How to write a blog post…when you’ve run out of ideas

13 Apr 2010

Let’s be frank. Writing a blog post every day, every other day, or even once a week can be a right pain in the neck. Unless of course your actual job is writing for a blog.

But if you’re a freelancer or you run your own company, it’s easy to put your own blog on the back burner while you get your real work done. Especially if you’ve run out of ideas about what to write.   

But stick with it. Because your blog is one of the easiest, quickest and cheapest ways of getting freshly baked content on to your site – and Google loves fresh content; it’s a great way of getting traffic to your site; and it’s the perfect way to build relationships with your customers and attract new clients.

But what to write about? Try some of these ideas for inspiration.

• Interview someone in your industry or someone you’re inspired by
• Ask a question
• Review a product and show how you use it in your business
• Tell a personal story and let people know the real you
• Review a book
• Write about something that affects your industry
• Read the Sunday papers for inspiration (I especially like the Sunday Times magazine)
• Write a response to something someone else has posted, giving your point of view (and link to the original post)
• Review a piece of software and show how it’s helped your business
• Take photos on your camera phone, whilst you’re out and about, and use in a post
• Write a post on something that’s in the news today (look at the BBC website first thing or see what’s trending on Twitter)
• Use a band or a movie as inspiration. The Sex and the City post over at Copyblogger was one of my favourites, like, ev-ah.
• Do a survey – and then publish the results
• Write about how you screwed up or how you learned a lesson
• Write a How to blog post…

And if you have a flash of inspiration for a post, leave yourself a voice memo on your iPhone or write a note in Evernote.

Any more ideas? Share in the comments.