9 Ways To Find Blogging Inspiration

Where do you get your blogging inspiration from? There are times in any bloggers career when we get stuck for content. Sometimes we loose the impulse to blog. Maybe we have other tasks that get in the way. The worst part of bloggers block is running out of ideas.

In this post I will look at 9 techniques for finding blogging inspiration.

1. Read blogs

Reading other blog posts should be part of your daily routine. This can teach you a lot about style and content and inspire ideas. Reading the top blogs in your industry will keep you abreast of changes and trends.

Feedly is an easy way to keep on top of the blogs you read. It is like getting a customised, daily virtual newspaper full of useful content that will get your mind ticking over. It’s quite straight forward to set up and they are always introducing new features to make subscribing easier.

2. Google Alerts

Google alerts is a tool that searches the web for you. You give it the keywords or phrases you want it to search for and you will get an email everyday full of mentions from across the web.

Although by default it sends you an email it is far more streamlined to send your alerts to Feedly. Here’s how:

3. Customer questions

Your customers are a wealth of blogging content. I pick up lots of tips and content ideas when I train businesses. Delegates will often present me with a problem that I haven’t encountered before. Finding the answer provides me with plenty of blog post fodder.

If you don’t meet people face to face use tools like Twitter search and Quora to discover what questions and problems people have. If they are asking Twitter or Quora a question they are googling the answer too.

4. Ideas diary

Inspiration can hit at the strangest times and if we don’t grab it, it can disappear. Using tools that can help you capture inspiration will mean that you have a constant stream of ideas ready for development.

I use Evernote to collate my ideas. I like it because no matter where I am I can jot them down. If I’m out and about or if inspirations strikes in the middle of the night I can pick up my phone and quickly add an idea. I can then open Evernote on my PC or tablet to work on it further.

Other people prefer pen and paper or voice memos. They all work, the key is to have something in place to capture your inspiration flow.

5. Mind mapping

Mind mapping can inspire ideas even when you are in the midst of bloggers block. There is something about the discipline of mind mapping that helps you focus.

Whether you do it on paper or use an app it will help you plan out content with a purpose.

Here’s an article for mind-mapping beginners to help get you started.

6. Headline tools

I wrote about headline generating tools recently. As well as helping you create clickable headlines they can be a great source of inspiration.

Here’s a video showing you the sort of results you will get from headline generation tools:

7. Keyword tools

Researching keywords for SEO can always seem like a dull and dry process but it can also be a source of inspiration. The key words and phrases that Google Keyword Planner or Uber Suggest come up with can spark new and interesting ideas.

8. Take a break

Blogging consistency is important but unless you are able to deliver on quality you could look at taking a step back. Instead of stopping altogether think about creating a different type of post to fill the gap.

Try these:

1. Interview posts – Are there people in your industry you can interview? Do you have happy customers that may want to share their story?

2. Roundup posts – Can you curate your top reads of the week in to a blog post? What about putting together a post showcasing your favourite blogs or a selection of blog posts on a specific topic? These types of post are simple to write and can be a great resource for your customers.

3. Guest posts – Getting guest posts for your blog can be a time consuming process but it can be worth it. If you find the right people they will provide quality content for your website taking the pressure off you.

9. Use a content schedule

My blogging was haphazard until I implemented a basic content plan. Now when I sit down to blog I already have the idea and a rough outline of what I will be writing about. Spending an hour or so once a month to plan content is a really efficient use of time.

Try the content schedule template I work from.

I’ve recently started using Co-Schedule for blogging and am still loving it. Here’s how it works