Blog Post Ideas – How to Find Topics That Attract Readers


If you run a blog you are bound to run out of ideas from time to time.  Consistently writing interesting content related to your website theme or niche is a must but it can be challenging at times.  I’ve put together a strategy here that will ensure you never run out of excellent ideas that your readers will be interested in.

Keep an ideas file

Before I get into how to find interesting topics you need a way to track your ideas.  I keep a file on my computer where I write down topics as I come across them.  Whenever I’m not sure what to write about I review my file and pick what interests me at the time.

Search for it

One of the easiest ways to get ideas related to the theme of your website is to simply search for it in your favorite search engine and see what you get.

See what other people are writing about and look for ways that you can say it better.  I’m not saying copy them – I’m saying outdo them.  You can take the same topic but write it from your perspective with your insights and experience.

Another good place to search is Wikipedia.  You can read over the topic page of your blog theme or even search for related topics.  If you scroll to the bottom of any Wikipedia entry you can find a ‘See Also’ section for related information, a ‘References’ section for more in depth information, and an ‘External Links’ section which will take you to related websites.  All these resources can be used for developing topic ideas as well as gathering content ideas.

Look in a directory

The internet is full of directories.  These resources allow you to select a category and search through sub-categories, and sub-sub-categories, and so on.  You are bound to find some aspect of your website theme that you can write about.  Here are some directories you can use:

Also look around for directories that are related specifically to your website theme.  You may be able to find a resource specific to your topic.  You may even be able to find one in this directory of directories.

If it makes sense for your website you can also search commercial directories such as any of the following:

Keep Learning

I find that as long as I’m learning new things related to the topic of my website I always have something I want to talk about with my readers.  This can be in the form of reading a book related to my subject (or listening to an audio book), watching informational videos, read information on line, take a course, and talk with experts.  I’m sure you can find even more ways if you think about it.

You can also talk about your personal experiences – good or bad – as both are learning experiences.  You can talk about mistakes you’ve made and what you learned from them or success you’ve had and what you did to achieve them.

QA Sites

This technique will not only give you ideas for what to write about but it will also give you an opportunity to instantly get some back links.

Visit a question and answer website and search for questions related to your website theme.  Find questions that are either unanswered or that don’t have very good answers.  These questions are a good way to find out what people want to know.

Research an answer for the question.  In my experience many of the questions asked can easily be answered by visiting Wikipedia.  Write a blog post that addresses the question.

To get a back link just go back to the website, answer the question (or questions) and drop a link to your website as a reference.  As long as you are not spamming this is generally fine – in fact some of the QA sites request that you leave a link to your source.

Here are some QA sites you can use:

You can also check this comprehensive roundup of Q&A sites.

Forums

Forums are a good place to see what people are interested in.  You can gather information about what people are talking about, see what questions they have, and get a better understanding of what topics are hot.

You can also use the same trick I described above for the QA sites but make sure you read the forum guidelines first – they may not like you putting links into your posts.

To find forums related to a specific topic just search for the topic along with the word ‘forum’.

Revisit an old topic

You can always revisit an old blog post you’ve made and some more information that you’ve learned, or experiences you’ve had, since posting it the first time.  This allows you to provide more insight into the topic for your readers.  It can also encourage them to stay on your website longer because they will go and read the initial post as well.

Conclusion

Consistently writing interesting and unique content is crucial for the success of your website.  If you follow these ideas you are bound to get visitors and a thriving website.

If you want to fast track your success you can always actively promote your website as well.  This will encourage more visitors to stop by your site.  Having more visitors commenting on your posts is also another good way to get ideas about what your visitors want to read about on your website.

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