5 Ideas To Find Blog Topics Easily

As you can read everywhere in the Internet Marketing scene – content is king. The problem is not to write, the problem is to write the right stuff. Articles people want to read. Yes, you can sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil and make a list about what to write. Strange things then usually go on on my mind. Do people want what I write? Is it relevant? What on earth should I write about? And no matter how much I love a topic – as soon as I sit down and try to brainstorm any idea seems to be gone from my mind.

Does that sound familiar to you? First you think you can write 100s of articles about a topic and then, when you finally have your blog up and running, you don’t have a single idea about what to do. That happened to me with TheMacMania. I could think of tons of topics before I had the site up but once it was done and I could start writing – nada. Nothing on my mind anymore.

So here is the system I developed to find blog topics and ideas easily:

First, I got me a program, called My Thoughts for Mac. I’m sure there are similar programs for Windows but that is actually more a personal preference. Of course you don’t need to buy anything – you can stick with your piece of paper or a simple notebook. The reason I prefer the software – I can just keep it open on my Mac and type in an idea whenever it comes to my mind, actually while I’m writing this I can just keep MyThoughts open and add a note to one of the branches. VERY helpful when it comes again to writer’s block.

When I travel or when I am simply not at home but have some ideas I use my mobile and type into a notes program what I think about. Later I add it again to my mind map.

So that is the tool but what’s the technique to find Blog topics?

To me, to get ideas I need input. That means – I have the best ideas while talking to a buddy about my business, while listening to podcasts, reading a book about the topic, or surfing the Internet. So here are the steps I take for a new website and did for this as well:

1. Search for like-minded forums

Go to Google and search for forums: your keyword, e.g. for this blog I searched – forum: internet marketing. You don’t have a chance, you just stumble over different forums 🙂 I registered at one forum, the one and only you need I guess – http://www.warrior-forum.com. Usually people come to a forum to ask for help and here comes your chance to figure what topics and questions are hot:

So here are some topics:

• Napoleon Hill: book review
• Napoleon Hill: Pick some quotes and “interpret” – make advices from it (actually good for a series)
• Super Affiliates: Who are the most famous marketers right now – give a portrait, ask them for an interview/podcast and if you cannot get in touch with them – the Internet and their websites most probably help (another idea for a series, such as 10 Affiliate Marketers you can count on this year)
• From the fifth post: How did he build his list fast? Maybe a list: 10 tips to get more traffic easier
• How can I create an ebook?
• How do I built a landing page for my product (ebook, whatever)

As you can see – just from one quick look there are several topics that come to your mind.

2. Let’s have a look at books on Amazon

I searched for “Internet Marketing” and several books come up. Then I open a book which says “Click to look inside”.

I checked out the book “Internet Marketing – An Hour a Day“. I never read it so I can’t tell you if it is good or bad but I hope it will help me to brainstorm some topics for my blog. But right now it doesn’t matter, I will be happy with just some ideas for my blog.

•  The fundamentals of Marketing (maybe something general about marketing)
•  About Google Analytics: how to use, how to handle, what to do with the measures
•  Internet Marketing Vocabulary
•  Tools for success: Reviews about tools I use such as Tweetadder, Aweber, UniqueArticleWizzard, Market Samurai
• SEO Tips
• Free Firefox Tools for Webmarketers
• Keyword Research – how does it work? (Market Samurai)
• What does your Market need? What are your Market’s wishes, fears, needs?
• Different types of posts (stories, list posts, case studies, reviews, etc.)

3. Podcasts

I recently discovered that there are tons of free material available at iTunes Podcasts. Not just Pat Flynn from Smartpassiveincome but also other marketers, e.g. Glen Allsopp from Viperchill or Spencer from Nichepursuits offer free Podcasts – those give me tons of valuable ideas, they just jump into my mind once I listen to them. And yes, I make notes again 🙂

4. Visit other blogs in your niche (and/or their Archives)

Nearly every blog has an archive where you can find the past posts of the blog owner. I will use my other site about Internet Marketing and Social Media, Webbusinesstoolbox.com, as an example.

•  What you should not do in SEO
• iPhone Apps for your Business
• Adsense Case Study
• 31 days to built a better blog – book review
• Tips for traffic generation
• Is affiliate marketing still profitable?
• How do I increase my visitors?

… and a last one:

5. Go to the Google Keyword Tool

The Google Keyword Tool is a great source for inspiration and it’s free. Just make sure you are logged into your account, then you get more keywords.

Looking at these keywords, here are my ideas:

• definition posts of Internet Marketing terms: CPC, CTR, affiliate marketing, internet marketing, etc.
• best internet marketing ebooks
• keyword research

I could definitely find more topics just with these five “tricks” – if you have some more ideas, please let me know. They are great for writer’s block.

Hope you liked my ideas. Thanks for reading and joining me in this challenge!

Filed in: Blog • Internet Marketing
Tagged with: find blog topics @de