Three Secret Ways to Find Post Ideas for Your Blog

Earlier this week, I posted 44 Brilliant Bloggers Talk About Finding Post Ideas, where I featured hundreds of tips from bloggers across the Internet. Coming up with post ideas is one of my favorite things to do, so here’s the post I promise you – my own techniques for finding post ideas!

There are some very tried-and-true methods for beating writer’s block if you’re a blogger, which most of the other bloggers at Brilliant Bloggers have covered so eloquently. Here are a few techniques that I think most of them missed that I personally use to come up with post ideas:

1) Current Events

It’s no secret that you can blog about the news happening in your industry. We do it all the time here at the BlogWorld blog, but even if you typically don’t cover news stories, when you’re in a pinch, voicing your opinions about current events a great way to go. That’s not the secret method I’m talking about here, though. One of the ways I personally come up with post ideas is to look at what is happen in the world in general and build a post that works for my blog from there.

It’s all about finding a metaphor or spin on a popular news story to make it work for your niche. For example, let’s say that you’re a food blogger, but one of the major news stories is that so-and-so celebrity just has a baby. You could write about meals that are nutritious for expecting mothers or how to make your own baby food. Or let’s say you blog about movies, but one of the major news stories is the upcoming World Series. You could write about the top ten baseball movies. I mean, get a little more original than that…but you get the point! There’s always a way to tie together your niche and the general news. You just have to think outside of the box!

2) Stories, Fables, and Parables

One of the best ways to teach others is to use stories. Lots of really smart bloggers have talked about story-telling as an effective blogging method. But what if you don’t have an especially interesting stories to tell about your life? Or what if you don’t feel comfortable sharing such personal information on your blog? You don’t have to use your own stories. Sometimes, fiction works well!

You can retell stories that are already written if you can relate them to your niche, or you can write your own parables if you’re so inclined. It’s an easy way to make a “lesson” post a little more interesting to readers so you don’t come off as preachy, and it’s definitely good for getting the creative juices flowing when you don’t know what to write.

3) Pets and Kids

I don’t have kids yet, but I’ll put them in the same category as pets for this tip because the idea is the same. Sometimes, my cat does funny things or even profound things that translate well to my blog for a post. You don’t have to be someone who blogs about pets or kids for this to work. I certainly don’t, yet my cat, Godiva, has made several appearances in my writing. And yes, she’s a total diva about it.

This isn’t so secret, but I also like to keep a document on my desktop so I can brainstorm when I have time or write down post ideas as I think about them during the day. That way, when I’m stuck for an idea, I can just go to my list and pick something. I also typically have several posts outlined or started within WordPress, which is great for busy days.

What are your best post-idea-finding tips?