Blogging. Where do you get your ideas? Options

[sanity]

I'm soon to be joining the blogosphere (yes, yes I thought it was still 2004 ) and it's got me thinking how to come up with ideas for posts. In the offline world I'm known as "mouth of the south", but online I can be quite tounge tied. So please help me:

How do you get your post ideas?

[ukdaz]

Sanity/Sophie (not sure which you prefer)

I had the same thoughts when I started my blog back in May/June of this year.

Is there any particular field you want to particularly concentrate on - PPC, SEO, Affiliate marketing, Online Marketing news or do you think you will cover pretty much everything? How often do you think you will blog? Occasionally, weekly or daily?

Who are you blogging for - your existing clients, potential new customers, existing associates within your industry or region, yourself?

Are you going for a corporate message, a caring sharing one or an individually emotional message?

Try subscribing to Google News alerts for updates in the web/seo industry (always useful to comment on), subscribe to other blogs and use their blogs to generate your own thoughts and content (don't forget links to their blogs where appropriate), even consider using keyword research tools to see what's in demand and then blog with the keyword phrases that come up from that research.

Also I have looked at keyword phrases coming up in my server logs for my own website and this has helped me to plan content for the next 17 working days.

I try to keep my blogs original and not just continually report/follow what everyone else is doing... unless its important enough to blog about immediately.

I've even used my blog to upload my own photos I have taken - completely off topic BUT it does allow me to personalise my blog and show people I am an individual... not sure what others think of my style of writing ("'tis gert Bristolian-like my babbers" ) but even if a few enjoy it then thats made a difference and motivates me to continue.

Have to say it is the hardest thing to come up with new content (especially content that's not repetitive) - one good way I find is to break down a long blog into Parts (1,2,3... etc).. that way it can help to create a series of blogs that encourages people to revisit your blog or check their newsreader for your next article.

Good luck with your new blog

Daz

[sanity]

Daz, either sanity or Sophie is fine.

Thanks for your thoughtful post. I should have added bit more to my initial post.

It'll be attached to my business website and will focus on, broadly speaking, business and marketing. Search and whatnot will be touched on but there's enough blogs out there on those topics already. It's not really for the SEO industry. My main targets (I suspect) will be existing clients, people looking to start a website, run a business online etc. It'll also be geared to potential new clients.

No corporate voice for me. I'm a subscriber to the Cluetrain Manifesto and am hoping to start a conversation. I've had a bit of a push to do this by certain poeple who say they like my writing style and would enjoy reading it. Plus I do need to get with the times. I also like the idea of communicating who I am to those who are interested in working with me.

How often will I blog? Ideally every day or two.

[increseo]

1. My past journals, which with some of my written thoughts.

2. Look at the 'long tail'

3. They just pop in your mind randomly! Just need to record them down before they go away.

[eKstreme]

I think a successful blog is one of two things:

1. A resource like no other in the industry, where you collect, collate, and neatly present the happenings of a field. Bonus points come from covering related interesting info. Honesty and credibility are a serious factor here, not to mention writing style. Think SE Roundtable and threadwatch here.

To take our example: SEO has many excellent blogs, and I'm subscribed to a LOT of them, but I read only a few, and skim the rest. It doesn't mean the rest are bad (on the contrary!) but their writing style is not my preferred one.

In short, it doesn't matter if there is competition: your voice will find a market!

2. A collection of truly original and insightful comments about a subject. Take Seth Godin's blog. It's one of the best out there but he has a clear message, a consistent theme, and talks about every little nook and crevice in marketing with an insightful, helpful, approachable tone. This of course depends on a lot fo experience and knowledge of the field, but if you're in the business, you've got those!

So where do you get ideas from?

1. Keeping up to date on the news, having clearly visible contact details, making connections in the industry, etc. If you're "in", you'll do just fine.

2. Thinking really hard about the questions people ask you. For example, can you come up with the top 10 questions your customers ask you? That's ten posts (or more!) Can you name the top mistakes in your field? These things are good series to kick start a blog.

Hope this helps.
Pierre

[dazzlindonna]

Based on who you say the blog is aimed at, I'd say it sounds like an "advice/teaching" blog, mostly, rather than a "news/commentary" blog. In some ways, this gives you more leeway, as you aren't tied to trying to get the scoop on what just happened in an industry.

Think of it in terms of writing a book in some ways. You have various lessons to impart. Each of those lessons may comprise a chapter, or a subsection of a chapter. Each of those lessons can be a blog post. In addition, there are likely many industry terms that you want people to understand. Define a term in a blog post.

Then, there's always just your "take" on things. You'll be looking at something, or talking about something, or reading something, and get worked up about it. You'll have something to "say" about it. Turn that into a blog post (assuming its related to the topic...or even sometimes not).

When you first start a blog, its easier to do it with some structure and planning. Have some ideas in advance about what you want to make sure to cover. This will probably last you several months to a year. After all, there's a lot to cover.

Down the line, at some point, you may get frustrated and think there's no more to say. (Been there a few times, myself). Luckily, the mind always comes up with something, given a bit of time. Inspiration just strikes on its own, and you'll post.

At first, it may seem awkward, but you might want to keep a list of potential subjects sitting around, jotting new ones down as they come to you. You can pull these out on those rainy days when you feel you have nothing to say.

Main thing is...just jump into it. You'll get the hang of it soon enough.

[rmccarley]

sanity,

A good tool to help you out is mylongtail.com. It tracks your refferals and gives you a list of "long tail" keywords to target. I've been using it for article ideas on my site. Haven't seen anything special yet but at least it's a direction!

[Adrian]

I've started blogging internally a bit recently (internally in the company that is) and actually found it easier than posting on my own site. Internally it's part of a 'group' blog, and in my time here, I've realised there's a fair amount of information and stuff that I know, that I can share and educate people with.

Externally, on my own site, I have a lot harder time coming up with things to say, I don't feel as if there's as much that people are interested in. I don't want to just redo what people are writing on other blogs, because the people likely to read my blog, are probably already reading some of those other, more popular blogs.

So I'm still working out what I actually want to talk about on my own site, and considering my sites had a blog for about 2 years, I'm not doing so well so far, hehe.

So maybe you need to work out what you can bring to the party, what are you comfortable talking about.
I find it a very different experience posting on a blog, and posting in a forum. Posting on a blog feels a lot more like I'm telling people stuff, rather than answering a question, or trying to get people to discuss a certain topic.

Blogs feel more "me and them" as seperates, whereas forum feel more "us".

Personally I'm a bit happier with the "us" feeling of a forum, but in an environment where I know I have knowledge I can share to some people who want to know, I'm finding my voice a bit within the company

My main targets (I suspect) will be existing clients, people looking to start a website, run a business online etc. It'll also be geared to potential new clients.

Completely different industry, but have you seen www.englishcut.com?
Some similarities, an owner of a business trying to connect with existing and potential customers.

A lot of what he talks about is just stuff about how he goes about doing his job. Little tips on various aspects, giving people a bit of an insight in the working world of a master tailor.

Not much a of risk involved in giving away secrets, because there's still the idea that although you can try the thihngs he talks about, his many years of experience are likely to mean you still want to go to him to get a proper professional job

Maybe you could talk about the steps you go through for a launch? What happens in the buildup, what happens on the 'go live' day.

Some of that kind of stuff could make you look good to potential customers and give them confidence with the way you would handle their job

[bwelford]

There's lots of great suggestions above. I just wanted to mention that the program I use most on my computer is Metapad. It's a beefed up version of Notepad where if you type in a URL it becomes a hyperlink and is clickable. I'm always creating a text file on pretty well everything I do - prospects who e-mail me with some info on their website, new clients who send me some background info and interesting links, etc.

The most frequent such text files I generate are potential posts to each of my blogs. In some cases, I'll have more than one potential 'next' post. I just grab enough of a subject to be able to work on it when I can. So it may be the permalink to a blog posting I've seen that intrigues me and a few other related links. Only a fraction of these ever see the light of day.

One thing I would recommend is when you're ready to post try to do a Google Blogsearch and a Google regular search on the proposed title. It can be very instructive to see who else has talked on the same subject. Sometimes that alone is enough to almost write the post without any extra thinking effort.

This post has been edited by bwelford: Aug 3 2006, 08:29 AM

[cre8pc]

Sophie, this is wonderful news!

I didn't know what I was getting into when I started mine (in 2002). I had two of them, thinking I needed a business front-end face and a separate one for "the real me". Turns out, the real me kept creeping in and seemed to be okay, so I got rid of the personal one.

Blogging opens you up to a new way to hold a conversation. I'll send messages to other bloggers via my posts because I know they read my blog. In my mind, when I do that, (call out someone by name and link to something of their's, for example), it's like a long-distance wave hello. Everyone is listening to your conversation, so it has that weird aspect to it.

For example, when Danny Sullivan added Bill to his team of blog writers, it was a big honor for Bill and we were so happy for him. I made a post, publically, called "I Found Him First", directed to Danny. Everyone got to read about Bill and Danny's news, but my spin was to have some fun with it, as well as send a teasing message to Danny.

So this just illustrates that once you get your voice, and start understanding your readership, you can create your own style and approach - to make it your's.

[rmccarley]

Sophie, I have to think that your readers will give you some ideas as well. Look at Cutts "grab bag" posts, for example. Specializing like Bill's SEO by the Sea is good too, especially when starting out. You can always branch out into new topics later. SEOMoz comes to mind as an example of that. It started very on-topic about SEO and now covers a ton of other things.

[joedolson]

I find that, as often as not, I can start a post about almost anything and find a way to tie it in to some SEO or other development question I've been thinking about. Granted, I've only been running at the whole blogging thing for a few months, but I have high hopes I won't run out of ways to combine subjects too soon.

It seems to me that the most important thing in blogging is not the subject of your post - but the unique insights you bring to it. Feel free to write on anything that comes to mind - even if you're writing on a subject that dozens of others have already covered, you're still bringing one new thing to the conversation - yourself!

Happy writing!

[A.N.Onym]

Another thing to note that you can write something you have to answer questions about but don't have a reference to. Or the reference exists, but you can write a better one.

[sanity]

You guys rock. I can't believe all the brilliant advice you've given me. Thanks. It's gonna take a few days to digest all this.

Based on who you say the blog is aimed at, I'd say it sounds like an "advice/teaching" blog, mostly, rather than a "news/commentary" blog. In some ways, this gives you more leeway, as you aren't tied to trying to get the scoop on what just happened in an industry.

Spot on. Plus there's enough people out there doing commentary.

> Metapad

Thanks Barry. I actually use TextPad which is similar by the sounds of it. I use it how you do too, so will take your advice and use it to jot down post ideas.

> www.englishcut.com

Yup know if it although I haven't followed it for a while. Will add it back to bloglines.

> mylongtail.com

Nice tip, thanks rmccarley.

Thanks again to all of you.

BTW did you know there are 50,000 blog posts an hour.

[bragadocchio]

I started writing about search related patents on my blog because I was researching them anyway, and I found that when writing about them for the blog, I got a lot better understanding of their significance myself.

There are a lot of folks who do a wonderfult job of taking news in the search marketing industry and putting their own personal slants and analysis upon them.

One of my favorite articles on blogging is Rebecca Blood's weblogs: a history and perspective. One of the main reasons is this admission:

Shortly after I began producing Rebecca's Pocket I noticed two side effects I had not expected. First, I discovered my own interests. I thought I knew what I was interested in, but after linking stories for a few months I could see that I was much more interested in science, archaeology, and issues of injustice than I had realized.

I've experienced that myself, being involved in a number of different blogs on different subjects, sometimes my choice of a topic would surprise me, but I would find I was interested in stuff that I wasn't aware of until I started blogging.

As for some ideas of things to blog about, one that I really like is to take a mainstream news story, and look for some of the things that the author of the story didn't include. For instance, it's not uncommon to come across an article in the newspaper where the author mentiond some organizations that had web sites, but didn't bother to link to those sites, or see if they had more on the topic on their sites. Often they do, and that's a nice way to come up with a blog post that delivers value to your readers, and helps you learn more about a topic, too.