There are a lot of standard places that people go to for inspiration for blog topics – the news and blog hubs like Technorati, just to name a few. But there are a lot of other places to go for fresh blog ideas that are perhaps…unexpected.
1. Images
Yes, you heard right. Images. As they say, “a picture is worth 1,000 words.” Well, if you’re stuck, a thousand words is a thousand more than you’re currently writing. Browsing through dozens of images may seem boring (and it can get very boring), but more often than not, it’s quite entertaining, and whats to say you won’t find a photo that perfectly encapsulates what you’re trying to say and jumpstarts your article? Plus, there are a lot of really amusingly bad stock photos that are sure to give you a laugh. Infographics are always worth a look, too.
2. Photography
I make a discernible difference between “images” and “photography” because images can be anything from clip art to stock photos, whereas photography is usually done for a specific reason with a specific intent and feeling. (I’m an amateur photographer.) Modeling shoots, landscapes…and surprisingly, wedding photography, are what I usually gravitate to. Oftentimes these are best to generate the overall feel and tone of your post, not necessarily subject matter.
3. Social Media
What are people saying on the interwebz? What is trending on Twitter? This is always a great place to go to get bombarded with information – and probably find a great kernel of interest or a spark that will start your blog post on an interesting path. People tend to have some really interesting one-liners in the 140 character world of Twitter.
4. Get Out!
A change of scenery can’t be underestimated when it comes to both finding inspiration and releasing writer’s block. Maybe you’ll overhear an argument or come across a really interesting person – and just getting up and walking around helps. Take some time to garden, read a book for an hour or so. Take some time to let yourself breath and relax in a new landscape, and usually you’ll find that when you get back to your blog, writing will be a walk in the park.
5. Ask!
Hand in hand with getting out there and changing your scenery, ask someone else – “What should I write about today?” Finding an outside opinion can be illuminating – be that in the real world, or virtually on Twitter or Facebook. People are unique, and somebody else’s opinion and viewpoint will usually be at least slightly different than yours.
As with everything, there are always new and interesting avenues for your content – these are just a few ideas for those of you that are stuck behind writer’s block. Best of luck!
these are really good 5 ways to get good article and it also helps me too..
The best of the points above is Get Out, it is often missed out or overlooked.The funny part for a newbie is that such small breaks at times are too long.
Bloggers also run out of topics and its interesting to know from where they draw their inspiration. I think maintaining a notepad in which one can scribble down any points is also a good idea, that way one can also filter down to the best topics.
WordPress.com launched a service for this sometime back. It's called Plinky Prompts.
Well twitter is one of the reliable ways to get ideas for fresh content. I agree people often tweet their ideas to share them with the world
Initially, images will be attracting the audience in the blog. And, those 5 directions will be attracting the fresh content on here 🙂 Thanks a lot for given up here 🙂
Great writing tips, Alice. I like you can really get a lot of ideas and inspirations from social media sites such as Facebook, and Twitter. Yeap, 140 characters can sometimes spark some great topics!
Sometime my mind also stuck and makes hard to me to write attractive content. Thanks for tips.
It's called a writer's block 🙂
i will surely follow these tips to write some more unique content..Thanks buddy
Yes these are quite interesting tips on finding ideas for fresh content. All of us do use these unknowingly many times.
Just stay in touch with current affairs in technology and try to figure what information you think is going to help your readers. If you manage develop this sense about your readership, the problem to create good content would be over.
Traffic and Readers both are very important.
My motto is "What helped you, will help your readers."
Really inspiring as i am out of ideas, Now i am not able to add a lots of contents on my web -blog. So this is going to help me a lot.
You can take inspiration from images, I think that's something new I find out here but you're right sometimes a picture tells a lot.
I like to get out to events like you suggest. I cover the event like a journalist and take photos and videos, and blog about it. Some of the posts get traction from people after the event. I take the whole "finding a subject to write about" out of the equation.
All the best
James
I think one should check niche forums and find out about new problems & their solutions, something interesting which you can use in next post.
Aanchai – that's a great idea too, though sometimes a bit more time consuming. 🙂
Or just write about problems you troubleshooted yourself.