Looking to spruce up your blogging game? Here’s how to find popular blog post ideas that your readers will absolutely adore!
I really enjoyed writing How to Make Money Blogging: The Truth You Need to Hear last week, so I thought I’d share some more blogging tricks today and teach you how to find blog post ideas that your readers will love reading.
It’s not as hard as you think to find good ideas. The hard part is realizing when you’ve actually found an idea worthy of writing about on your blog.
And this seems to be the sticking point for lots of beginning bloggers…
What do I write about?!
In fact, it’s probably one of the top reasons that new bloggers quit so easily. The lack of ideas…or the fear that no one else is interested in reading about their ideas.
But, people are interested!
As I mentioned in How to Make Money Blogging, the idea of being able to choose any topic is very intriguing…but, it’s also really scary.
What if everyone hates what I’ve written?
It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another. But, honestly, if you’ve thought about it…if it’s an idea that really interests you…
Then, chances are, there is someone else out there that wants to know, too!
As readers, we are searching for anything and everything that can improve our lives in some way.
Think about it!
How many times have you gone to Google to search for ideas like these…
Money saving tips…
Home business ideas and/or work at home jobs…
Cooking tips and recipes that save time…
Home decorating suggestions to make our homes beautiful…
Product reviews so we don’t waste our money on useless items…
Educational materials for homeschooling…
Free and/or cheap holiday and party decorations and supplies…
Do you see where I’m going with this?
We are constantly using the internet to search for all of these things and more.
And often times, we find exactly what we need, in terms of help, tips or further information.
As bloggers/writers, it is our job to fulfill these search requests for other people!
To answer the unanswered questions of our fellow Internet junkies…
Where to Find Popular Blog Post Ideas
So, where do we find these questions?
Start with yourself.
What have you searched for recently?
Is there anything special that you’ve done recently? Taken trips…made a spectacular recipe that everyone loved…created an entire birthday party out of nothing but paper?
Come on…I’m sure you can find something worthwhile that you’ve done recently!
Even if you never, ever come up with a single idea on your own, you can still write blog posts that your readers will enjoy.
Here’s the secret: Write about your experiences using/trying other people’s ideas.
Of course, I am not suggesting that you steal and use other people’s ideas! What I am suggesting is that you share your own experience with them.
For example:
Let’s say you come here to Food Life Design and you see my post about how to make a DIY bee trap.
You hate bees as much as I do, so you dig through your recycling bin to find a bottle and get to work making your own trap.
A few days later, you notice that your bee trap is not only full of bees, but ants, too!
Woohoo! Double Win!
Be the Artist That You Are
Recommended Reading:
So, now you head to your blog to write up a new post about how your bee trap caught ants, too…
Only, instead of titling the article with DIY Bee Trap and copying mine, you would write a brand new post all about how you make a DIY Ant Trap, that just happens to be the same trap you made to kill bees.
Now, if you’re a super nice person (and I know you are!), then you would go ahead and link to this awesome DIY bee trap that you found at Food Life Design and let your readers know where you found the information.
This is a win for both of us and a great way to build relationships with other bloggers!
Do you see what I just did there?
I created a bee trap and told my readers about it.
But, you created an ant trap, using my technique and told your readers about it.
No stealing involved! Just simple inspiration at it’s finest.
What to Do When You Run Out of Blog Post Ideas
The fear of writers everywhere…
It’s the day you wake up and can’t think of a single thing to write…
You sit, staring at the computer screen begging that ever blinking cursor to start moving, but it doesn’t.
It just blinks…over and over again.
This is the stuff of nightmares, my friend.
And it happens to all of us on occasion, but there is no need to really freak out.
There is inspiration everywhere you look!
You’ve just got to know how to look out for it.
And when you’ve run out of ideas of your own, it’s time you start paying attention to what everyone else is writing.
So, how do you figure out what’s popular?
Magazines
My favorite way to find popular inspiration is magazines. Just take a peek at the covers in the magazine stand at the grocery store.
What titles interest you the most?
Which words jump off the page at you?
Consider picking up a couple of magazines in your niche.
Peruse the articles.
Be on the lookout for recipes, crafts and projects that you can try making so you can share the results with your readers.
Just be sure you let them know where you found the idea!
Newspapers
Newspapers are full of current events, so what better place to find recent popular things?!
It’s not all war and politics, my friend.
Look further into the paper, you’ll find recipes, gardening tips, home improvement projects, health and beauty tricks and more.
Hello, inspirational time suck!
Is there any better place on the planet to find inspiration?
I’ll bet you already spend a whole lotta time on Pinterest, anyway. Maybe you’ve even tried a few projects, recipes or tips.
In fact, that’s probably where you found the idea for my DIY Bee Trap!
WRITE ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES TRYING NEW THINGS!
Tell your readers where you found the idea and how it worked for you.
Your experience is always going to be different than someone else’s.
Your perspective is always going to be different, too – that’s what makes you interesting!
Facebook & Twitter
First, the news sections…just like with newspapers, Facebook and Twitter both offer sections featuring current events.
Second, your friends, family and other people you follow.
Pay attention to your own people!
What are they…
buying?
complaining about?
asking questions about?
Do you have answers to their questions? Solutions to their complaints?
Snatch up those questions, complaints and new product ideas…then, tell your readers all about it!
Other Blogs
Read other blogs! What’s everyone writing about these days?
Is it working for them?
Do they have lots and lots and lots of readers, like you wish you had?
Write your own posts on the same topics…only add your own twists and spins!
For example:
Sally’s blog has a simple post about keeping track of your weekly budget.
Let’s say the title of the article is How to Keep a Weekly Budget…
Honestly, it’s not that great of an article…maybe 500 words with just 4 or 5 useful tips on how to create a budget.
But, it gets a TON of views and every time you skim through Pinterest, it pops up in your feed.
How can you write a better article on budgeting?
Write a longer post with say, 10 or 15 useful tips on creating a budget?
Include links to other budgeting articles (hopefully, that you’ve written!)?
Recommend books about budgeting that have been useful to you in the past?
Create and include a free budgeting worksheet or printable budget planner?
Do you see where I am going with this?
Again, you’re not stealing Sally’s idea. You’ve just come across it a thousand times, you know it’s a popular blog post idea and you feel pulled to share your own budgeting tips, right?
Google Trends
Last, but certainly not least…Google Trends is a great place to go if you’re looking to find popular blog post ideas.
Right on the home page, you can see the latest trends from their reports or type your idea in the search box to see how often it’s requested.
Once you’ve searched for a keyword or phrase, you’ll be able to see where it’s most popular, how often it’s searched for, whether it’s rising in search or declining.
There’s a TON of information available through Google Trends. All I can do, is suggest you head over there and check it out.
See what I did there?
Of course, I didn’t invent Google Trends!
I just suggested you go over and look at it because they did such a great job of creating an amazingly, useful tool for us all to use for free!
I hope you’ve enjoyed checking out How to Find Popular Blog Post Ideas Your Readers Will Love! It’s not hard to fill that editorial calendar when you have so much inspiration, now is it?!
Recommended Reading:
- 365 Blog Post Ideas: Years of Blogging Ideas for Any Niche
- The One Hour Content Plan: The Solopreneur’s Guide to a Year’s Worth of Blog Post Ideas in 60 Minutes and Creating Content That Hooks and Sells
- The Blog Post Inspiration Deck: A Blogging Tool that Provides Thousands of Unique Blog Post Ideas and Endless Inspiration for Blogging Topics
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Have a Spectacular Day!
Vanessa Hamlin is the owner and founder of Food Life Design and VLHamlinDesign. With her passion for frugal living and homesteading, Vanessa loves to write about easy recipes, making money, gardening, home remedies and everything else that a good life entails! When she’s not writing for Food Life Design or creating products for VLHamlinDesign, you’ll find Vanessa reading, drawing, gardening, cooking or spending time with her family.