How to Get an Idea for a Blog Topic

Can't think of a topic for your blog? There's lots of ways to come up with ideas for a blog. Blogging is a great way to get started writing for the web. Make money blogging by starting a topical blog that focuses on one topic or theme; these topical blogs tend to earn the most money and garner more page views from the regular audience that develops. Keep reading to find a blog topic!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Time to Write Blog Entries
• A Blogging Site to Get Started Blogging (Blogger, WordPress, Today.com, etc.)
• Writer's Block When it Comes to Thinking Up an Idea for a new Blog!

1. LOOK TO YOUR INTERESTS AND HOBBIES FOR BLOGGING IDEAS AND BLOG TOPICS: Ask yourself, "What do I enjoy?" Hobbies and interests make a great blogging theme or blogging topic. Start a blog on gardening, dogs, your favorite celebrity, or your favorite art or craft and write blog entries about your experiences and information that others with similar hobbies or interests will find helpful or useful (i.e. gardening techniques, reviews on gardening tools, etc.)

2. BLOG ABOUT A TOPIC THAT YOU'D LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT: Have you always been interested in politics? Well, starting a political blog is a great opportunity to learn more about politics as you're writing your daily (ideally) blog entries. You can blog about any topic that interests you, any subject that you'd like to learn more about - blogging is the perfect excuse to self-educate and to share what you've learned with the world!

3. BLOG ABOUT FAMILY, CHILDREN OR RELATIONSHIPS: Are you taking care of your elderly parents? Are you a parent of a gifted child? Does your child have a medical condition or disabilities? Or are you a single 20-something who's trawling the dating world for that perfect husband or wife? Start a blog about your experiences, advice and other subjects that will be helpful to another person who's caring for an elderly parent, or another parent of a gifted child, or another 20-something who's working the dating scene. Use your family, parenting or dating experiences as a basis for your blog.

4. START A BLOG ABOUT YOUR PROFESSION OR AREA OF EXPERTISE: Are you a nurse? Start a blog about health and medicine. Are you a professional freelance writer? Write a blog about writing tips and techniques. Are you a lawyer? Keep a blog about legal advice and laws. Are you a parent? Start a topical blog on parenting techniques. Whatever your profession or area of expertise, there's going to be others out there who are looking to read about experiences, tips and advice from someone who is experienced in the same area or field.

5. WRITE A BLOG ABOUT AN EXPERIENCE: Are you about to go on a two-year backpacking trip across Europe? Keep a travel blog! Are you about to start paying off your debt? Keep a financial blog detailing your experiences with debt management, sharing what works, what doesn't and any other thoughts that arise along the way. Are you about to quit smoking? Start a quit smoking blog to record your experiences as you take the plunge. Are you a recent college graduate who's about to search for your first job? Record the experience in a job search blog. Even a 30-something who's entering the dating world to find a partner can offer some valuable blog entries on the experience and lessons learned along the way. Whatever life experience you're about to embark upon, remember that there are other people out there who are in a similar situation. Use a blog to detail your experience and to offer thoughts and tips to others who are about to do the same thing, whether it's finding a new job, quitting smoking or traveling the world.

Tips & Warnings

• Write a topical blog - a blog that focuses on one particular topic or theme. These topical blogs are most successful in terms of page views and earning revenue.
• You can have more than one blog! It's best to keep your blog about one general theme or topic, as this is what most appeals to readers. So if you keep a travel blog, don't suddenly start writing about your parenting experiences. Instead, start a new blog!
• Make money blogging! Monetize your blog with Google AdWords by joining the AdSense Program at Google. Or start a blog on a paid blogging website like Today.com, which offers the VIP Blogging Program.
• Blog regularly! Blogging at least once a week is the only way to ensure that you capture and maintain an audience. Search engines also favor newer material, so a blog with recent entries is more likely to appear in Google search results.
• Don't let Google think your blog is abandoned! If you don't blog often enough, your blog will get stale. A blog that's not updated for 30 days is at risk of being viewed as an "abandoned blog" by Google, which seriously demotes the blogs' page rank and it harms it's performance in Google search results.

Resources

• More Ideas for Starting a Blog
• Blogging to Promote Your Writing on the Web
• Earn Money Blogging on Today.com
• Keep Your Blog Safe from Plagiarism and Content Theft
• How to Write for the Web
• Resources for Writers and Bloggers!!

[Coach4U]

on 5/3/2009 Thanks for a good articl on how to come up with blogging tips. "5"

[staysik]

on 3/27/2009 Good article, 5 *s

[bar10dr98]

on 1/4/2009 Interesting info, thanks!

[swilso1]

on 1/4/2009 This is a great overview. I think I've tried all of these. It's important to keep trying different things until you find your voice. This should be required reading for anyone considering a blog!