photo credit: gds

That’s a question I hear all the time. “Where do I get stuff to write about?” Not to mention, “How do I make it interesting?  Who wants to read my stuff? Why is there air?”  Ok, maybe not the last one. That’s a line from a Bill Cosby joke.  And the answer is…”to blow up basketballs!” All right, moving on.

These are all great questions for sure and each one should have an answer before you begin to put your figures on the keyboard.

I’ll cover this one today. “Where do I get stuff to write about?”  First off, if you have a blog you should have a good idea of what you want your blog to be about.  What will it focus on…political commentary, internet marketing, a blog for business or maybe for personal blogging, where you are expressing your thoughts and feelings to the world…think online journal. 

Your blog’s overall theme or topic will dictate what you will write about.  That is not to say that every single post must be “on topic”.  That will get boring for you and for your readers.  So don’t be afraid to go “off topic” occasionally.  

If you are passionate about your blog’s topic you shouldn’t have any trouble coming up with posts….for awhile.  Even the most passionate blogger can come up empty once in awhile. 

So where do you turn for inspiration?  I’ve always found that other blogs are good sources.  I’m sure you must be subscribing to some blogs that are similar in topic to yours.  Right?  Say “Yes?”  If you’re not go find some!!

Read through your favorite blogs and see what they are writing about.  And look to see which topics have the most comments. That will tell you if the subject resonates with readers. 

Still stumped?  Do you have Google Alerts?  If not you need to sign up.  Go to Google Alerts

Below is what Google says about Google Alerts.  Its a direct copy and paste…hope they don’t sue me or something.  Besides they say it much better than I could. Who am I to presume that I could say it better than Google?

“Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.
Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

• monitoring a developing news story
• keeping current on a competitor or industry
• getting the latest on a celebrity or event
• keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams”

Go to the link and sign up.  Its easy and free. You will receive alerts on whatever topic you signed up for and you can choose to have them sent to your email or to your favorite feed.  Like Google Reader.  Yep, another Google plug.  Sign up for Google Reader too!  Maybe I’ll cover that in a future post.

Another great way to get ideas is from your readers.  What topic has the most comments or the most views. (your analytics program will tell you that…get one if you don’t have one.  Guess who has one?  It begins with a G! And The Blog Builder Guy always includes it when he builds your blog.) Take the most popular post and expand on it.  If its popular enough you could even write an e-book about it but that’s another post.

You can even ask your readers what they’d like to see on your blog.  What better way to engage them than to ask for their opinion?

Well that’s enough for now.  Can you think of anything I should add?  (see that’s me trying to engage my readers)

Talk soon!