42 Ways of Coming Up With Blogging Ideas To Last You All Year

Last updated on June 6th, 2020 at 05:59 am

I know that my blog is mostly about the techie stuff of blogging. However, on of my goals is to help you grow your blog, so you can create the lifestyle you desire. The only way you’re going to grow your blog is to consistently up with blogging ideas and create awesome content people will want to share.

 

I’m not talking about the old regurgitated crap that everyone else is writing about. Nope you want to fill your blog with helpful tips and tutorials that your readers can then use to grow their blog.

Information that makes them say “WOW, I am going to bookmark this site to visit later.”

Your content should focus on helping them improve their lives in one way or another. If they don’t use the information you provide, there’s nothing you can do about it.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Starting a blog is half the battle, focus on growth #WordPress #freetraining – susanvelez.com ” quote=”Starting a blog is half the battle, focus on growth #WordPress #freetraining – susanvelez.com ” theme=”style4″]

 

As a content marketer, you provide useful and helpful information. What your readers do with it is their problem.

This takes tons of research and time, heck it usually takes me more than 8 hours to write a blog post. That’s one of the reasons I like writing my blog posts in advance.

If you’re like me, you like writing your blog posts at least a month in advance. I then use Google Drive to journal other blog post ideas so I never run out.

But how do you come up with 365 topics that will help you put together an editorial calendar you can use the next time you sit down to write a new blog post?

Starting a blog is easy. You install WordPress and learn how to write your first blog post.

Setup your permalinks and create your favicon. Those things are easy, with enough practice you will be doing it with your eyes closed.

The Hard Part

Is coming up with blogging ideas that will want to make people share your blog and bookmark it to keep coming back.

If you don’t keep pumping out amazing content, then no one is going to keep coming back. You need fresh, hot, amazing content to grow your blog.

Think of your blog like a TV sitcom. I love watching “Shooter” and I know what days it airs and have my DVR setup to record it so I don’t have to worry about watching it live.

You want people to wait anxiously for your next blog post. You also want them to subscribe to your RSS feed so they won’t miss any of your new posts.

If you provide them with amazing content, stuff that they can actually use, they will keep coming back. They won’t be able to help themselves because they will fall in love with your content.

Eventually…

You’ll have a visitor who subscribes to your email list, buys your products and makes purchases from your affiliate links. (of course assuming you aren’t trying to sell them junk)

So it’s your job to come up with some amazing content.

Coming Up With Blogging Ideas

So if you’ve been following my blog then you know I only provide you with the best content I know how.

So grab a cup of coffee or red wine and follow along with me as I open the doors to my soul.

Well NOT really but I am going to show you how I come up with blogging ideas for this blog.

Maybe you can use some of them to help you grow your blog?

Finding People Who Need Your Expertise

1. Aggregate Sites Online

First off head on over to Board Reader.

 

Enter your niche target audience. For the purposes of this tutorial, I am going to use bloggers. So I type in start a blog.

 

You can quickly glance through all the questions people are asking. Pay attention to the questions people are asking over and over.

These are the questions that people need help with. Open up a Word document or spreadsheet and jot down all the questions people keep asking.

Now you have a list of blog topics you can write about. Keep that spreadsheet open and lets add some more topics to it so we won’t have to keep asking ourselves “what should I write a blog post about.”

Now head on over to…

2. Use Twitter Search for ideas

Go to Twitter Search and type in a keyword that targets your niche. When you type it in, you will notice that a bunch of people are talking about starting a blog.

Spend a few minutes browsing the questions people are asking help for. Be sure to jot down all the questions that people are asking for that you could write an amazing blog post on.

Even if you’re NOT an expert and don’t know the answer do you think you could do some research and actually help them?

If so then put that in your spreadsheet.

 

3. Find Out What People Are Saying

Omgili is another option to find people who are looking for help.

You may have to type in different variations of your keyword. For example, instead of just typing in start a blog, try typing in:

• WordPress help
• Blogging help
• Affiliate marketing
• Starting a blog

You kind of get the idea. Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. What would they type in to find answers to the questions they need help with?

Like I said at the beginning, this is the main reason you need to know who your target audience is.

You may have to keep trying different keywords, but once something pops up that is your niche. You can use their questions to write a blog post.

4. Copy What Others Have Done

Feedly is a great source to find out what others are writing about.

While you don’t want to be accused of plagiarism. There’s no rule against writing about the same thing and putting your own unique twist on it.

Don’t be afraid to write about something that has already been written about. People do it all the time, take a look at any blog and you will see that all the information has already been written by someone else.

So head on over to feedly and sign up for a free account.

Once you have an account, you will have the option of following blogs in your niche. There’s no rhyme or reason for you to re-invent the wheel.

People write about the same thing over and over every time. You can do it as well, the only difference is that you are putting it in your own words with your unique angle.

Remember, you’re not stealing their content, that just wouldn’t be cool.

5. Use Subreddit to Get Ideas

Reddit is a great source of information to find out what people need help with or are looking for. Use the subreddit search and find something that’s relevant to your blog. For example use /r/blogging.

Next you would type in that subreddit search for “how do you” this will bring up a huge list of people who are learning how to do something or need your help.

 

To tell you the truth, I’m not that familiar with how Reddit works. I am still in the process of using it to help me grow my blog. Read this to learn how to use Reddit.

Another great way to use Reddit, is to browse through all the questions that people are asking. Take a look at some of the questions that I saw just from spending 5 minutes on Reddit.

 

• Lightweight, clean & simple ghost blogging platform theme.
• Starting an advice blog?
• How do I get more viewers (and keep them)?
• Getting a lot of spam comments, is this normal?

You could easily create a post on each of these questions.

6. Find Out What Other’s Are Doing

I love Buzzsumo and I don’t use it as often as I should. However, when you go to Buzzsumo, enter a keyword and it will bring up a bunch of websites that have a ton of shares.

You can also use enter the URL of a domain if you know it.

If you enter the domain name it will show you the what the most shared URL’s from that domain are.

This will tell you what people are sharing and will help you decide what your next blog post should be. Remember, we’re NOT stealing content, we are just brainstorming and coming up with blog post ideas.

7. Use Keyword Research

Uber Suggest does an awesome job of telling you what your audience is looking for. This app will spit out a big list of different Google searches that people are actually typing into the search bar.

 

I typed in how to start blogging and check out all the results that pop up. You can then take those results and base a new blog post on it.

Spend time typing in keywords or phrases your target audience would use to find you. If you need more help finding keywords I suggest using Longtail Pro, it’s what I use and I highly recommend it.

8. Repurpose or Expand On Existing Content

Can you expand on your existing blog posts? What do I mean by that? Take for instance my blog post about creating a favicon. I wrote a post after that one showing people how to install their newly created favicon.

Break your content into more than one post. Maybe you can elaborate on it more from a different angle.

Another example is, I wrote a blog post on how to install Google Analytics. I plan on writing more tutorials on using Google Analytics later.

So you may already have content on your blog that you could elaborate on even further and help your current readers.

9. Use Pinterest Smart Feed for Ideas

Use the smart feed in Pinterest. I am still new to Pinterest, but I am really starting to get the hang of it. You can follow me on Pinterest.

With their new smart feed, you can easily search what others are searching for. I typed in start a blog and check out everything that came up.

 

The smart feed is awesome and if you know how to use it, you can literally get tons of ideas for your next blog post.

You can also browse the different categories to get a look at the topics people have already written on and area actually getting repins.

10. Forums (Quora, Yahoo and etc..)

Let’s look at one of the questions I ran into when I typed in “how to start a blog on WordPress”

 

Based on this question from my question, you could write a blog post titled “Migrate From Tumblr To Your Own Self-Hosted Blog”

11. Industry Specific Forums

Don’t forget to browse through your specific industry forums. This isn’t a new way to converse with others in your niche to see what they need help with.

 

This pic is from the blogging section of Digital Forum. If your blog helps others start a blog or grow a blog, you could literally fill your spreadsheet with tons of new blog post ideas.

12. Join Facebook Groups

You should already be a member of at least a couple of Facebook groups. These groups will help you network with other bloggers so you can grow your blog.

Don’t overlook these groups as a way to gather ideas for your blog topics. Take a look at some of the questions I found from one of the groups I am a member of.

 

Feel free to use some of these questions to write your next blog post.

13. Twitter People Who Follow You

People follow you for a reason, because you are providing content they are interested in. You’ve done a great job on sharing content that helped you grow your following.

Why not take it a step further and ask your followers what else they would like to know? It can be time-consuming but you can use Crowdfire to set up an automated question whenever someone follows you.

14. People You Follow on Social Media

Find other bloggers in your niche to see what type of content they are sharing. What content is getting the most reshares, repins or likes? This is the type of content that their followers are interested in.

Take note of the their most popular content that is getting tons of engagement. Start adding those topics to your blog or expand on existing content you may already have.

15: YouTube Videos

There are literally tons of videos in your niche. Find someone in your niche who is getting a tons of views, subscribers and engagement on their channel.

People in your niche are looking for this type of information, that’s why their video channel has a ton of engagement. Now you have a ton of topics you can use to help you improve your blog.

16: Email List

If you’re growing your email list, you can use something like Typeform or Survey Monkey to survey your current email list. These people signed up to your email list because they want help from you.

Don’t hesitate to ask them what they want you to write about. Remember, your blog is NOT for you, it is for helping people in your niche.

 

The only way you can help your readers is to find out what they need help with. I do this with my email list.

17. Analyze Your Most Popular Posts

Chances are you have a most popular section on your blog. If not, then you definitely should create one. This helps your visitors find out which content people love.

However, you can use this as a way to come up with more content ideas. Take for instance, this post on my blog has received over 100 shares.

Here are some of my most popular blog posts:

• Social Warfare Plugin
• Weekly Blogging Duties
• How to Choose A WordPress Theme

It is by far the most popular post on my blog. The question I should be asking myself is “how can I expand on this post?”

Use your popular posts to write more content for your blog.

18. Read A Lot

If you’re trying to build your blog into a business, you need to read anything and everything you can get your hands on to help you grow.

Reading books, blogs and forums can help you get inspiration for your next blog post.

So step away from your own blog once in a while and read other people’s blogs. I definitely love reading about other people’s journey about how they built their blog into a self-sustaining business.

19. Your Blog Comments

While your blog may be still be new and may not receive a lot of comments, like mine. Eventually, as your blog starts gain traction and grow. People will start to leave comments.

Use these comments to create a new blog post.

 

Based on this comment that was left on my blog, I could write a new blog post titled “How Is Social Warfare Pro Different From The Free Version?”

Of course I would put more thought into the title if I was going to write an actual blog post on it.

20. Current Clients or Customers

If you’re like me then you deal with clients on a daily basis in my WordPress freelance business. You can see what type of questions they ask you or the types of issues you deal with on a daily basis.

I had to delete some malicious code from a clients website not too long ago. Since this blog is about teaching you the techie side of blogging and helping you grow your blog. I figured why not write a blog post that shows you how I deleted the code.

Your clients can be a gold mine in helping you come up with blog topic ideas.

21. Your Contact Form

Sooner or later as your blog starts to grow, you will start getting questions from your readers. People are going to ask you what you do to drive traffic to your blog, how you got started or you name it.

Use these questions to write new content for your blog.

22. Other Bloggers Comments Questions

If your blog is still not getting a lot of comments, you could visit other people’s blogs in your niche and see what type of questions people are leaving on their blog.

Make a spreadsheet of 10 – 20 bloggers in your niche who provide awesome content and have high engagement on their blog. Visit their site and see what types of questions their followers are leaving.

Use these questions to come up with content for your own blog. The great thing about using this method is that you know people are looking for this content.

23. Other Bloggers FAQ Sections

Your competitor has been blogging a lot longer than you. They know what types of questions their readers are asking. Visit their FAQ page to see what types of questions they are getting bombarded with.

If the question is on their FAQ page, people are asking it all the time. Jot down some of those questions and answer them in your next blog post.

24. Go For A Walk

As bloggers we all know there is always something to do to grow our business. Sometimes we work too much.

Take the time to step away from your computer. I have personally found this to be a great way to help me come up with great ideas for my next blog post.

Make sure that you have an app on your iPhone so you don’t forget about the topics before you get back to your computer. I love using Drafts to help me keep track of all my ideas while I am walking.

25. Amazon Books Section

Why not see what the best sellers are in Amazon. If someone has written a book about it, then you know there’s a market for the content.

 

Browse Amazon and read the titles of the books in your industry. Choose a book that actually has sales and high ratings. If people are buying these books, then you know people would read your blog post.

26. Your Competitor’s Email Lists

Your competitors most likely have a big email list. Visit some of your competitor’s websites to see what type of lead magnet they offer.

People are signing up to their email list because they are interested in this type of content. Use this as inspiration for your next blog post.

27. Real World Experiences

While this won’t work for every niche. I have found that working in my WordPress freelance business enables me to find content for my blog.

My clients usually come to me with an issue for their site or ask me questions that I can then use to write a new blog post.

Depending on your niche you can start using your real-world life experiences to help you come up with ideas.

28. Meditation

As bloggers, we all face writers block at one point or another. Quieting the mind has been a great way to overcome these types of obstacles.

Take time to quiet your mind on a daily basis and see if this gets the blog topic ideas flowing.

29. Google+ Communities

Use Google+ communities to help you find new topics for your blog. Google+ works just like Twitter, if you’re new and want to know how to get started, read this. Find out what people are posting in their circles and use those topics to write content for your own blog.

You can take it a step further and join some communities in your niche. This will give you an inside look at what people are posting.

30. Motivational Quotes

We’ve all been motivated by quotes. They are extremely popular on social media sites. Why not use them to help you come up with your next blog post idea.

31. Use Title Generators

Sometimes when I’m browsing the Internet, I’ll come upon a catchy title. I’ve found that this helps me start my brainstorming process for my next blog post.

Tweak your Biz title Generator is an awesome title generator that will help you get your juices flowing.

Enter your topic and choose noun or verb.

Here’s my result for “start a blog.”

 

Look through all the titles it gave you and this will give you tons of ideas.

• 9 Reasons Why You Can’t Start A Blog Without Social Media
• 9 Reasons You Will Never Be Able To Start A Blog Like Bill Gates
• These 9 Hacks Will Make You Start A Blog Like A Pro

I could literally write new blog post ideas all day long. If you need to take it a step further with more title generators, check out SEO Pressor and Hubspot’s topic generator.

32. Google Alerts

Set up some alerts with some of your blog niche keywords. Set it up so it delivers alerts on a daily basis. This will ensure that you’re always filling up your inbox with fresh ideas you can use for your next blog topic.

33. Use Infographics

One of my favorite places to hang out when I’m not writing a blog post is Pinterest. I love looking at all the different graphics for inspiration on my own.

Did you know that they have a section dedicated to just infographics?

Find a useful infographic that provides great information. Use that information to write a blog post. Look for infographics that have a lot of repins.

This means that people are not only interested in the image, they most likely love the content as well.

34. Using Podcasts for Inspiration

If you’re a blogger then here’s a list of podcasts you might want to consider listening to for inspiration. Pick a few that you find interesting and this will help give you some ideas for your next blog post.

Don’t forget to write down all the topics that you think about while listening.

35. Your Personal Goals

We all have goals that we want to achieve with our blog. My goal is to eventually get my blog to sustain me full-time. If you already have a loyal following then you can share your goals with your readers by writing a blog post.

36. Your Readers Goals

Every entrepreneur should have a goal they are working towards. If you are struggling with coming up with your own goals, why not ask your followers.

Based on your followers responses this will help you consider your own goals.

37. Google Trends

Find out what’s popular and what stories people are looking for. If there is a way to use some of those stories in your blog, then do it. This won’t work for every niche.

Head on over to Google Trends to see what the top stories are right now.

38. Freelance Websites

If you offer any type of services on your blog, you can visit Upwork or other freelance sites to see what type of jobs people are posting.

This works best if your blog provides helpful tutorials for your readers. Take a look at this job description I found on Upwork.

Someone is looking for information on optimizing their website. Do you think you could write a blog post on how to optimize WordPress for a fast load time?

If so then you could use this blog topic to help for your next blog post.

39. Consumer Insight

Answer the republic is a great site I ran into by browsing the Internet. It kind of reminds me of the title generator.

You type in your keyword and select your country. Click on the yellow button and the wait for it to spit back the questions people ask.

 

It came back with 90 questions that people ask for “starting a blog.”

40. Your Readers Struggles & Pains

You need to know who your target audience is for this to work. What are their struggles and how can you create content that will help them solve their problems?

Share your most useful tips and information and they will love you for it.

41. Your Competitors Site Map

Other people in your niche have found topics and ideas that your visitors want. Check out the sitemap of your competitor, this will help you brainstorm some ideas of what your target audience is looking for.

42. Guest Blog Posts

I am just starting to get into guest blogging. I’ve reached out to one blog in hopes of being able to submit my first guest post. As I was searching for blogs that I could contribute to, it hit me.

These blogs are jam packed with tons of keyword ideas that we can use to help us grow our blogs. Find guest blogs in your niche that people have written for and you are golden.

You won’t have to worry about running out of blogging ideas for your next blog post. I’ve just started using this idea and have already found several keywords that I’ve added to my Google Doc. (this is where I keep all upcoming posts on my blog)

Final Take Away

Starting a blog is easy especially with WordPress. Sure it make take some time to learn how to navigate the WordPress dashboard, or learn about the permalink structure.

The hardest and most difficult part is growing your blog. It takes time and a lot of great content that people will want to share and they find valuable.

If you’re blogging to build a business, you can’t run out of blogging ideas. If you do, then you’re dead in the water.

So take time this weekend and do yourself a favor. Start working on filling up your WordPress editorial calendar with content that your audience is going to love.

If you’re still struggling with setting up WordPress, read this. Maybe you need to know how to choose a theme? Don’t forget to sign up for my Free 7 Day WordPress course.

How long have you been blogging? Do you find yourself running out of blogging ideas? If so what do you do to find new ideas to help your readers?

Share your tips with us so we can all grow our blogs and reach our blogging goals.