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How To Come Up With Brilliant Blog Ideas: 8 Useful Hacks

blog ideas

Blog ideas are not difficult to find. In fact, we’ve discussed easy-peasy strategies for a content generation strategy before.

But discovering ideas that can help you stand out from the millions of bloggers talking about the same thing? That’s another story.

To say the field is saturated is a bit of an understatement. In fact, it’s estimated there’ll be close to 32 million bloggers in the US alone by 2020. 

How can you possibly expect to have your voice heard? In the following article, we’ll give you the path to great blog content ideas that help you find and grow your audience. Let’s begin!

1. Teach Something You Know

One of the quickest ways to a post idea that connects is to delve into your own expertise. Teaching others ensures that you’re passionate about the material, and it guarantees you’ll be able to speak to your audience from a position of authority.

There are several ways you can set up a “teaching” blog post. These include the following:

How-To Guides

Choose a particularly challenging skill you’re good at and break it down step-by-step. (Which, by the way, lends itself to the high-converting listicle format.) This presumes your intended audience will be a degree or two below your expertise.

101s

If you’re feeling shaky about your level of knowledge, talk directly to beginners. After all, you may not be great at algebra, but you can probably teach basic math to a group of third-graders!

Recipes

Mostly for food bloggers. However, you can set up a post that offers a “recipe for success” at certain skill habits to effectively utilize this blog type.

Comprehensive Guides

For the truly expert among you! This is where you take a single topic and share everything there is to know. These can get quite lengthy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What questions do you hear the most from people who know less about your topic than you do? Answer those questions as a singular blog post, or compile them into a mega-post that you can repurpose as needed.

Sincerity and knowledge are the key ingredients for being an effective teacher. Demonstrate those, and the traffic will come.

2. Interview an Expert

Blog topics like the ones mentioned above may be difficult to pull off if your knowledge level isn’t there yet. If that’s the case, don’t give up on the authority angle.

Just borrow someone else’s expertise! Ask an expert if you can interview them for your blog. Record that interview for a podcast and run a blog post of show notes, or simply transcribe it into blog form and run it as a written post. (You also can do both.) 

3. Tell Your Story

Still unsure of how to come up with ideas? Look inward.

Some people lead such interesting lives simply letting others into them can make for a great blog post. Is there some aspect of yourself that, when related to another individual, has drawn genuine interest? 

Do you have a cool hobby or job that others always seem drawn to in bits of dinner conversation? If so, sit down at the keyboard and pound out your story.

Even if it doesn’t end up making for a blog post on its own, it can lead you to some pretty strong possibilities. Give it a shot, and see what you can deliver.

4. Spotlight Others

Another way to come up with an idea when you’re feeling depleted is to look outwardly to your online or physical communities. Isn’t blogging supposed to be about this anyway?

Check out your friends and followers on social media. See what events they’re hosting or interested in attending. Then, connect with them to see if you can interview them for a blog spotlight.

Bringing another person into it will make for a post with richer possibilities. It also will ensure your post gets shared around, at the very least by yours and the other party’s following.

From that sharing, you may bring in new audience members interested in your other posts. They’ll bring with them more comments, questions, and feedback. All of these help fuel the fires of your creativity for future posts.

5. Review a Product or Service

Think about products or services directly related to your niche. Also, turn to support products and services within that same field. 

If you can’t afford to purchase products and services for a tryout, consider approaching their lead contact people directly with the offer of an honest review in exchange for a free trial or product sample. Some will say no. But others won’t, and they’ll put you into a great position to keep your blog populated with content.

6. Mine Current Events

Today’s media follows a 24-hour news cycle. Publishers pressure their reporters and content creators to generate new content every day. When that content generates discussion, it can be great fodder for a new blog post.

Furthermore, current events themselves keep the discussion going. And you can get in on it if you’re able to come up with fresh ideas or perspectives related to whatever is happening.

7. Troubleshoot

Thousands of marketable niches are built around products or skills that require a certain degree of leadership or trial-by-fire. Say you’re an expert, or at least more advanced at handling these challenges than your audience is.

That puts you into a great position to come up with troubleshooting guides or myth-busting posts capable of advancing your audience’s knowledge of the topic you’re covering. Help them solve their problem, and you’ll be their go-to source for life.

8. Host Polls and Contests

Some of the best posts are predicated on a simple question or offer. You pose it. Then, let your audience do the rest.

Both polls and contests get better results when they’re attached to an incentive. This can be a compelling informational product, or, budget-allowing, a special giveaway. If you ever interview an expert, spotlight someone else, or do a product review (see Nos. 2, 4, and 5), work out a deal where you use their product or service as the grand prize giveaway in exchange for the blog post you’re doing on them.

Blog Ideas Require Proper Execution to Work Best

Hopefully, these strategies will give you the creative spark needed to generate excellent blog ideas. But remember: ideas are just that. Ideas.

They must be high-quality to get the job done. For that, you may need outside help. Contact us today if you feel content creation isn’t your strong suit, or you simply don’t have the time to do it.

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