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Where Do I Get Ideas for Blogging?

by Chris Hughes on March 1, 2010



Bubbling Up - FB version
Creative Commons License photo credit: Design Seeds

Earlier today I kind of drew a blank when I opened up my wordpress to write a blog to you guys and this got me thinking.

How do bloggers constantly produce good relevant content to their followers?

It’s kind of hard. So, I decided to think about it along with asking my network what their thoughts were.

I personally get ideas from everywhere... I even get some ideas from Twitter, thanks to @JPedde recommending that I write about “maybe writing about difficulty of staying fresh/creative?”

Ideas seem to come from everything in my day-to-day experiences, everything from sitting in a classroom and all of a sudden an idea pops into my head and I start writing it in my notebook to me watching a sporting event or even playing sports or juggling ;-)

One thing I need to personally do better

is to do some keyword research to find out what I should be blogging about and what is already being searched for. If you are unfamiliar with how to do this, I recommend googling “google keyword tool” and learning to use that tool.  That’s a place where you can get a keyword and write a story to it!

Being a good blogger is about telling your story or telling a story in a way that gets the message across. It’s a way for people to bond with us or bond with our story and I think that’s really cool.

I’ve also got to start writing more stories for you guys since typically they have turned out to be beneficial…maybe I’ll even share the story I wrote about a guy who hitchhiked to Canada during a rain storm (I actually wrote this story for my Humanities class last semester…the answer was absolutely wrong but the teacher got a kick out of it).

So, what gets your ideas flowing? What things make your blogging brain go BONCOS?

I’d love for your input and let’s see how many different ways idea’s can be created for a blog post.

PS- If I get 25 comments on this, I’ll share my humanities story along with the actual assignment with you guys so if you want to hear that you better start commenting! It’s pretty funny my professor thought :-p

About the author

Chris Hughes wrote 271 articles on this blog.

Chris is an experienced Internet Marketer who specializes in helping small businesses get more customers from the Internet. Connect with Chris on Google+

Tagged as: Blog, Blogger, Brain, Canada, Creative Ideas, Experiences, Followers, Google, Head Start, Humanities, Keyword Research, Love, Many Different Ways, Notebook, People, Photo Credit, Playing Sports, Rain Storm, Relevant Content, Seeds, Telling Your Story, Wordpress

  • karatedar

    Chris,

    Blogging ideas come from my own life experiences—it's like an exercise in ongoing journaling. If I read a good book I'll share it. If I have a particular skill set that I think could be useful to others, I'll share it. Blogging has caused me to view life differently, for sure (similar to using Twitter, where you begin to think in 140 characters).

    So let's hear the story of the guy who hitchhiked to Canada!

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    I like that “it's like an exercise in ongoing journalizing” :) what a great way to view blogging. It's definitely helped change the way I view the world and how I communicate my ideas just as Twitter has! It helps compress thoughts into little tidbits of information.

    only 23 more comments until the hitchhiker story!

  • http://twitter.com/Sara_C_Lopez Lopez

    I wanna hear the story! And I completely agree on the inspiration part. Luckily- I usually have a guideline for what I should be writing about based around what events I will be attending and what is happening in the 8th Continent world. :-)

  • http://www.daveanddawncook.com/ daveanddawncook

    Chris,

    I think that a lot of us in this realm struggle with this from time to time. I was chatting with Matthew Neer the other day and mentioned to him that he needs to put a “favicon” on his blog. The next thing I know is that he writes a post about it and how to install it on WordPress. The funny thing is that I completed that for our blog awhile back but never thought about doing a post on it.

    I guess your mind just has to be open and if you are working on something, you should consider writing a post for it. As we do things in our everyday lives, a lot of people can gain insight and value from it. We just don't realize it while we go from day to day.

    Thanks for sharing!
    Dave and Dawn

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    A couple more people and i'll be posting that story :)

    You do have quite an advantage on blogging as you can just write about where you are going…I've gotta figure out a way of doing that! Maybe when I do some more traveling I can get paid to blog about my experiences with different hotels/etc + all the fun stuff I get to do while I'm traveling

    Do you enjoy writing about your life with 8th Continent?

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    That's a great idea, just writing a blog about how to do something. I should really start doing that more!

    It's always the little things in life that seem to bring about some great blog topics/ideas.

    Great ideas Dave and Dawn! :)

  • http://www.theNoBSinternetguy.com Stew Shaw

    “… do some keyword research to find out what I should be blogging about…”
    Hi Chris. A good topic and one we can all learn from. Your idea I quoted above threw me a bit. That way of putting the cart before the horse would work if you were only wanting targeted traffic I guess. But for now I prefer to craft my own topics and go with where I want to “lead” people.

  • christinemcivor

    HI Chris, you have hit on a topic that so many people struggle with. I always tell my team members to be YOU and share your passion and your experiences in your niche market.

    I personally start with what people are searching for. I use “I don't know what I would do without it” Market Samurai to estimate the daily searches on a keyword phrase and then I choose one that doesn't have much competition and use that keyword phrase as my title. Once I have my title, I know what I am going to blog about : )

    p.s. I hope you get 25 comments soon. I want to know how the hitchhiker crossed the border.

  • junecollins

    Me, I talk to people, read books, when I am in the dog park or at pet places I speak with people to get ideas on what to blog on about pets and wildlife. I also keep up with what is going on in cyberspace.

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    I've found that gearing blog posts towards targeted traffic has helped me a ton and has made me some affiliate commissions along with some followers who were interested in that topic. It's pretty easy to just find what people are already looking for and to write about these topics. I've been doing this a lot with the offline business owners who I work with. For the chiropractors I am working with, I have articles written that are based on keyword research that will drive some traffic to their site and ultimately lead to people walking into their office after finding their site online.

    The reason for this is because they don't have the time to develop the social media relationships and are only worried about leading their people to their office. However, you are absolutely right in that it is important to stand out from the crowd and offer something that leads people to a new way of thinking.

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    You are absolutely right! Being YOU is so important in our marketing as people buy from those they Know Like and Trust :)

    I haven't used Market Samurai yet ( http://www.marketsamurai.com/ )

    So you are saying that from the title, you get the ideas for the blog post? I usually end up getting the title after I write the blog post so thats interesting :)

    A few more RT's, shares and comments and I'll make it my next blog post :)

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    June, do you find its at the times that you are most relaxed that your ideas seem to flow?

  • tracymatlack

    Great article. I feel the same way, sometimes I just don't know what to write about. I will be waiting to see your comments! I do have 2 teenagers that do give me some crazy things to write about. I also am starting a travel blog and will be writing about all sorts of things that are fun and adventurous. Write about things you are passionate about! Good luck!

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    I bet having 2 teenagers makes your life full of crazy things to write about! Do you take action and actually write about them? If you do, I commend you on that! So many people have ideas all around them and just fail to take action and do it…

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    A couple more responses and I'll be posting the story !!!! I'm getting anxious!

  • http://thesocialchameleons.blogspot.com/ Jenn

    Hey Chris! Thanks for the shoutout, and I'm glad I could help ya write a post! I like your ideas of googling keywords – never thought about that before. I kind of do the same. I'll be going along a work or something, and an idea will just pop up and I'll make sure to write it down. I also get a lot of writing inspiration from the articles that people post on twitter.

    … so… how about that hitchhiker story? :)

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    My pleasure Jenn! Googling keywords works great for generating traffic as we are just tapping into what people are already searching for, I'm kind of like Einstein, just cuter ;) haha

    On your walks do you typically take a notebook or cell phone to write down your notes?

    soon for the hitchhiker story.. I'm going to write it and save it as a draft so that it's ready to go as soon as I get a few more comments :)

  • http://kristiriley.com Kristi Riley

    Awesome post I must say!!!! I myself know the difficulties of coming up with a new stuff to blog about day to day. Keywords are defiantly something I need to work on as well, made clear to me by Mr. Matthew Neer, but I am getting better…baby steps!

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    Yeah Matthew sure knows his stuff! Following him will definitely position you as a leader and will turn you into a money magnet!

    One step at a time gets us to where we want to be :)

  • http://kristiriley.com Kristi Riley

    Indeed He has showed me a completely different side to to the internet. He even got me hooked on Twitter lol I thought that it was ridiculous at first, but now i am always on it looking for ideas and what not.

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    Twitter is a blast, I've met a bunch of great people on there. Any time of the day that I get on I have the chance to talk with Entrepreneur's from around the world.. can't beat that, there's always great ideas being shared and relationships being developed. It's win-win :)

    When I first learned about twitter I thought it was ridiculous too, my thoughts were “who cares what I'm doing?!?” haha little did I know that it can connect me with so many like minded people

  • kathyjodrey

    Chris,

    There are so many great places to find ideas for blog posts. The more you learn, the more you have to share with others. I never really find myself in need of a subject to write about, ideas are constantly coming to me.

    I keep a log of my ideas and when it's time for a post I check to see what strikes me the most. Then, and only then, do I take on keyword research. It works better for me to have a topic that I want to write about then find good keywords than to find good keywords then try to wrap my head around something I may be less than passionate about.

    Hope you get 25 comments….can't wait for your story!

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    You've got that right Kathy! It seems like everyday I'm coming up with new blog post ideas and I love it!

    I've also got an “idea notebook” that I've been building up over a year or so and its just loaded with topics/brainstormed ideas!

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    It's up everyone!!! I hope you like it! Thanks for all the comments :) http://whoschrishughes.com/the-story-of-tim-the…

  • http://WhosChrisHughes.com Chris Hughes

    It's up everyone!!! I hope you like it! Thanks for all the comments :) http://whoschrishughes.com/the-story-of-tim-the…

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