28 Apr
If you are managing a blog page, one of the most challenging tasks is to generate topics to write about. Sure, there are several general subjects left and right. But remember, you have a niche to cater to. So right now, we want to give you tips on where to get ideas for brainstorming. Thankfully, there are many, and we bet you won’t run out of things to write about after reading this post.
1. Ask Your Followers
This seems like a no-brainer. However, many blog owners are not aware that one of the best ways to farm topics is to ask your current followers.
They are your audience, and you are writing for them. So, why don’t you get their direct opinions on things they want to know? You can have a poll using your social media or send an email newsletter asking for their two cents.
The great thing about this technique is that you promote engagement. Most people would like to be heard. And by asking their thoughts about the topic for your blog, they will feel a sense of belongingness. This makes them loyal followers of your blog.
2. Analyze Your Blog’s Performance
If you already have existing content, it’s best to sit down and take a look at your blog’s performance. Evaluate which topics you get more traction on, and focus on building more content from there. Think of similar topics or provide more detailed information about the subheadings.
This is another strategy that many bloggers use. It’s where they create a blog post that provides an overview of a central topic. From there, they create posts using the original article’s subheadings as the new topic. Of course, this entails more research. But the good thing about this approach is that you are giving your readers more than just general knowledge.
3. Look at Other Blogs
There’s nothing wrong if you take a sneak peek at other blog pages catering to the same audience. Observe which topics they commonly write about. Take note of these and do your research properly.
Also, make yours as extensive as possible. You wouldn’t want to write content that has been covered by most bloggers. Always give your readers something new and fresh to read.
4. Watch Out for Trends
As a rule of thumb, you have to make your blog as relevant as possible. Your content should be timely to gain higher hits. Be on the lookout for news, memes, even viral videos on social media. From there, you can relate the topics to your audience, making it more relevant.
If you are to do this, you need to draft your content immediately. As they always say, strike while the iron is hot. If you will wait for weeks to publish posts anchored on trends, chances are, people might no longer be interested.
5. Use Tools to Generate Ideas
Who says you have to do all the hard work? You see, there are tools available now where you can automatically see several keywords and topics ideal for your market.
You have Google Trends, Hubspot’s Blog Ideas Generator, and KeywordTool.io, to name a few. And the best thing about these platforms is that they don’t need rocket-science to use it. And in just a matter of seconds, you get to have many fresh ideas that have high traction.
6. Find Youtube Videos with High Views
Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine, just next to Google? That said, checking the most viewed videos related to your niche is a logical approach if you want to have a pool of topics for your blog.
7. Maximize Quora
Quora is a fantastic platform where the community can openly ask questions, while its members could also provide answers.
What does this mean for you?
When you go to Quora, you can type your topic, and all the related questions will be shown. You can already lift ideas for brainstorming here. And what’s good is that you know that people are indeed looking for answers to these questions. The likelihood of your post being read is higher.
Check out what we did here. We just typed ‘travel,’ and we were given several topics which we would not have thought of.
8. Take a Peek at Reddit
Reddit could be a life-saver when you are running out of ideas for brainstorming. Similar to Quora, finding relevant subtopics here is as easy as 123. In our example below, we used ‘parenting’ in the search feature, and we can already formulate interesting topics based on the list.
9. Use Mind Maps
Many people use mind maps to generate ideas and even to solve problems. It’s one of the best strategies to brainstorm unique solutions. When we say mind maps, it’s a diagram where you connect various information around a central topic. Let’s give you an example.
Think of your central topic as women’s clothes. What are the related terms or subtopics you can think of?
- Little black dress
- Power dressing
- Affordable casual clothes
- Clothes for mothers
- Clothes for college students
- Designer wardrobe
- Closet
Instead of plain note-taking, make it more creative by using branches and adding drawings to your ideas. This could stimulate your creative thinking, and you will have more topics to write about. Most of the time, you would be able to get a unique angle that no other blog page has written in the past.
When you use this technique, it’s important not to filter your ideas. Just write as many as you can without evaluating first if you can get resources for the topic. Ask your team to do the same, and you would be surprised with the output.
10. Keep an Idea File
Lastly, if you want to take blogging seriously, you need to keep an idea file. Your mental notes can only do so much.
Whenever an idea pops up, write it down and place it on a central file. When you are ready to write, you can just take a look at the topics in your database, and you are good to go.
Conclusion
Don’t be too hard on yourself. The harder you force your brain to think of a ‘good’ topic, the lesser chance of coming up with one. Just let your creative juices flow naturally and use the tips above if you need ideas for brainstorming.
