It seems to me that when we talk about blogs we almost always want to talk about lists. People Like lists, they are fun and easy to make up and they are digestible in little reading chunks. So, having a hard time thinking about what would be a good topic for today’s post I figured I’d riff off the cuff and give you a list of “37 Ways to Find Inspiration for Blog Posts”.
37. Pick out an object on your desk and think of 4 creative ways to use it besides its intended use.
36. Write a profile post on someone you admire.
35. Find a post you agree with and expand the idea, make sure you link to original article.
34. Find a post you disagree with and deconstruct the idea, remember link to original too.
33. Explore Flickr and find a photo that inspires you, (check through Creative Commons options.)
32. Write about a single feature of a major social media platform in detail.
31. Look for a lesser known social media platform and review it.
30. Find a podcast that about one of your hobbies, listen to an episode and write a review. Also write a review on iTunes as a way of thinking those creators for entertaining, educating or annoying you.
29. Do a keyword search on Google on one of your hobbies click on the first link and write about the site.
28. Ask a question on Yahoo Answers and document the answers in a blog post.
27. Think of a how to question and see if it is answered in a YouTube video. Write about the question and and embed the YouTube video.
26. What is your favorite movie write a blog posts as if you were your favorite character from the movie.
25. Re-imagine an 80′s Saturday morning cartoon with you as the main character, who would be your co-stars and what characters would they be?
24. Put your iPod on shuffle and pick the first song and write a post based on a lyric in that song.
23. What is your favorite piece of tech? Why?
22. What is product did you regret buying? Why?
21. Go on a tourist trip to your own town, learn something new and write about it.
20. Pick a color, spin around your room and find something of that color, learn something interesting about it and write about that.
19. Buy 30 fortune cookies open one each day and use the fortune as your post title and then write something to relate to that fortune.
18. People watch, catch snippets of conversations and write them down. Attempt to put a beginning or an end to their conversations.
17. Think of the most inspirational blogger you know, write a piece about your top 5 favorite posts of theirs and why they are your favorites.
16. Create an interview, send to people you know and ask them to fill it out. When you get the answers back rewrite them as if it was a real conversation.
14. Write a List – Make it a random odd number.
13. As an open ended question on twitter document the answers.
12. Rewrite an old post, look for one from many years ago.
11. Try this experiment.
10. Ask your readers to complete the list and pick the best answer as the #1 choice.
Can you provide the last nine answers? The best one will officially become #1 in this list.
*Photo by H. Michael Karshis
Thanks for sharing this. These set of lists are awesome and can really help me. Sorry I can't figure out the last nine answers as you've provided almost all. =)
Seriously, we need some inspiration for our blog posts. Sometimes we run out of ideas. And all we have to do is to get inspired for our brains to start functioning again.
cheers
Gary
Gary,
You needn't supply all 9 of them. You you have one trick for getting inspiration that you can add to the list?
Thanks.
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Take Greyhound to a destination you usually go to by car, and see the route from a whole new perspective – in a lot of ways! lol
Norma,
that is really interesting, a great tip!
Great post Drew. I'd like to suggest #38 which is to share something you've found online in a visual way. There's a super easy tool called clp.ly that lets bloggers make visual clips and quotes of content to repost on blogs and websites. We are still in beta but are seeing between clips and quotes shared via clp.ly generating clicks back to the original site at over 5% click-through. So, not only do bloggers get content that end users find compelling, but publishers get a great way to generate more traffic. Check it out and let us know what you think.
Mary,
Nice suggestion for an additional tip. I'll have to check out this service.
These are great. I've re-tweeted the link. I don't have 9 answers, but one would be – talk to a child (or teenager), they see the world very differently.
Also, play devil's advocate on a topic you care about. If you usually support pro, write in support of con. Will bend your brain.
Mary,
No need to supply 9, I figure that if everyone comments with one we'll get to 50!
Whenever you encounter a real serious problem – just remember to think – I can blog about this! For example, when I was unemployed I received a $1100 car repair estimate. I got it done for a lot less and it is now close to the number 1 hit on my blog – Dodge caravan strut tower repair. EVERYBODY that is facing the same problem is googling for a solution.
So next time you come across a serious problem, just remember I can blog about this!
Bob, that is a great tip. Everyone has had a problem that they could blog about and help others.
One of my favorites, is to write about something that annoys me like something I have read on another blog or on the news. Isn't there always something for which you would like to give an opinion? The only problem is you better edit yourself before you hit send.
I am reading this book, Yes! You can Learn How to Write Children's Books, Get Them Published and Build a Successful Writing Career by Nancy Sanders. Though it is written for the children's market, it can apply to all writers. I will blog my reaction and results. If you would like to hear about the results in action, here is where you can read more… http://TheWriteChris.blogspot.com
wow wow really great post, i needed it these times… you know sometimes we just get stuck on that pc without knowing what to blog about. I was like this at this time… and this is such a great post that may help me find out some more topics about blogging.
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