Ready for a little creativity boost to help you write your next blog post?
Try one of these!
1. Share “Behind the Scenes” in your life or business.
Let readers catch a glimpse of inside your life or business.
Share your office and a few tips about creating an inspirational space, staying organized, or whatever ties into your expertise.
If you sell a physical product, you could create a photo tour of your studio or workspace including details about the tools you use and your favorite work tips.
2. Build on someone else’s words.
Be inspired by a great quote! You could share a quote from someone famous or someone less-than-famous (like your kid, spouse, neighbor, or friend).
Quote inspired posts can be inspirational and motivational, funny or sarcastic. There are quotes for every mood and theme.
Try these great sites for quotes:
- http://quotegarden.com
- http://quotelicious.com
- http://heartquotes.net
3. Play “Dear Abby…”
Do an advice column. You can make up your own questions for this or invite subscribers to send you their questions.
Or just pick a question that you get asked frequently, or one that your customers should be asking and answer it.
4. Get controversial and dive into a hot topic.
What topics or posts have worked to get your readers talking? Write about the 3 or 4 blog posts that you have received the most comments on. Were those comments positive or negative? Were the posts controversial? Is there a theme of some sort? Will you be writing more on that subject?
If your blog doesn’t have a post you’d consider “most popular” yet, then check out Facebook or Twitter to see what’s a hot topic and blog about that.
5. Share your inspiration.
What inspires you? Share a photo, quote, video, or something else that’s helped you stay motivated or get through those tough times.
Who inspires you? Share someone who you admire, respect, or who you’ve learned from by profiling them on your blog. Might be your favorite author from childhood. Or a teacher who cared and made a difference in your life. Maybe it’s your coach or a mentor.
6. Spy on the bestseller’s list.
Books can provide all sorts of inspiration for blog posts. How about these blog post ideas:
- a review of a book you’ve read recently
- share your favorite fictional character from a book
- create a “top 5” required reading list for your clients/industry
- write about the book you most remember reading as a child (anyone else love the Ramona Quimby series?)
- feature a book that taught you something or changed your perspective
- if you’re an author, highlight your own book
Or, hop over to Amazon.com and go to the best seller list — either the best sellers, or top sellers in a particular category that fits with your blog. You’ll find lots of inspiration just waiting for you.
7. Borrow a page from Letterman and go “Top Ten” style.
You can write this one in many different ways and it doesn’t necessarily have to be 10, just using a list format can get our brains thinking creatively sometimes.
You could share…
- Top 10 Reasons You Should (fill in the blank)
- Top 3 Reasons You Shouldn’t (fill in the blank)
- Top 5 Reasons I (fill in the blank)
- Top 5 Blogs You Should Be Reading
- The 7 Web Tools You Can’t Miss
- 5 Ways to Succeed at (fill in the blank)
- The 10 Coolest Places I’ve Visited
- 5 Blogs I Discovered Recently
- 10 Random Things About Me
- My 3 Favorite (fill in the blank)
Does this idea look familiar? Like you’ve seen it used somewhere recently… perhaps in THIS post? ;)
8. Interview yourself.
Share your own story in the format of an interview.
You can come up with questions based on what questions you’re frequently asked, focusing on what’s unique about you and your life.
Or, check out the StoryCorp’s website and this list of Great Questions.
9. Interview someone else.
Brainstorm a list of people who could make an interesting interview for your readers:
- Other experts in your niche
- Experts with complimentary services/products
- Your own clients/customers (success stories)
- Authors or popular bloggers in your niche
- Members of your team
- Your partner/spouse or a family member
10. Search Wikipedia for “today in history” inspiration.
Search for a specific date in Wikipedia and you’ll find a list of holidays, major world events, famous births and deaths that happened on that day in history.
Your turn! Do any of these ideas strike you as something that could work for your blog? Or, what are your favorite creative ideas for blog posts?
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These are great ideas! I am using the “blogger interview” type of post once a week on my blog – it makes me so happy to put other bloggers in the spotlight and help them get more exposure for their blog!
I also like the top X posts, though I try to keep it at 3-5 so I don’t overwhelm my readers. I also use “You asked”-type of posts where I answer questions from my readers and business friends.
Thanks for this awesome list Michelle, sharing!
Hey Delia, interviews are fun, aren’t they? I love that approach.
I’ve found the questions & answers style are usually my top posts attracting search engine traffic. Do you see a similar pattern?
That’s exactly right! I have 2 top ones: adding a Blog tab on Facebook and setting up Google authorship, both started after many ppl asked me how would they do it :)
I figured! :) It’s so cool how that works. ;)
Sharing inspiration works amazingly well Michelle, great tips overall! People love inspiring posts, accompanied by pictures or videos.
Also the top 5 or top 10 posts rock. Most number themed posts help you connect with your readers quite effortlessly because numbers are pleasing to the mind – orderly environment here – and people like to check out what pleases them.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Makes sense that we’d like lists for that reason, Ryan. I hadn’t thought about it that way. :)
And I agree, inspiring posts rock, especially with pictures and videos.
One additional way that I come up with a new idea on what to write about is to look through my images that I have. Since I have a smartphone, I take all kinds of pictures. Many times I will take that image and ask myself, “How does this relate to my niche of WordPress?”
For example, I had a picture of an abandoned house when I went hiking. As a result of that picture, I eventually wrote a post comparing talking about revising an abandoned website that someone might have! When I took the picture, I had no idea that I would be using it on my site – I just thought it looked very interesting.
What a fun idea, Paul. Love that.
And posts like that are the most memorable — where we can connect an interesting/compelling/curious image to a concept and make that illustration or metaphor “real” for our readers.
These ideas are very fun and creative. I read some place recently, over the weekend, I think that having a list format increases readership. You are such an idea maven. Thank you.
List format works really well. A lot of “serious” writers/bloggers don’t like it… but it works and it can be done well. ;)
Hi Michelle!
I love the idea of sharing a “Behind the Scenes” in on’es life or business. Readers like the personal touch and it’s a good way of connecting with the visitors to your blog.
Hey Nicole, those are one of my favorite types of posts to read. People do business with people, so making ourselves “real” is key in connecting.
Michelle,
This is an awesome list. I’d like to pin it to my blogging pinterest board–is there a pin button that I’m just not seeing? I picked up an idea for generating ideas for blog posts from my mastermind group meeting this morning. Here it is, free of charge for you, Michelle, since you’re just so amazing and helpful, yourself. This gal at the meeting said that she reads comments on sites like Amazon.com and finds questions that people ask, and then she addresses them in blog posts. Isn’t that an interesting idea?
Amy – that’s an interesting idea, will it be to look at book reviews or other questions?
To pin, you can hover over the image and click Pin it – Michelle has these for all images in a post :)
Thanks, Delia. :)
Yep, just hover over an image and the pin button pops up. I’ll see about adding it to Flare on the side of the post, too. Thanks for pointing out it wasn’t easy to spot!
That IS a great idea to look at questions on Amazon – thanks for sharing it, Amy. :)
I love these!! I already use some of them (quotes, inspiring people) but not systematically, and this list is great to have for when you’re stumped!
I like to share life hacks I’ve discovered. Sometimes it’s a techy tool, or just a new or inventive way of doing things — like the “New uses for old things” feature in Real Simple Magazine.
Still topping my list of favorites is followupthen.com, that lets you pre-schedule an email to yourself at any interval you choose (a day , 2 weeks, 4 months, a year,) to remind yourself to call someone or do something. I use it to remind myself to cancel subscriptions that are about to be charged again, by sending myself an email at as soon as I subscribe. I just saved myself $50 because i decided not to renew something for this year. If I had not had the reminder, I would have been auto-charged and probably would have said “the heck with it”. Of course, then i went online and bought myself something fun with the $50! :-)
Cool! Thanks for sharing that tool, Lisa. What a great idea to be able to schedule those reminders. :)
I am printing this up and posting it next to my sticky note board that houses my blog post ideas. I really need to start using it more LOLz We are awesome at giving other advice and tips but it is so hard sometimes to listen to ourselves o.O
Thanks for sharing your awesomeness, my friend!!
That IS the challenge, isn’t it, Kimberly? LOL
I was recently inspired by Lori Ruff and built on her words in my blog post (and shared her inspirational video).
Debra
I love the cool things that come out when we build on each others ideas and continue those kind of discussions. :)
Great list. The wikipedia idea is something that I never thought of before. Going to check for new inspiration.
Yeah, that can be a really fun one, Okto. :)
Love the idea of interviewing people. I’m cracking straight on with. Ta very much. :)
Great – glad the idea sparked for you, Jimmy.
I follow your blog in my Feedly reader. Love the interview yourself and wikipedia idea. Thanks, Michelle. :)
Thanks for following, Mike! :)
Hi Michelle, Wow, this is a pretty complete list! I like the idea of interviewing yourself :) I should try it. BTW, I also use inforgraphics to create some of my blogs. It is easy and fun to do it because you have basically all the information in the inforgraphic. What I do is to comment and highlight the key points. Here is an example – http://www.goldenvisiontraining.com/simple-seo-guide-for-beginners-in-2013/
Pinterest is a great place to look for infographics in your niche.
Infographics are GREAT, Mary! Thanks for sharing your tips there. :)
Great tips! In our vertical we recommend our real estate agent clients take a look at the commonly answered questions in their sent folder of their email client and repurpose those for posts.
That’s a fantastic way to come up with ideas. :)
Wow you are getting creative. Everyone goes for the usual topics, but you have given us some food for thought. Like the others mentioned, the interview idea is a good one. It also gets cross promotion if you interview someone else. Current topics in the news and niche you work in is also great.
Thanks
Featuring others is a great way to reach their audience, too, and find new readers.
The news can provide lots of ideas, thanks for adding that idea, Ash.
Great post as always!
fv
Psalm 115:1
Thanks, Frank!
This is really nice. Such great ideas. Thank you for sharing this.
Hey Cassie, thanks for reading.
Great ideas here Michelle. I like the one about allowing people to “see” a little of myself behind the scenes. That is a great way to connect with readers.
Hi Neil, it is a great way to connect. I really enjoy those kinds of posts and when I do them here I always get cool responses and find unexpected personal connections with my readers. :)
These are great ideas. Thanks Michelle! I’ve shared it on my “Share Your Blog” FB group, because there’s a lot of value here!
On my new blog, which I official launched yesterday – 10th Aug 2013, I have 3 blog series I’ll be doing – An inspirational Monday motivator message, a series on WordPress (as that’s what I do in my business) and a general how-to series for business owners.
I’m no stranger to blogging. However, I’ve had quite a long break from it and just recently started getting back into it. Thanks to you and a couple of other business leaders who inspired me! :)
Hey Jaelex, thank you for sharing — I appreciate that. And congrats on the new blog launch!!
Great post. I never thought of Wikipedia. Thanks
You’re welcome. :)
Having an advice column and sharing some inspiration are my favorite. I am most comfortable with blog posts that are more personal and interactive.
Creating/encouraging that interaction is so important but seems to be both art and science for us bloggers. What’s working for you in creating interactive content?
These are great, Michelle! I can see that I’ve done a couple of them lately – no wonder my following has increased. ;-)
You really never run out of ideas for blogs, do you? :-D
Great ideas! Will be using some of these in my upcoming posts. Thanks :)
Hi Michelle,
Great post and everybody has left such inspiring, useful comments. I know we can’t always have our creativity switched on 24/7 but I try to always be taking in whats going on around me.
Might sound strange. But by having a conversation, eating out, brief interactions, watching TV, listening to others and generally just living life I pick up on ideas for my next blog post. The two may be completely unrelated, but it works!
One more thing… when I get an idea i always write it down straight away, so when my creativity is in slow drive I have plenty to work with.
Thanks for a great read
Naomi
I have just stumbled onto your blog… What a treat!!!
I was just thinking that I’m wanting to bring a bit more fun into my blogging (and that I don’t want it to be a chore to have to come up with cornerstone type stuff)… And then I’m gifted with this post… Thank you so much!
As a visual storyteller… Some of the things I started brainstorming:
– Dear Emma… To answer FAQ’s
– will try a creative take on behind the scenes…
– I’m going to test the concept of a hot topic
– I find that I want to do the interview… And would love to do it podcast style… But am finding the concept of it scary (will check out the link)!
A great list of very useful concepts… Thank you!
I really like number 10. In fact, I am working on a post using this. I have 2 blogs and am always looking for new post ideas and blogging tips on Pinterest and other places.
Some truly creative tips, Michelle! Thank you! #HUGSSS
I especially love the ‘Interview Yourself’ part – never thought about it. I could also have my pup interview me (hey, I have interviewed him :P ) hehe
Thanks a lot
Kitto