Starting a blog is an exciting adventure, but most people don’t stop to think about how they are going to consistently produce quality content. Since you should post at least once per week, you will need a minimum of 52 posts per year. If every post is 400 words, that’s more than 20,000 words in one year. The good news is that you don’t need to come up with all of the content ideas on your own. Use these creative ways to get content ideas and you’ll be able to fill your blog with regular posts.
Contests
If you’re having trouble thinking of post ideas, ask your readers for help. Offer to give away something for free to the person who comes up with the best idea. You might even want to offer several prizes so that you get several weeks’ worth of ideas. If you run a service-based business, you may want to offer a free consultation to the winners.
Surveys
Since your blog exists to provide information for your readers, the best way to generate new post ideas is by asking readers what they want. Conduct a reader survey that asks readers what topics they are interested in and how they want to see them covered. If you get a good response to this survey, you will be able to generate plenty of ideas. For surveys we recommend going with PollDaddy.com
Interviews
If you run a blog for business reasons, interview other professionals in your field. Ask them about recent trends, best practices in your industry and other related topics. The answers they gave you may spark several ideas for blog posts.
Blog Carnivals
Instead of thinking up every idea on your own, participate in a blog carnival. Blog carnivals have several benefits, especially for those looking to increase traffic. Instead of coming up with your own idea, you will blog about an assigned topic. Other people in your niche will blog about the same topic, but they’ll do so from their own unique perspectives. Blog carnivals are advertised on several websites, so you have a good chance of picking up new readers by participating in this type of event.
Auto-Complete Searches
If you’re really struggling to come up with ideas, use Google’s auto-complete feature to find out what people are searching for online. If you type in a word or two, auto-complete will bring up some of the most recent searches related to that phrase. This is a great way to find ideas for timely content that will attract reader interest.
