The document provides 11 sources for generating blog post ideas: 1) industry news, 2) books in your niche, 3) question and answer sites, 4) recycling your own past posts, 5) interviewing experts, 6) relating topics to television and pop culture, 7) social media newsfeeds, 8) trends on Twitter, 9) group discussions, 10) educational and historical topics, and 11) analyzing blog post analytics. Regularly checking these sources can provide a wealth of inspiration for new blog content.

1. S
Generating Blog
Ideas
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2. One of the more challenging aspects of Blog writing is
coming up with ideas for your next blog. The following are a
number of sources for coming up with those ideas.
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3. 1. Industry News
S Bookmark websites or subscribe to newsletters and RSS
feeds so that you can keep abreast of current industry
news and trends. If you aren't sure where to start looking,
try doing a simple Google search on " News" and see
what comes up. A more advanced technique is to use
Feedly to collect RSS Feeds from a variety of sources,
whatever sources you decide to subscribe to. You can
then simply log into Feedly to see the latest posts from
those sources. You can use the Feedly app on your
iPhone or iPad to see new entries.
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4. 2. Books in Your Niche
S Business owners are often encouraged to read more
books, magazines and articles from their industry in order
to continue to educate and improve themselves. Such
reading can also often inspire us to write new blog posts
to share what we have learned with our readers and
customers. We have a Recommended Reading area
where we share specific books that we think our readers
would find helpful, and we occasionally write more
lengthy reviews and overviews for those books that are
particularly invaluable.
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5. 3. Question and Answer Sites
S There are many Q&A sites like Quora and Yahoo!
Answers. If you take a little time to review some of the
questions that relate to your business and industry, you
might find some topics that you can easily answer
yourself. However, instead of testing an answer on the
site, craft your answer as a blog post within your own
website. Bonus points for posting or linking your blog as
an answer on the Q&A site as well.
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6. 4. Recycle Your Own Posts
S If you have been blogging for a while, you undoubtedly have
old blog posts that you can recycle. What you should look for
are blog posts where your business or industry has changed
and you can provide new, updated information, which would
supplement the old post. You might also take a post like this
one, where you have provided a list of some kind, and look to
add more list items. When recycling an old post, certainly do
not edit the old one. Instead, create a new post and retain as
much of the original content as you wish, simply adding and
enhancing as needed. At the start of the new post, explain why
you are revisiting the same topic and include a link back to the
original post for reader comparison (and deeplinking).
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7. 5. Interview Other Experts or
Controversial People
S Depending on your industry, you might consider talking to or
interviewing other people. These people might be experts in the
field or simply controversial individuals. If you have never
interviewed someone, do your homework. Prepare by
researching who they are so that you are familiar with their
work, and have questions prepared in advance. Takes notes
during the interview and use your iPhone to record the
conversation later reference. Your blog post should then
include your questions, their answers, and your opinion of their
answers. Be sure to include some background information on
the person, and remember to thank them!
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8. 6. Television and Pop Culture
S This source involves the timeless writing technique of
comparison, where you relate two dissimilar concepts so that
the reader is made to understand one concept due to their
existing understanding of another concept. While watching a
television show or movie, or listening to the radio, you are
reminded of some aspect of your business or industry and are
inspired to write about it in a blog entry. For instance, if you are
a fan of the TV show Lost, you might write about how a
business could find success using the Dharma Initiative model
of organization. Some of your points may be tongue in
cheek, but most of your points should have enough merit to be
considered. With the release of Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit", I
decided to write a blog post about blogging lessons we might
learn from Bilbo Baggins.
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9. 7. Social Media Newsfeed
S Regularly check your Facebook news feed for issues and
topics that people are talking about. While you will likely
want to avoid the more controversial topics, there may be
an number of news trends in your friends discussions
that you use as inspiration for your next blog article.
Similarly, pay attention to what's being discussed on
Google+ and other social networks like Pinterest and
LinkedIn.
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10. 8. Twitter Followers and
Trends
S Similarly, you can use your Twitter feed to get ideas on
what is trending currently, but Twitter makes an even
better tool than Facebook. First, you can easily follow
prominent people in your industry and even use Twitter's
recommendations to find new people to follow. Second,
use Twitter's "Discover" and "Trends" tools to see what
Twitter users everywhere are talking about.
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11. 9. Group Discussions
S Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ all have discussion
groups of one kind or another. Join groups that are
talking about your business and industry and pay
attention to the questions being asked and topics being
discussed. Answer questions whenever appropriate and
participate as much as you can. Often, your topic
answers and discussions will naturally lend themselves to
new blog posts.
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12. 10. Educational / Historical
Topics
S Every business should strive to provide blog articles that
educate their readers, clients and potential customers on
relevant topics. While you don't want to provide so much
information that you are no longer needed, there are
likely plenty of topics which you can write about which are
helpful. You might also occasionally draft posts that
discuss the history of your industry or aspects of your
industry.
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13. 11. Analytics
S Review your blog analytics. Which blog posts and topics
seem to get the most traffic and attention? If you can
identify those kinds of trends, then you may be inspired
to write more posts on similar topics.
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14. S Hopefully these areas will provide you with a rich source
of ideas and topics for your blog. If you need assistance
implementing your blog or in other areas of internet
marketing, please contact us.
S Where else do you get your ideas and inspiration for your
blog topics?
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