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mhilliarda
04-29-2011, 12:09 PM
I know that blogging is important, but I often find it hard to generate ideas for blogging. How do you generate ideas? What are blog types are there? I have seen news blogs, opinion blogs, informative blogs, etc.; sometimes it just seems overwhelming. Any thoughts, suggestions, help- is welcomed and appreciated.

Harold Mansfield
04-29-2011, 12:32 PM
The first thing is to blog about a subject that you know and love and you won't get overwhelmed or bored. When you figure out what that is, then subscribe to all of the information that you can on the subject and stay informed, and the ideas of what to say will come to you. Most times it's not about coming up with something original or breaking some huge story, it's about putting your own spin or investigation on certain aspects that your readers will respond to or want to know.

But probably the most important thing is to figure out why you want to blog and what you hope to accomplish. Just because it's there, doesn't mean that you have to do it. Everyone doesn't need a blog.
Blogging is just writing. It's just another term for what people have been doing since the printed word...the difference is that this one is online and not on paper.

I've tried all kinds of blogs, but the only ones that really interest me are politics, humor and dance music. When I stick to those , I usually do well.
You don't need a million readers to make an impact, make a few bucks or generate additional traffic. You just need a decent number of consistent readers that are interested in what you have to say, and a steady growth of new ones.

When you create something that you enjoy and are proud of, you don't have to struggle with ideas, they never stop coming.

vangogh
04-29-2011, 03:27 PM
Ideas can come from anywhere really. Part of the trick is just being able to recognize a potential idea for a post when you come across it.

For me reading is my primary source of new idea. I'm subscribed to a few hundred blogs to keep up with what's going on in my industry. I don't read every post on everyone of course, but it's a daily supply of potential ideas. I get more out of reading books though. The content is more in-depth and usually has many post ideas inside. Several times a year I buy a round of books about design and related subjects and as I read them I think how I might turn some of what I'm reading into post ideas.

Magazines, newspapers, material on topics that you don't blog about all can be great sources of inspiration.

Also give yourself time to figure out what works best for you as far as what to blog about. For example early on I tired some news posts, but they didn't really work for me. I was just repeating what someone else had reported. Try writing opinion posts and tutorial posts and any other type of post you can think of and see which you do better, which you enjoy more, which are most effective at bringing in quality traffic. Figuring out your niche as a blogger will probably help you gather ideas better.

Look to a few blogs you really enjoy and learn from to serve as mentors. Really observe what they do, not so much in a single post, but how many posts over time connect to each other. Two great blogs to learn from are CopyBlogger (http://www.copyblogger.com/) and ProBlogger (http://www.problogger.net/).

I used to spend one day a week (an hour or two) brainstorming ideas. Write down anything that comes to mind no matter how stupid it may seem. Most of those ideas never become posts, but they often lead to other ideas that do or get combined to form a good post. Now I don't the dedicated brainstorming session as much as I'm always collecting ideas and recording them throughout the day. I find that works better for me. If I read something I want to comment on or an idea pops into mind I record it somewhere and later move it to the editor I use to write posts.

Don't feel like you have to post every day either. Post as often as you can, but if that's only once a week or once every other week that's fine. I think it's more important to be consistent than worry about posting every few minutes. Once you get into a rhythm you should be able to increase how much you post.

In the end it's about taking in information for other sources. Take in as much as you can from as many different sources as possible. Over time you'll find some sources are better at generating ideas for you than others. As long as you keep posting and keep working to make your blog better finding ideas will become easier. You will start to recognize when something would make for a good post idea for you. Also know that no matter how long you've been blogging there will be times when the ideas aren't flowing as readily as others. It happens to me all the time. I muddle through those times the best I can (it helps to have a stockpile of ideas of finished posts) and then seek out the sources which work best for me. The flow if ideas always comes back.

Hope that helps.

greenoak
04-29-2011, 11:55 PM
i try to ask myself what do my target readers want to hear about or see....

vangogh
04-30-2011, 12:26 AM
Ann sometimes you just have to try things and see what works. Post what you want to post and see what kind of reaction you get. Watch to see which posts generate more comments, which generate more traffic, which generate more links, tweets, Facebook likes and shares, etc.

Also look for other blogs on the same topic. See what they post about and what kind of comments they get. That can also help generate ideas for things they aren't blogging about.

Off the top of my head here are some ideas I think would work with your business.

1. Teaching people about antiques in general - What makes one item antique, while another is just used. Why are some pieces from certain manufacturers and craftspeople desirable while others are thrown away?

2. Historical posts - Write posts about different furniture designers and bottle makers. Tell me about some of the people who have made the best china and glassware and pottery.

3. Workshop - You make furniture in your store. Teach me how. What tools do I need? How can I build my own workshop? You can teach people other crafts too. This type of post lends itself well to videos.

4. Garden Irons - You can show people how to create beautiful backyards. Or just show pictures of beautiful backyards. Invite your customers to post their pictures too.

5. Customers homes - Let your customers show off the rooms in their homes. Let them upload pictures of their furniture.

There are a lot of ways you can let your customers post images. This keeps them interacting with your site and each other. It helps build a community. You can let everyone vote on which image they like best each month and give the winner something, whether it's a coupon or an item from the store. Make an event of giving away something to the winner and take pictures which get posted on the blog.

Voting could be done on your site or perhaps better it could be done on your Facebook page. That way you get people interacting with you in several places.

6. Let people post images of things they have and let them tell the stories of how they came to own them. Is it a family heirloom? Did grandpa pick it up during the war? Did mom's great aunt save everything? People love sharing stories about themselves.

greenoak
04-30-2011, 07:25 AM
those are really good ideas vg..... ive done quite a few of them...for me i never run out of topics, like i said i try and thnk about the reader....my problem is more about the time....
i like the backyard picture idea.... i know some people just pluck pictures off the internet and use them but i always figure that might be a problem without permission.....where do you draw the line on that ? i have one blogging friend who just puts, if i offended by not getting permission , im sorry, on her blog once in a while...is that enough? lol
graphics fairy,,,,a hugly popular site, uses a BRAG MONDAY, using her customers pictures of what they did with her stuff on mondays.... i ve been thinking about that...but maybe on facebook instead....... shes a really good example of a national blog...she gives something away thats really wanted by digital artists,so she has tons of fans....,,she posts freee antique images, then she has lots of ads on her site....its a great site...i even put a link to her on my site... http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/ i think she has 10k followers..... in that case ads would work!!!

i do think lots of women are spending more time on facebook and less on blogs now....

vangogh
05-02-2011, 10:32 AM
ProBlogger is a great site to learn more about blogging. I remember when I first set up a blog I spent about a week reading through most of the posts there. That was quicker to do a few years ago when there were less posts. Darren has written some good series on blogging. I think most are listed in the footer. Reading through a few will probably give you a good feel for blogging.

KristineS
05-02-2011, 12:13 PM
I second everything everyone else has said, but I also wanted to mention that you may go through a few subjects before you find one that resonates with you. Also, when you do settle on a topic or niche you want to write about, go out and find other bloggers who are writing about the same kind of thing and see what subjects they cover. Obviously, you don't want to copy anyone else, but seeing what other bloggers who are writing about the same subject have been successful with will give you some ideas for post topics.