You have a supply of blog ideas at the ready, and you might not even realize it. Your consumption habits can lead to a wealth of ideas. You just have to open your eyes to them. If you’re a consumer, you can be a blog and content genius.
Here are three things you already do every single day from which you can extract a multitude of topics on which to write.
Reading:
Start with your night table, or toggle through your Kindle. Which books, relevant to your field, have really touched you? Can you write a review? Be sure to tell us why this book was so meaningful to you (this adds a necessary personal element that I think makes articles much more interesting.)
Go one step further:
Find three pieces of advice or content from the book that were particularly useful or moving. Plan to write an article on each of them. Once you have your topics, plot them on your editorial calendar. Maybe you want them to be consecutive, like a series. Or maybe you would prefer to just work them in amid your other content.
Interneting:
Er, um, surfing? We consume boat-loads of content online. Why not put your pursuing powers to work for your blogging efforts. You can curate content for your audience by sharing articles you’ve found particularly interesting. Or, find a topic that you think is generating a lot of buzz and offer your take on it. You can do this weekly. What’s the topic of the week? Spin it so that the concept relates to your area of expertise. Create a metaphor. For example, in the news this week: Katy Perry offers to write Hillary Clinton’s theme song if Clinton were to run for president again in 2016. You could reference this news item then write an article about having a personal pump-up song. You could talk about your own theme song. You could ask your audience to share theirs.
Go one step further:
Set yourself up with a reading list as part of your web browser. Add to it sites you find that inspire you and are great for generating ideas. I have the following sites on my reading list, among others:
Listening:
There are people you love to hear from and gurus you love to follow. What if you asked someone your admire for an interview? Sounds scary? What’s the worst that could happen? They say no? What’s the best that could happen. You get to talk to this person who really inspires you. And if you’re super lucky, when you publish your interview, they might even agree to share it on their own social media channels. (It’s called a strategic alliance.) You’re a genuine fan and student. And that’s a find place to be.
Go one step further:
I challenge you to send at least one email to someone you truly admire and ask them if they’d be willing to be interviewed. You can make it really simple for them. Write out your questions and offer them an email interview. I did this for a project I’m working on, for you, actually. I wanted to get “best practices” from women I thought were writing really good strategic content to support their businesses. I asked one woman who I consider a “heavier” hitter. And I got an affirmative response. She said she got an intuitive hit to say yes to me. Wanna know who it was? Tune in to learn more about the project!
Let me know how it goes. Post a link to any article you write from which the idea was born of this post.
