There have been times in the past when I really struggled with consistently creating interesting blog post content, and it was so frustrating! I absolutely love this online community and all the ways it’s encouraged me and others to grow. And I’ve never had trouble coming up with post ideas, but developing them into something solid was once a struggle.
Below are 5 easy tips for you on finding blog post inspiration. They are prompts I use myself and they rarely have me searching for additional inspiration ;]
ENJOY!
5 tips for finding blog post inspiration:
1. carry a small journal with you and write down every idea you have. you can always go back and edit/expand on an idea, but for now focus on capturing every idea. i love this one because of the hard cover and blank pages – for sketching or idea-capturing. i almost always carry a larger purse so this makes it easy to keep my journal with me.
2. if you’re working on ____ and suddenly you brainstorm a creative or interesting post topic, stop what you’re doing and either make a few notes about it or start writing a draft. this idea came from Zack and i can’t deny it, it’s a good one! in the past i wouldn’t do this but tell myself i’d remember the key details later, and i never did {sad!}. lesson learned: write it while you have it :]
3. keep a bookmark folder on your internet browser to save inspiring post or DIY ideas, cute shops or websites you find, or anything else that you think you could reference later. Pinterest is amazing (!!!) but i still like to keep a running website “list” via a bookmark folder.
4. develop an encouraging/creative/informative mini-series that consists of 3-5 blog posts. this is a really easy way to turn a larger, more complex post idea into a few tangible posts by breaking it down. plus, you instantly have 2-4 posts pre-planned, yay!
5. share a series of photos that visually describe your day or your creative process. you may choose to write a small descriptive paragraph at the end, but the challenge is to let your photos do all the talking :]
Share with us: which tip is your favorite? Or, do you have a personal favorite that you rely on often?
xoxo
love this :) i always need inspiration ideas! xo
I love these ideas. I need to do them more, sometimes, well a lot of times, I just forget! Thanks for sharing!
love this list Maggie! finding inspiration for writing is really hard especially sometimes in the blogosphere when you are inspired by what someone else has written. It is tricky to emulate inspiration without blatantly copying their idea. i try to keep a running list in my phone and a calendar for posting so that when i have an idea i can remember it and immediately give it a date. it keeps me accountable to take pictures for it and have it ready to post on time. that way i have no excuse for not getting it done! :)
yes! what i love about your comment is that you are doing what works for YOU! we can all have a general way of finding inspiration, but if using your cell phone helps you more than a notepad in your purse, that is so awesome!!!! knowing what is best for you individually is what makes you succeed.
happy monday! xo
Love this!! I use a journal and a bookmark folder as well. I also love to have my quick digi-camera with me and take snapshots of things that are inspiring or make me think of an idea. I just have to remember to also write it down or else I sometimes don’t remember why I took a picture! haha ;)
Thanks for this post! Your tips are very helpful. I usually (especially if I’m short on time) will create a draft post with a few little notes about the idea I’m working on, a photo prompt or a URL for my inspiration to bookmark my ideas. When I get time to flesh something out, I pull up my drafts and pick whichever one inspires me most. If a draft collects dust too long, I assume that it probably wasn’t a very good idea to start with and delete it.
I’ve been thinking about getting a moleskin notebook or something like that to carry around with me!
love all these tips. especially the journal! I actually keep one on my nightstand – ideas come as I am drifting off and I can write them down and get to sleep!!
Thanks for sharing, Maggie. This is definitely a post every blogger can benefit from.
You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.
Zig Ziglar
Every time I read this quote it reminds me of you. I love that you care about others’ success just as much as your own. This list is very helpful! I’ve been in a blogging “funk” lately and have been feeling completely uninspired. I carry around a notebook, but I’ll admit I do not always utilize it. Thanks for the tips! You are amazing. :)
yeow — we love zig ziglar!
thank you for the sweet comment!!!!! :)
“inspiration is all around you.”
Great tips! I’ve definitely experienced having a random bright idea, thinking I’ll remember it and later feeling like I don’t know what to blog about! Writing ideas down in the moment is SO important! It’s awesome when I have weeks where I feel like I have all these ideas and know what I’m posting about. Then other times I feel totally dry, like now. :/
hey girl! i totally know how you feel. it’s OK to have a dry spell. use this time to surround yourself with things you love or wish you knew more about. the post ideas will come when they come :)
have you ever thought about writing about how you feel? ask for topic suggestions, share how you get through the dry spells, write a list of 10 things you want to learn about.
xoxo
I love ideas 4 & 5 and have been doing 1 for a while:) Thanks for this post. I’ve also teamed up with my bloggy bff and we do “copycat posts” – we take turns figuring out a topic and then both blog about it and link back to each other:)
Great suggestions! I like the notebook idea–I’m constantly jotting things down, and then forgetting where I left that piece of paper :)
I constantly carry a notebook with me, wherever I go. I keep a tiny one with me at all times, but I have a normal sized notebook so I can expand on ideas when I have enough time. I like to write stuff out by hand a lot because most of my ideas come to me while I am away from my computer.
Thank you for sharing your tips as always! I get a lot of inspiration and ideas from you!
<3 Jenn
I’m new to the blogging world, so I’m really happy to have found these ideas for blogging so early on. Yay! Can’t wait to use these techniques. Thanks for posting them! :)
Great post Guss! Love the part about the mini-series…I totally agree!