As bloggers, we’re constantly looking for inspiration and new ideas to write about. Sometimes we’ll find things present themselves to us naturally and other times we have to go searching. To be honest, writing to a calendar is great as the regularity and organization associated with it make it easier to come up with ideas. In fact, I have some great ideas for several series that I want to write, but I’m struggling to fit them in now over the next few months as I’ve got so many other posts planned!
For my own writing, like I said, a calendar is probably my most valuable tool as it helps me to see what’s going on and what’s planned. These events often lead to great inspiration for what to write about when applicable, but often we’re still left staring at a blank screen.
Another idea that I got from Copyblogger is to look to quotations and see how we can work our posts around them (see the full article here).
However, my favorite approach is to be more scientific. I start by thinking about keywords that I want to write about. I have a list of keywords and themes that I’m working on getting my blog known for and these can often inspire posts all by themselves. Other times, I’ll go into EzineArticles and search using my keywords. This invariably leads me to more content that I’ll ever need – all with great titles that I can use for inspiration.
Just to be clear, I don’t use the articles from EzineArticles (although I may read a few if I’m having a really bad case of writer’s lock) I simply use them for ideas. That way, my articles should always be fresh and in my own voice.
Other ways that you could apply this idea would be to use other sites such as YouTube or even something more obscure like Twitter. The trick is to get creative about how you find your inspiration, and your writing will reflect that creativity.
I’d love to read about how you come up with ideas for your own blog. Please share in the comments and let’s see how many other creative techniques we can come up with!
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