Get to the guts of what is being said. Does the photo resonate with you?  Bring out an emotion?  Work with it.  There’s bound to be a special something that will jump-start your creativity and spark a topic.

2. Magazines.

I love when we have dentist, orthodontist or physiotherapist appointments because I get to browse magazines that I normally never read.  They’re usually the big name mags as well – like Marie Claire, Vogue and Home Beautiful – that have been in the business for forever and really know how to write a good headline.

Have a browse, look at headlines and topics and take note of how they are written.  Don’t be afraid to steal ideas from their headlines.  They are the pro’s at attention-grabbing headlines after all.

3. Engage in conversations.

Phone a friend and go have a coffee with them.  Sometimes your best mate will say something completely out of the blue and you’ll think to yourself “OMG, this I have to write about!”

4. Watch television.

News and current events are perfect fodder for adding your 2 cents to.  If your niche is more defined than current events use Google Trends instead.   And don’t forget to set yourself Google Alerts on your favourite topics.  That way you’ll always keep up.

5. Take a walk.

Getting out, getting some fresh air and clearing your head is often the best trick for coming up with post topics.  When you’re not sitting in front of the computer, staring at the screen and really trying to think of the next great thing to blog about the ideas will come thick and fast (handy hint: take a voice recorder on your walk – that way you won’t forget all those brilliant ideas).

BONUS No 6.  Take a shower!

It works without fail for me.  Whenever I’m in the shower I always seem to come up with an endless stream of ideas for what I can blog about.  Downside is, I usually have forgotten most everything by the time I get out of the shower.  Maybe I need to invest in one of those underwater / diving white-board thingees that divers use…?

Now you have a wealth of ideas – be they begged, borrowed or stolen – it is time to add your own voice.

Pull up a chair, pour a cup of coffee and write.

Allow yourself a 30 minute block a day to start fleshing those ideas out.  Draft, draft and draft some more. You don’t need to post all of your inspirations in one hit, the idea is to build up a bank of topics that you can call on at any time.  And by drafting and refining those topics before you hit the publish button, you’ll be confident that you’re adding well-thought out content that will add value to your blog.

Where else do you go to look for inspiration for your blog?

Any great tips you’d like to share?
{Image: Young Woman Blogging, after Marie-Denise Villers by Mike Licht from Notions Capitol on Flickr}

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