Are you afraid to start blogging because you think you’ll run out of ideas for posts? Or are you a current blogger who feels like you are scraping the bottom of the idea barrel and are ready to give up? Don’t have time or energy to read in-depth posts on specific ideas? Whatever your situation, this post will provide you with plenty of inspiration and many practical ideas, too! Let’s go!

The following are the topics I’ll be covering more indepth in separate posts in this series; I’ll add links as I post them:

1. Is Author Blogging Dead?
2. Blog or Website or Both?
3. Social Media
4. Author Blogs
5. Connections and Audience
6. Content Tips
7. Goals
8. Layout
9. Types of Posts
10. Specific Pages
11. Promoting Your Blog
12. SEO
13. Ideas for Posts
14. E-Mail Newsletters
15. Author Blogs: My personal conclusions – and series resource list

BLOG POST IDEAS

Planning ahead:

• Brainstorm: Periodically brainstorm lots of ideas for future blog posts. Jot down any ideas that pop into your mind, especially topics you are passionate and knowledgeable about or that you’d love to know more about—and could then share with others in post form. Do brainstorm lists, idea dumps, mind maps, and so on. Brainstorm with a friend or group. By brainstorming in these different ways, you’ll come up with lots and lots of ideas.

• Write posts ahead of time: When you have some time available, turn some of those ideas into posts and keep them handy for times when life throws curves your way or you’re facing writer’s block or you just need a break. On many blog platforms, you can even set them up on your blog, ready to just hit the “publish” button when the time comes, or set a particular date for when they will be published.
  
• Goals: Make a list of your short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals and outcomes related to your writing journey, and think about how those could be explored through blog posts.
  
• Observe: Be an intentional observer in lots of different environments. For example:
  • Watch the news to see what’s going on in the world that might be related to your blog topic—or that you have an opinion about which you’d like to share.
• • Check out malls, stores, libraries, tourist destinations, galleries, restaurants. What are people talking about? What are they buying, or what are they doing? Why? What does it tell about life? How does it relate to your stories or other writing? How could you even use it in your next book?
• Changes and fresh ideas: Do you like the path your blog is taking, or do you want to change things up? Get fresh ideas by:
  • asking your readers to submit questions they have.
• • thinking about what’s new in your writing life, or in writing-related topics right now (for example, how AI is affecting writers).
• Read other related blogs. What gaps in your topic niche could you fill that others haven’t? What questions do you have after you read another’s post? What unique perspective could you offer in a related post of your own? Think about how you can build upon the points of others (but if those points are new to you, be sure to give credit by linking to the post that inspired you).
• Interact with the person sitting next to you waiting for appointments, riding the bus, on the airplane, at a meal, etc. Yes, you can talk about your books and your blog and listen to how they respond. But also listen to them: what are they interested in? What’s happening in their lives? What are they thinking about?
  
• recalling questions or challenges you personally had when you started writing, or along your writing journey.

• Go through your old posts. Are any of them “evergreen” (a topic that continues to be relevant to readers over a long period of time) but could use some updating? Bring them up-to-date, check for “dead” links and remove/replace them, and move them up to the top of your posts.
  
• Join writers’ groups on various social media platforms and scan the threads and comments to see what writers are interested in or want help with. Also join groups related to your writing subject or focus or genre (for example, if you write self-help, join some self-help groups).
  
• Research and expertise: Is there a topic you’re really interested in? Do lots of research, organize it, and use your research to build a resource on that topic. You could present it as a series of blog posts (as I am doing with this series), or you could present posts on the topic over a period of
  time, interspersed with other post topics. Become regarded as a go-to resource, an expert.
  
• Be a problem-solver. Start by thinking about your own problems, challenges, roadblocks—they are relatable for your readers. Ask readers about their problems. Do a keyword search on social media to find out what is trending. Look for people’s questions on social media or create focus groups (online, or perhaps at your local writers’ group) to find out people’s pressing needs.
  
• Check out the analytics tools on your site. What posts are most popular? Why? Who is reading them? Where do they live? Do they stay long on your site or quickly move on? Do they check out the links you provide?
  
• Study the comments people make on your posts (and on social media when you link to a post on your blog). What do they like? What don’t they like? What interests them? What do they want to know more about? What have they added of value to your post; and could you actually add it into the post or create a new post based on their ideas? (Respond to them in the comments, and then, if you use their ideas in the same post or create a new post based on their thoughts, be sure to thank them).
  
• Tough questions: Do you receive questions for which you don’t have an answer? Keep learning! Research, interview, ask an expert for a guest post, do a YouTube search. Browse Pinterest—you’ll be amazed at the wide variety of ideas you can get.
  
• Explorer: Get someone in your target audience who has never seen your blog before to check it out while you observe their reactions. Watch them explore, take notes of what they do, ask about their experience, ask for suggestions, questions, things they find especially interesting.
  
• Journaling: Get ideas from your journaling … and from your own books and other writing.
  
• Keyword research: Research using online keyword tools.
  
• Break a topic up: Split a broader topic into several narrower ones. Or choose a topic, and then brainstorm, listing whatever pops into your mind related to that topic. You’d be surprised what unique ideas and perspectives you’ll come up with.
  
• Repurpose content from your books. Blog about your writing process. Provide additional topic insight. Offer exclusive bonus content to those who sign up for your e-newsletter (if you have one) or who buy one of your books or write a review for you.
  
• Share your life: Think about aspects of your life, even those not related to your writing journey, that readers might be interested in. You can use those for full posts or include them as stories and anecdotes in your writing-related posts.
  
• Read magazines (online and offline). Look for current trends, topic ideas, interactivity (reader engagement—what methods are used?), use of freelancers, language and content level, demographics, target audiences, calls to action, headlines and titles, effective methods of communication, formatting (headings, fonts, etc.). While you’re at it, look at layout and design, marketing ideas, ad placement and design, subscription pages. What makes you pause and read an article—or even an advertisement? Why do you skip others?
  
• ChatGPT and other AI tools can help you by generating ideas for content and even initial drafts, improve writing quality (sometimes!), or find related keywords. BUT the actual writing of each post should come from you and reflect your personal perspectives, style, values, and stories.
  
• Blogrolls: When you find a useful blog, look to see if it features a blogroll of other related sites, and investigate those sites, too.
  
• Group questions and feedback: At your local writers’ group or feedback group or book club, pay attention to questions people ask, input they offer as feedback, books they’ve read and liked (or what they didn’t like) … jot these kinds of things down; they can lead to really useful posts.
  
• Libraries and bookstores: Go to your local library or bookstore. What books are being displayed right out front? Why? Talk to the librarian or store clerk. Find out what kinds of questions clients or customers are asking. What books are popular and why? What are they researching?
  
• Personal skills: Think about what kinds of skills you have that you can use in creating your blog, and/or share that will be of interest to your readers. For example: teaching, art, journalism, mentoring, entertainment, reviewer, curator, storyteller, guide, etc.
  
• Mind-map a past post from your blog. Extend it, present an opposing viewpoint, update it, ask questions that occur to you.

Practical ideas for blog post types:

• Set up a blogging calendar. Choose themes for particular days. This could include writing topics, or it could focus on types of posts. By mixing up post types, you can sometimes write short, light posts, and other times write longer, in-depth posts. For example:

• Book reviews, and reviews of your favorite writing-related websites, blogs, organizations, even bookstores and libraries.
• And much more:
• • List posts
• • How-to posts
• • Opinion posts
• • Useful links. Create a list of useful points or links—“speed linking”—to create wrap-up posts about what you’ve been studying, reading, or doing lately, or to bring together popular topics of interest to your readers.
• • Question and answer posts
• • Interviews
• • Current news events related to your blog’s goals and interests
• • Problem-solving posts. (And at the end, ask, “What other problems can we help with?”
• • Focus group format
• • Surveys
• • Fill a void or gap (new topic or new angle, perspective)
• • Entertain; humor
• • Emotional or practical support (be personal)
• • Announcements of your activities (events, new books, awards, media coverage, your workshops, attendance at conferences, etc.)
• • Informational graphics such as infographics and mind maps, photo essays, maps, videos.
• • Podcasts or other audio-based posts (including interviews, readings from your books, etc.)
• • Checklists
• • Case studies
• • Ultimate guides
• • Definitions
• • Series
• • Statistics
• • Inspirational posts
• • Holiday-related posts
• • Guard-down posts (deeply personal)
• • Behind the scenes
• • Off-topic (occasionally)
• • Rants
• • Profiles of other authors or people related to your books or writing in general; people to follow
• • Crowd sourced (bring multiple people’s ideas together)
• • Favorite quotations
• • “Best of the web” links with annotations
• • “Pick of the week” curated resources from across the web, or newly published books, etc.
• • Best of your own posts over time
• • Comparisons of books and other products/services, including those related to yours
• • Project showcase or update of your business/company/organization
• • Videos, photos, etc. of your recent presentations
• • Updates on your new books and other writing and writing-related activities
• • Tips on useful products related to reading and writing; ideas for gifts for readers and writers
• • Speculative, “what if?” posts
• • Debate
• • Predict
• • React
• • Story-telling (to entertain; also approaches such as memes, cartoons, parody, satire)
• • Trends
• • Issues

• Read blog posts (and social media posts) by other writers. Then take a different (even opposite) point of view on the topic, a different perspective, or build upon that post’s idea by going more in-depth. Provide a real-life related personal experience. Provide your personal opinion. (But do give credit to where you got the idea and be respectful if you are disagreeing).
  
• Outsourcing some of your work: If you feel your blog is taking too much time or energy, but you want to continue with it, consider outsourcing some of the responsibilities.
  • Invite guest posts.
  • Get an assistant to check out comments and emails from your readers; have the assistant respond to simple “great post!” type comments, while saving more complex responses for you.
  • Find someone else (or several people) who would like to be a partner on a blog but not make one themselves; take turns creating posts on a group blog.
  • Consider using a co-writer or ghost-writer when you really need help.
  • Use technology such as AI writing tools to provide basic help with posts.

WHAT NEXT? Time to act! But don’t get overwhelmed. Instead, set aside perhaps 15 minutes a day in your daily schedule (that’s possible, right?) and choose one of the above ideas to work on. When you’ve completed it (that day, or over a few days), move on to another idea. Once or twice a week, set aside a longer time (depending on the length of posts you want to create—anywhere from half an hour for a short post, to 2 or 3 hours for an in-depth post)—and create one or two posts for that week (or even for that month). Scheduling for your posts will ensure that your blogging is successful.

Share your thoughts in the comments (click on the comments link at the top left corner of this page). Was this post helpful? What ideas are YOU going to try out? Do you think some of these are unrealistic? Why? Which would work for your blog? Do you still think author blogging (or other kinds of blogging) isn’t for you? How could you use some of these ideas for other aspects of your writing journey?