How to come up with great blog post ideas
Coming up with new ideas for blog posts can be very challenging. You know your publishing day is near, but your mind is still blank, and you have no idea what to write about.
Sitting in front of your laptop, hoping the ideas will come out of the blue, can be very frustrating. Writing content is sometimes easier than finding a good topic to write about (at least for me, it is).
This is why finding topics that fit your audience (and blog) is the most important step toward great content.
I will give you some tips on never running out of good ideas to write about.
Write down your ideas
The best tip I can give you is to write down an idea as soon as you have it. This can be a piece of paper, a voicemail, or do what I do: I have a WhatsApp conversation with myself where I write down all that comes up in my mind.
Put all these in your content calendar when you're at your computer. This way, you will have an abundance of ideas to write about.
It happened to me a million times before that I had an amazing idea for a topic. But a while later, I only remembered that I had an amazing but I couldn't remember anymore what that idea was.
That's why I started writing everything down. And now, I have a sheet in my content calendar with more than 500 ideas to write about.
I never run out of inspiration anymore.
Below are some tips you can use to find inspiration yourself. And there is no need to have expensive subscriptions to find good ideas; all the below tips are entirely free.
Check other blogs
For beginning bloggers, this is a nice way to come up with ideas for blog posts. Check other blogs in your niche and write down the titles you are interested in.
But only write down the titles and create your very own article about this topic. Do not copy the content from your competitors, nobody is waiting for that.
Only having the title forces you to do your own research and write the article in your own style. Later on, when you finish your post, you can check with the other article if you missed something.
Another great way to find ideas is by subscribing to newsletters from bloggers in your niche. These newsletters often give very good inspiration for new articles.
You also learn how newsletters are built and written so you can use them as inspiration for your own newsletter.
The famous Spanish painter Picasso once said 'Bad artists copy, good artists steal'.
Nobody is waiting for a copy of a copy. You have to write your own original content. You can steal the title but do not copy (or re-write) the content.
Google Search
These often can be a great source for new ideas.
People also ask
When you scroll down a bit, you will stumble upon 'People also ask'.
Related searches
If you scroll further to the end of the page, you will see 'Related searches'.
Keyword dedicated websites
There are many keyword research tools online, but most of them aren't free.
But some hidden gems are free and can provide you with new ideas for blog posts.
Answer Socrates
You can use these questions to find ideas for new articles or to fill gaps in your pillar content.
Answer the Public
You can use these questions to find ideas for new articles or to fill gaps in your pillar content.
Ahrefs content idea creator
It also has great free tools, such as the content idea generator. You enter a topic, and it generates five ideas for new topics for you.
Ubersuggest
this site (only three free keyword searches for free) displays the results in columns (monthly search volume, difficulty rate, ...).
It also comes with a nice feature, 'related keywords,' which gives you a bunch of topic ideas.
ChatGpt
But I must admit that I used ChatGpt a few times to come up with new ideas for my blog.
The easiest way is to enter the prompt 'What are the 20 most entered search terms in Google for blogging'. And you will get a nice list from which you can pick some ideas.
Ask your audience
Ok, this might not be a good idea for beginning bloggers as you haven't built up an audience or community yet.
But if you already have a small group of followers, they are the perfect source of inspiration for your blogs. They are the people you write for, and they want you to give them a solution for the issue they are facing.
Internet forums
The two sites I use the most for inspiration are Reddit and Quora.
Go to a sub-Reddit about your niche (you name it, and Reddit will have a sub-Reddit for it) and start your research.
You will get the best results by using the 'search' function in your sub-Reddit and search for things like:
Not only read the opening post, but also read the comments because these also can give you new inspiration.
Quora
Go to a sub-Reddit about your niche (you name it, and Reddit will have a sub-Reddit for it) and start your research.
This is a real goldmine for new ideas.
Not only read the opening post, but also read the comments because these also can give you new inspiration.
Use the search function to find already-asked questions about your niche or topic. These questions can already be a great source of inspiration.
Also, check how many votes a question has, and then you will know whether this question (or a future blog post from you) is relevant to people.
Your own blog
Believe it or not, your own blog can also be a source of new ideas.
Re-read your older articles, especially your pillar posts, and I'm sure you will find some gaps you still need to cover. If you found non-covered clusters, you have many new articles to write. And it also contributes to the power of your pillar posts.
Blog content can become outdated (especially if you have written many articles already). By updating these old posts, you can turn them into new ones.
You yourself
I saved the easiest and best source of inspiration for last: you!
You have probably written a good number of blog posts, and you can always share your experience with your audience. Again, a great source of new ideas:
