You know the scene, right?
A blogger sits staring at their screen, hoping and praying for inspiration. But it doesn’t happen. There’s nothing there. Just a blinking cursor at the top of an empty page.
Sadly, if you haven’t experienced it already, this is writer’s block, aka blank page syndrome. And it can be nasty.
But there’s a way to beat it into submission once and for all. And that’s to have a step-by-step process, so you never run out of blog post ideas.
No more fretting or brow-beating. Just a simple repository brimming with blogging inspiration.
Sounds good, right?
In this guide, we’re going to show 27 ways to never run out of blog post ideas again.
So let’s dive right in!
Before You Start Gathering Blog Post Ideas
The first thing you need before you start collecting blog post ideas is somewhere to store them. Writers like to call them a Swipe File or an Ideas File.
For example, you could store your blog post ideas in:
- Windows Notepad/Mac Text Document
- Google Docs/Sheets
- Airtable
- Evernote
- Todoist
- Trello
Alternatively, you could use a notepad and pen. It’s ideal for when you get a flash of inspiration in the middle of the night. Scribble your idea down or record a quick voice memo, and then get back to sleep.
It doesn’t really matter where you store them or what you call it, but having a go-to file with a treasure trove of ideas is both a time-saver and a stress-reliever.
Review Your Existing Blog Posts
A good place to start is by reviewing your existing content.
1. Check what people are searching for
Check the Performance report in Google Search Console (GSC) to see the search queries people use to find your site. You might find potential topics that you hadn’t considered before.
2. Check your best performing content
Head to Google Analytics (GA) to find your best performing content – the posts with the most page views. If you identify what’s already working and resonating with your audience, you can find inspiration for similar ideas and topics.
3. Update existing content
You don’t have to write all your blog posts from scratch. Sometimes it’s better to update existing content by adding new sections or expanding on points.
Updating your existing content is a great SEO tactic to identify your “low-hanging fruit”, optimize the content, and get it ranking higher so that more people read your post. Check out this guide from Robbie Richards on how to identify existing keyword opportunities and optimize your content.
4. Read your blog comments
Another place to check for blogging inspiration is the comments section on your blog posts. Check the questions and opinions in the comments to see if any new ideas spring to mind.
Consult Your Colleagues
If you’re working in an organization, then you have people around you working in different departments that can help you come up with new blog post ideas.
5. Ask your sales team
The sales team is best-placed to tell you what your prospects need to know. As they’ve likely had conversations with prospects, they’ll know what questions people are always asking about your product or service.
Content marketing involves answering questions that your potential and existing customers have, so ask your sales team for their feedback and input into new content.
6. Ask your support team
Similar to the above, you can approach your customer support team and find out what common questions they’re receiving. If you have a blog post that answers a customer question, it’s content the support team can reference in their answers, and it also serves as a self-help resource.
7. Run a group brainstorming session
Besides sales and support teams, they’ll be other people in your organization who can share their ideas for new blog posts.
For example, Ross Hudgens from marketing agency Siege Media says they use a technique called brainwriting:
“We find if we crack open a beer and set a hard deadline for ideas – beers and brainstorming – we can let the creative juices flow and generate ideas that move the needle.”
Reach Out to the Experts
Stepping outside your organization, you can ask experts for their ideas.
8. Create an expert roundup
Expert roundups are popular ways of asking several experts and influencers from your niche or industry to share their tips on a particular topic. Everyone benefits:
- You get the raw content that only needs editing for your blog post, plus you can mention the expert names when publishing, so you reach a wider audience.
- The experts get highlighted alongside their peers, a backlink, maybe some social media mentions.
- Your audience gets top advice from industry experts and influencers.
For example, Databox regularly asks experts for their opinion, like this post on the KPIs every marketing agency should track:
9. Conduct a group interview
Expert roundups tend to feature many experts answering one question. But an alternative is to go more in-depth and ask a few experts to answer several questions.
10. Interview a thought leader
Going one step further, you can concentrate your blog post by interviewing one industry expert or thought leader. You could even repurpose a podcast for this type of content.
11. Feature a guest post from an industry expert
Finally, why not ask an industry thought leader to write a guest post on your blog. The more prominent the expert is, the more chance you have for attracting interest, generating traffic, and capturing leads.
For example, Loomly CEO Thibaud often writes guest posts on branding and collaboration, like this one: 3 Ways Your Brand Can Approach This Holiday Season With Empathy.
Get Blog Post Ideas from Your Audience
You’ve asked your teams and industry experts for their ideas, so it also makes sense to ask your audience.
12. Send an email campaign
Start by sending an email to your subscribers as these are the people most likely reading your blog posts every week.
- Ask them what topics they’d like to see covered on the blog.
- Ask them what they’re struggling with right now – for example, a concept or product feature.
- Ask them what their favorite posts are so you can create more along the same theme.
13. Run a survey
You could host a survey or quiz on your blog to ask visitors what they need help with and then write a post with the results.
For example, in April, we ran a COVID-19 survey asking readers about their biggest challenge:
From the results, we produced a new blog post with all the insights:
Your survey doesn’t have to cover your reader’s challenges. For example, you could run a poll asking them to vote on their favorite marketing product. Or run a survey asking them to share their best content marketing tips. Whatever you decide, you can get plenty of ideas for new blog posts.
14. Answer frequently asked questions
Another idea is to answer your audience’s frequently asked questions.
As you collect questions, you can add them to themed blog posts.
Use Brand-Specific Content
Another source of blog post inspiration is to share your brand-specific content. Here are five ideas:
15. Showcase a new product feature or service offering
Here at Loomly, we like to share the latest enhancements and product features to our software. These simple blog posts keep existing customers updated and showcase our product to potential customers.
For example, here’s our exciting update on Custom Workflow:
16. Share reports about your product or service
If your product or service gets featured in an industry report, you can share the news on your blog. Write a post as a way of reinforcing your brand’s popularity.
For example, you may get an award on a recognized platform like G2 Crowd, or maybe you come top of a poll for outstanding service.
17. Run a series on how you or your team use your product or service
Why not run a series of blog posts on how you or your team uses your product or service? This would provide some insight into how people use the same product differently.
18. Conduct an experiment that’s relevant to your product or service
In a similar vein, you could run an experiment that’s relevant to your product or service.
For example, Redbooth, an online task and project management software for teams, decided to run an experiment to see if procrastination could actually be productive:
19. Host a behind-the-scenes series
Finally, for your brand-specific content, why not host a behind-the-scenes series showing what it’s like to work in your organization. You could feature employees from each department, sharing their perspective on what goes into making and marketing your product or service.
Tap into Social Media for Blogging Inspiration
Social media has lots of trending and engaging ideas that you can use for your blog posts. Let’s take a look:
20. Search Pinterest for ideas
Pinterest can be quite a source of inspiration for bloggers as it’s like a mini search engine.
You can enter a broad keyword such as “digital marketing” and get loads of ideas sorted by categories like strategy, design, tools, quotes, etc.
Pick a category and go exploring.
You can get more specific by narrowing your search. For example, “digital marketing for beginners”:
21. Join social media groups
Social media groups are a great source of blog post ideas as people are always asking questions. What you’ll notice over time is that some problems crop up frequently, and these are the ones to use for your blog posts.
Join social media groups where your target audience hangs out, and then search for relevant keywords and conversations.
22. Use social media analytics
Every social media platform has its native analytics. You can check out the insights to find which posts get the most views and engagement – the ones your audience clearly likes.
When you create a blog post on one of these topics, you know you’ll be able to share and promote it on social media to drive traffic to your website.
Curate Content for Blog Posts
Content curation is the process of finding, collecting, and using relevant third-party content in a brand’s marketing strategy. It’s a great way to generate discussion, promote ideas, and collaborate with other relevant brands and publications. For example, Social Media Today consists entirely of curated content:
23. Curate best resources
These are handy blog posts that you can put together from time to time. For example, on the Loomly Blog, we’ve got:
- The 10 Best Marketing Podcasts [2020]
- 11 Books on Collaboration, Teamwork, and Management
- Coronavirus Lockdown Guide: 81 Resources to Boost Your Career While Staying at Home
24. Compile a monthly roundup of relevant news
When you commit to a weekly or monthly roundup, then you know you’ve got a chunk of your editorial calendar filled in.
For example, WordPress plugin vendor iThemes publishes a monthly WordPress News Roundup containing all the news in and around the WordPress ecosystem:
25. Publish a list of facts or statistics
It’s not original, but people love curated lists of facts and stats. HubSpot maintains various lists of marketing statistics, including:
- Content Marketing Stats
- Social Media Stats
- Video Marketing Stats
- Email Marketing Stats
- Lead Generation Stats
- Advertising Stats
- Marketing Technology Stats
- Sales Stats
Use a Blog Post Idea Generator
If you have a broad topic in mind, and want to get some specific blog post ideas, then you could try using a blog post idea generator:
26. Try the HubSpot Blog Ideas Generator
HubSpot’s blog topic generator gives you a week of blog ideas for free.
You can enter up to five nouns – for example, football – and you’ll get five topics:
- Football: Expectations vs. Reality
- Will Football Ever Rule the World
- The Next Big Thing in Football
- Football Explained in Fewer than 140 Characters
- This Week’s Top Stories About Football
27. Test the Portent Content Idea Generator
Portent has a similar content idea generator. Simply enter your subject, and the tool will spin up a creative title.
For example, staying with football, Portent’s tool suggested “5 Things You Don’t Want to Hear About Football”:
You can keep clicking the “See Another Title” button to view more ideas on your topic.
Blog Post Ideas in a Nutshell
At some point in your career, you’re going to run out of blogging inspiration.
Create a blog post ideas file and get into the habit of adding to it every day. The more ideas you collect, the easier it becomes.
When writer’s block strikes, and you’re feeling stuck, refer to your ideas file.
Use your blog post ideas file to plan your editorial calendar for the next three months.
