Daily Dose of Design: 5 Foolproof Ways to Come Up with Blog Post Ideas

Friday, January 13, 2017

5 Foolproof Ways to Come Up with Blog Post Ideas


It's Fri-YAY! And as you may have noticed, there's some new things going around over here! ;) I've had this new design in the works for so long, and now it's a reality and I could not be happier with it. I've been working with an absolutely incredible designer for about a month to bring a vision I had for my site to reality, and Stephanie did just that! I find myself coming to my blog just to look at the design, for reals. ;)

As one of my business-related resolutions for the New Year, I've been working extra hard at doing something I know a lot of us struggle with: pre-writing content and getting things done ahead of time. I'm the first to admit that I'm extremely guilty of finishing and perfecting content the night before it goes live, and sometimes even the morning of! It's stressful, and blogging shouldn't be stressful. Not in my eyes, anyway. Now, creating content is much easier said than done. If you're a blogger yourself, you know just how much goes into a blog post. Drafting it, writing and editing, taking photos, proof reading, promoting it, etc. It's a long process, but when it's something you're proud of it's super rewarding! Sometimes brainstorming doesn't come easy (I know I have days where I draw blank after blank!) so I've come up with a game plan to help never run out of content, and here's how:

Look to your analytics. I've said it before and I'll say it again - looking to your blogs analytics is ridiculously helpful when you're brainstorming for new blog posts! You can bounce off of your own ideas based on what works best with your audience. My best performing post to date is 10 Ways to Decorate Like Joanna Gaines; so when I'm feeling stuck, I'll usually work on a post in a similar format or topic. In this post by Jenny from Breakfast at Lillys, she talks a bit about planning blog content and Learning to understand your analytics is so important and on top of that, even more helpful!

Search through your Pinterest feed. Scrolling endlessly through Pinterest and pinning pretty kitchens, delicious desserts and fun DIY beauty tutorials is fun and all, but you could be using this to your advantage - big time! 98% of the time that I'm stuck on editorial planning, I look to Pinterest. Your home feed can help you see what's trending and what people are looking for, and you can come up with lots of ideas from what similar accounts are pinning on any given day.

Make a spreadsheet of topics and ideas. Use Excel or Google Sheets (I *love* Google Sheets!) to create a spreadsheet for yourself filled with post ideas. I break mine down by niche and make a column for each. Whenever you have an idea no matter how broad, you can write it in and expand on it later. I'm always adding ideas to my spreadsheet that I can expand on later and when I plan each month's editorial calendar, I look to my spreadsheet to fill in any gaps and to make sure that I space things out too.

Look through magazine articles. Some of your favorite magazines are some of the best places to go when you need more posting ideas! There's so many different types of magazines, and in each are different trending things. Celebrity style, trending nail polish colors, decorating with the color of the year, etc. Magazines almost always give me lots of inspiration and when you have ideas, you can usually bounce off of those to make even more posts.

Look through your blog post comments. You'd be amazed at how many ideas you can get from your readers' comments! Check them out and read comments from others on the blogs you comment on, too. Whether you're asked a question in a comment, or maybe someone's answering a question you asked in the post - there's always ideas.


One of the first things I thought about when I started this blog was, "how am I never going to run out of blog post ideas?!" And it's a common question from new bloggers too - but there really is *no* way to run out... There's so many ways to create new posts, re-purpose good ideas and find new things to talk about. The most important part is having fun with it! ;)

What do you do to come up with more blog post ideas?

XOXO

36 comments:

  1. I look through my own Pinterest boards and old blog posts to come up with ideas! My mother has always said, "You're your own inspiration!"

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  2. I love going on pinterest and finding inspiration on what to write on my blog.

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  3. I look at everything I can to come up with my posts. It usually has to do with things I'm doing in my own life.

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  4. Your personal analytics are so insightful for what your readers want from you. It really helps you to build out your own content in a unique way!

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  5. Thank you! I've been having the worst writers block lately. These are great tips!

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  6. I always find myself using Pinterest & getting inspiration from bloggers I love. & I just recently ran a reader survey where I asked what kinds of posts they wanted to see this year. I got a lot of feedback from that, so I have a bunch of new topics to cover :)

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  7. Pinterest is a major source of inspiration for me! These are all great tips.

    Greta | www.gretahollar.com

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  8. Thank you for this tip. I always use Pinterest for inspiration. xx

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  9. OMG I love your new design!! and this post is so helpful..


    missin our chats!

    Val
    xoxoxo

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  10. Maaaaaan I've done all these in the past couple weeks except for magazines. As a magazine editor I do always look at cover blurbs to give me ideas for blog titles. I also have a dry erase board of 52 blog ideas for the year.

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  11. So true about blog post comments! I always find questions there!

    Rachel | The Confused Millennial

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  12. Preach! pre-writing is definitely hard to do. So far in 2017, I'm staying on top of it.

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  13. I have a constant spreadsheet and notebooks going of ideas!!

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  14. I've made a habit of doing these things and now I'm pretty much swimming in ideas! I have a long list and I haven't had writer's block in a long, long time.

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  15. I love your new site design, it's gorgeous! I haven't started blogging yet, I am still in the process of building my site, but I would really like to get in the habit of batch writing and planning content way ahead of time. You have some great inspirations here!

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  16. I loved this post, girl! Thanks so much for including my post in here. You're the best.

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  17. These are such amazing tips! I use the "mind-mapping" technique to generate blog post ideas, but I'm definitely checking these out! Thanks!

    xoxo Jiawun
    Beauty Nerd By Night

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  18. I use some of these ideas myself but before I used to love checking out blogs I followed on bloglovin as a source of ideas

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  19. Love this post, girl! Sometimes I struggle to come up with ideas and these tips will really help!

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  20. Pinterest also works for me, however, the best blog post ideas I get are from walking around the neighborhood and taking pictures of anything that interests me. From those photos, I get inspiration on a topic to write about. My favorite subjects are sunsets, people engaged in conversation, and animals.

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  21. Great tips. I love looking through my analytics to see what posts really get the most traffic and engagement then I brainstorm! It differs but generally its a really great base! - jeanine

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  22. Great article! I find inspiration from watching youtubers and magazines. My struggle is the lack of time on a day for me to blog. Love your blog site!

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  23. I'm struggling lately with blog topic ideas, so these methods you mention will come in handy for me! I love to analyze my blogs analytics!

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  24. These are fabulous tips! I definitely think writing content ahead of time is a tremendous help.

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  25. Since I get product to review the content is there, but I'm always trying to find new ways to keep my writing fresh. This can be a struggle because it is to fall into a pattern, but I try add some humor and a story about myself or experience that makes it engaging to readers.

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  26. I use products, search the Internet, jot down a topic and comeback to it when I need filler content. I find if I don't jot the idea down as it comes, then I tend to forget about it.

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  27. I swear my brain is always looking at everything as a potential blog post! The problem is that sometimes I forget to write it down and then it's gone and I've forgotten it. I need to be better about jotting it down as it comes to me.

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  28. Great ideas! I always maintain a list in spreadsheet and keep adding blog topics to it as and when I think of something. I think coming up with a post based on the blog comments is a huge one that often bloggers tend to overlook.

    xx, Kusum | www.sveeteskapes.com

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  29. Pinterest really is an awesome way to look for ideas and get inspired!

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  30. I love the new design! I was surprised to see it and I instantly loved the improvements. Your logo is very pretty!

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  31. Really great advice! All of that is something that can be built upon too. I definitely like to create vision boards to generate additional ideas!

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  32. Pinterest is always my go to place for all things blog related!

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  33. Your photos are gorgeous and I absolutely love your site design. It's so clean, crisp, and bright.

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  34. yes, for sure as it helps to gain knowledge and different culture

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