How to Generate Fresh Blog Post Ideas Every Day

When you started your blog, you probably picked a subject you were excited about, and post ideas seemed endless. Then it gradually started to seem repetitive, or the ideas suddenly stopped coming. Now what? How can you come up with ideas for more blog posts?
Here are a few categories with dozens of idea-finding techniques to get you started. And remember – you don’t need to write about something completely new. Even if you have covered a subject over and over, approaching it from a slightly different angle will help more readers understand.

Read

Read, watch, or listen to anything you can get your hands on, especially if it’s related to your niche. Don’t plagiarize, but do recognize what areas other people are talking about that you are knowledgeable in, too.

• Newspapers
• TV news
• Radio (NPR is great)
• Magazines
• Books (you could even preview the table of contents on Google Books or Amazon)
• Public domain books
• Related/suggested books on Amazon
• Other blogs (use Google Reader or another feed reader to make this a lot faster)
• Your old blog posts
• Podcasts
• Article directories
• Quote sites like Brainy Quotes
• Forums
• Social bookmarking sites like Digg
• Question-and-answer sites like Quora or Yahoo Answers
• Headline formulas
• Sales pages for competitors’ products (especially courses)
• Your email

When reading, ask yourself what is missing from other people’s content and how you can expand on it and make it better, or explain it in a different way. Or find stories that you think are interesting to pass on to your audience.

Research

Use the right tools to get yourself thinking. Finding out what words other people are looking for, or what topics are related to your niche.

• Related keywords tools like Wordtracker
• Google Wonder Wheel (click Wonder Wheel below All Results in the left navigation after any normal Google search)
• Search engine trends like Google Trends
• Trending topics on Twitter
• Follow links in Wikipedia

Now you know which keywords to optimize your site for, and you probably have some related subjects you haven’t written about on your blog yet.

Write

Don’t be afraid to just put pen to paper. Try setting a timer and cranking out ideas as fast as you can, or carrying a notebook and jotting down ideas whenever you can.

• Freewrite (handwrite or type)
• Create mind maps
• Carry a notebook everywhere
• Make a list of common misconceptions about your niche, then debunk them in a post
• Predict the future
• Review a product
• Tell your audience how to do something

Make sure you are writing down ideas sparked by the other categories here, too. And keep your brainstorms and mindmaps for future post ideas, or create an editorial calendar incorporating your best ideas.

Engage

Talking to people can spark ideas you might not have thought of on your own. It’s easy to forget that other people don’t have the knowledge that you take for granted.

• Talk to a beginner in your niche to find out their questions
• Interview an expert in your niche and turn it into a blog post
• Survey your audience to see what they want to hear about (or keep hearing about)
• Profile an employee
• Profile a customer
• Ask friends and family
• Talk to children
• Start or join conversations on Twitter or Facebook
• Go to a conference or seminar
• Challenge your readers to do something and then report the results

Yes, some of these will be harder if you don’t have a very engaged or vocal readership – but that’s not stopping you from stepping out to engage them!

Make a change

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how much you brainstorm – you won’t find anything to write about, or you’ll be discouraged about what you do find. In that case, take a break, clear your mind, and do something completely different.

• Volunteer
• Take a class
• Have an experience
• Do something outside your comfort zone
• Campaign for something
• Do your finances
• Take a walk
• Meditate
• Stop thinking about blogging!

Our brains will keep processing ideas behind the scenes, and you can talk about your new experiences in your new blog posts. Plus, hopefully you’ll be less stressed out, too!

What tips do you have for generating fresh ideas for your next blog posts?