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New #MarketingNerds Podcast: How to Come up With Content Ideas for Your Blog

In this episode of Marketing Nerds, Kelsey Jones and Amanda DiSilvestro talks about how you can come up with tons of content ideas for your blog.

New #MarketingNerds Podcast: How to Come up With Content Ideas for Your Blog

Visit our Marketing Nerds archive to listen to other Marketing Nerds podcasts!

In this week’s episode of Marketing Nerds, seasoned writer, Amanda DiSilvestro, joins SEJ Executive Editor Kelsey Jones to talk about coming up with topic ideas for your blog or other websites. In this episode, Amanda and Kelsey talked about the process of writing an article, hot to get over writer’s block, and how to write top-quality content without burning out.

Here are a few of transcribed excerpts from their discussion, but make sure to listen to the Podcast to hear everything:

#MarketingNerds: Content Idea for Your Blog | SEJ

How to Come up with Content Ideas for Your Blog

In terms of finding story ideas, the biggest way to do it comes from a lot of reading. Always try to stay up to date on the blogs, and see if there’s anything you can pick out that you don’t understand, or if there’s certain terminology that somebody uses that you’ve never heard before. Then write that down on a piece of paper. You can kind of find a different angle, or it will spark a question in your mind that gets you to write a new article that maybe hasn’t been asked before or covered before.

What about when you needed to brainstorm topic ideas on a specific topic?

If you look at that list and you don’t have anything that falls into those parameters that someone gives you. Then you’re kind of back to square one, and you have to go online. Again, something similar, sort of research random ideas and see if anything gives you any kind of idea on something that you can write about.

The Research Process

Usually I have at least a little bit of research already up and ready to go before I start writing the article. I give them a few reads before I start writing, just to make sure I’m not missing anything. As I’m writing sometimes I’ll leave a space, because I think it would be a perfect spot for a statistic or some kind of a case study. Then I’ll go back to it a the end, and then I’ll research and find the more.

The Writing Process

You can do title first, then sub-headers, and then write the article from there.

If that doesn’t work well for you, allow your generated topic to spark an idea. And then when you write the article, you can write the subheadings first. A lot of times, if it’s a confusing topic, have a little section just about the basics of the topic. It can help you as a writer, because you can get a little more familiar with the topic. It also helps readers do the same thing.

Taking Breaks In-Between Writing

I have to take breaks in between, for sure. It can definitely be very daunting, but I have a schedule that I try to stick to that works pretty well.

In the morning I make sure that before I check any social media, and before I leave my room, I do a certain amount of things. I sort of set goals as the day moves on. Which does help me not go crazy.

Writing Top-Quality Content Without Burning Out

I guess the biggest thing I would say for that is it all comes down to what you’re writing about. I would say spend a lot of time of thinking of quality good ideas that maybe other people haven’t written about before. Even if it takes you a few hours even, just to come up with some really good ideas. That’s what keep the writing quality, I think.

If you’re just writing something just to get it done, and it’s obviously you know everything there is to know about it, that’s not fun for you as a writer. Also those articles never do very well, so my advice would be just spend time on thinking of ideas.

Getting Over Writer’s Block

When I do have something to write about and I do get writer’s block during the article, generally what I’ll do is I’ll start with the subsection that I think is easiest. Even if it’s not first, and I’ll just get that done and out of the way. Then I find that that gets me rolling a little bit. Gets me a little more motivated. Then it starts to help me just write the whole thing and get a little deeper into it.

I also sometimes will write the conclusion, and or the introduction first. I feel like those are pretty easy to write, and it kind of takes the pressure off a little bit. That kind of put into perspective for you as a writer, where you’re trying to go.

Guest Writing for Other Websites

I would definitely say that’s difficult. I worked at Business.com, so I’ve been doing this for about four years and it was a little bit easier four years ago, to be honest. I was able to build up a pretty big portfolio of my own writing, so when I go out and talk to editors, I can tell them that I’ve already written at this site and that site. I have examples of my work, and that usually helps a lot.

To have your name out there, to have your face out there. I’d say it’s kind of a long process, but it’ll happen.

I used to have to be especially proactive and talking to people, and asking them if they wanted an interview with me. Things like that, and I got ignored a lot but it works out in the end.

Tips for Writing High Quality Articles on a Reasonable Pace

Don’t get in to far over your head. I know everyone always says, “Oh you need content, content, content. Frequency all the time.” That is still important, but the most important things is that obviously you have the time to write.

If you’re struggling with your own blog, sometimes it helps if you have guest writers every once and a while to just take the pressure off of you a little bit. Another thing, like I said before, just spend time on coming up with good ideas, and that’s how your content is going to be quality in my opinion.

Talk to people. See what people want to read about. See what you want to write about. Then that usually makes for a quality article. That actually won’t take you as long as you would expect. Sometimes the fun articles are faster to write than the boring ones that you know everything about.

Tools and Resources Mentioned in This Episode

How to Come up With Content Idea for Your Blog

To listen to this Marketing Nerds podcast with Amanda DiSilvestro and Kelsey Jones:

Think you have what it takes to be a Marketing Nerd? If so, message Kelsey Jones on Twitter, or email her at kelsey [at] searchenginejournal.com.

Visit our Marketing Nerds archive to listen to other Marketing Nerds podcasts!

 

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Paulo Bobita
In-post Photo #1: Alex Brylov/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photo #2: Image by Aki Libo-on

 

Category SEJ Show
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Aki Libo-on

Aki is a content strategist, marketing consultant, and former assistant editor of SEJ. When not at work, she is busy ...