We’ve all been there. Watching the blinking cursor at the top of the page. The brain that was full of so many great ideas is now as empty as a pizza box at a frat house. Dread and anxiety creep in, knowing full well that you have to write a blog post. But you have no idea what to write about.

When you are out of inspiration, it seems like you’ll never find it again. But take a few deep breaths and open your mind, because you’re about to read some of my tried and true ways to find blog content.

Steal

No, I don’t mean plagiarizing. What I mean is steal inspiration from your colleagues and competition. Look around you, look at the top posts and write your own version. Add your own unique slant to a top post. I know that your hot take is better, those other guys must have missed something.

When you write about what everyone else is writing about, you add your voice to the conversation.

React

If you don’t want to write your version of that blog post, write your reaction.

Do you totally disagree?
Is your first thought “yes, but you missed something crucial?”
Do you think the common advice given is out of date?

Write it up. Bonus, if you are truly fired up your writing will be dynamic and emotional. When your passion comes through in your writing, readers take notice.

Turn On The News

You don’t need to have the inside scoop on the latest breaking news story in order to write about current events. The story doesn’t stop at the who, what, where, and why. News continues to affect people and industries long after the story has broken. So write about that! Tell your readers how the news will affect your customer or industry. Add your expertise on steps they can take to stay ahead of the game.

Update Content From Your Archives  

You don’t always have to write new content. Take a look back through your previous blog posts. What have you covered before? Maybe you totally disagree with your past self. Maybe you’ve learned something since you wrote a post. Or maybe you’ll stumble across a topic that you used to write about all the time and have been neglecting.

You may be your greatest inspiration for content!

Updating blog posts can also help with your SEO strategy. It gives you a chance to raise the quality of your content and add links to your other posts.

Ask Your Audience

Even if you don’t know what you want to write about, your audience knows what they want to read about. So ask them directly! Poll your audience, or reach out to your most active followers directly.

If you don’t have time to wait for feedback, take a look at your FAQ page or look through your inbox for questions your audience has asked you.

If you are still stumped, cast your net over a wider audience. On Reddit, Quora, and Answer The Public you can eavesdrop on real conversations.

Still battling the blinking cursor? Ask me about blog writing services. You can set up a call to ask me your burning questions.

<!-- ScheduleOnce embed START -->
<div id="SOIDIV_AmieKelbing" data-so-page="AmieKelbing" data-height="550" data-style="border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; min-width: 290px; max-width: 900px;" data-psz="00"></div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.oncehub.com/mergedjs/so.js"></script>
<!-- ScheduleOnce embed END -->