Deciding what to blog about
Posted by Cyrus Jackson | Posted in All about blogging, Beginner Bloggers | Posted on 30-09-2009-05-2008
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If you are like most of the people who start a blog, you at first have a little bit of writer’s block. Good news- it’ll likely leave, and you will find yourself thinking about new things to blog about often. Actually blogging becomes quite addictive.
This was definitely true of me. When I began blogging, I might frequently fight with things to blog about. Now, I have the issue of not having sufficient time to post on all the stuff I need to talk about! Here are some pointers to get you thru that 1st dry spell till you find your blogging voice.
1 - Subscribe to other blog feeds for your industry / target audience. If you’ve got a blog about babies and children, you will need to have other similar ( preferably serious traffic ) blogs on your RSS reader. It’s a good way to keep abreast of what’s happening in the collective consciousness of folks. Just do a Google search for blog + subjects of choice, and you will come up with lots. Keeping up with other blogs in your niche implies you can link to their posts ( and you should generally link to a blog that electrifies your own post ) and add your own “spin” on the topic.
2 – Look at trade mags and papers in your niche Again, returning to the baby / child theme, read parenting mags. Mags are an excellent spot to look for inspiration…the articles are often short, pithy, “quick fix” and solution orientated ( like blog posts ). They also change to mirror what’s occurring in the world and with your target audience. Keeping up with the reports is also a good idea…you can find stories feeds to add to your RSS reader too. When something is occurring in the world that impacts your target audience, blog it.
3 - Keep a notebook ( or file on your desktop ) of blog fodder When a concept or sentence hits you, get it down instantly. These sentences can be lengthened into blog content ( and later lengthened into articles…that’s another ecourse ). The more that you do this, the more aware you may become of the unlimited topics you can blog about, even in your niche.
4 - Milk Your Content if you are publishing a newsletter and write articles, then blog a short introduction paragraph with a link to the remainder of the content on your internet site.
5 - Product Reviews Review products that you have tried and books you have read that apply to your niche. Anything that would help your blog readers decide ( and we need that help in a world with too many decisions ) is a great thing.
6 – Involve Your Visitors your ezine customers and blog readers can be selling partners and content generators for you! How? When they e-mail you with a query, ask their authorization to post it ( with the answer ) on your blog. May you shortly end up in the trouble of so many blog content, so very little time!

