How Do You Come Up with Blog Ideas?

This is a question I’m asked on a fairly frequent basis. Lack of content and ideas seems to be something that prevents many people from blogging on regularly. So in this blog I thought I would share a few tips with you about how to come up with topics and ideas for your blog. (You can also apply them to articles, email newsletters and any other writing you’d like to do for your marketing.)

How did I come up with this blog topic? It was actually inspired by my holiday! I was sitting on the terrace outside my room in a lovely, quiet, peaceful hotel in Crete, at the end of October. I’d been staring out over the sea for what seemed like ages, letting the thoughts wash over me, like the gentle lapping of the waves on the beach below me. (See how poetic you can get when you’re on holiday!?) I usually take a note pad with me, even on holiday, for jotting down ideas. And suddenly, there it was. The idea for a blog – about how to get inspiration and ideas for writing blogs! So I wrote it down on my note pad.

More time went by – I have no idea how much – and suddenly another blog topic appeared and ended up on the note pad. And then the flood gates opened. From nowhere, a string of ideas came to me and before I knew it, there were nearly 10 topics scribbled down.

The trick with this sort of list (or brainstorm) is not to judge any of the ideas. Simply write them down. Some of them may sound daft at the time, but put them on the list, because when you review it again, once you’re safely back in the sanity of your office, you may realize just how genius that idea is. Of course, it can go the other way too. Did I drink too much wine that afternoon? Is that why, at the time, that idea seemed to be so brilliant, which now seems ridiculous?

Once you do come back to reality, go through your list. Cross of the really silly ones and look again at what’s left. There will be some gems there and those are the ones to work on.

“But how do you generate ideas if you’re not on holiday, but stuck in the office?” I hear you cry! Apply the same logic as when you’re away. Instead of staring at the computer screen, willing an idea to appear, do something more relaxing. Go for a walk around the office (or even outside in the fresh air.) Go and sit somewhere different, so you have a different view. I’m planning to buy a sofa for the Appletree office that I can sit on for just this exercise; in the summer I sit outside on the bench. Or the next time you’re sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, or on a train, put down your smart phone, take a few deep breaths, watch the world go by and let the ideas come.

If you want to know more about why we’re more open to ideas when we relax, click here to read a blog by my client, Peter Green, which explains it all.

So if you want more blog ideas, give yourself the time to just sit and stare into space and you’ll be amazed at what you can come up with.

Go on – give it a go!