If you’ve been struggling with writer’s block then toss your worries aside because today I’m going to show you how to come up with incredible blog post ideas your audience will love and eat up immediately.
We’ll take a look at some blog post idea generators and how your ideal customer journey factors into all of this.
Then to sum it all up I’ll show you the importance of using keyword tools and how to validate all the incredible content ideas you just found.
So if you’re ready for some blog post inspiration then let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Disclaimer: This post may contain some affiliate links, meaning I’ll earn a small commission which comes at no extra cost to you. Please feel free to read my Affiliate Disclosure for more info.
5 Simple Steps to Come Up with Interesting and Engaging Blog Post Ideas For Your Audience
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that quality content or lack thereof could make or break your blog.
The only way to remain relevant nowadays is to consistently create amazing content that’s appealing and helpful to your ideal visitor.
The problem is sometimes you’re stuck on how to come up with blog post ideas and next thing you know you’ve been staring at a blank computer screen for hours or taken off to do something else.
I don’t want that to happen to you. EVER!
In this section I’ll show you how to find incredible blog topics and how to consistently come up with blog post ideas for beginners.
I promise you the steps are really easy to follow and you’ll soon have more than a handful of amazing ideas in no time.
1 - Begin with What You Know
I still find it amazing how some people refuse to give themselves any credit because they’re just starting out.
There’s always this feeling that you need to be an “expert” on the subject before you can share your own ideas or knowledge with others.
That’s so far from the truth.
The simple fact that you decided to build a blog already gives you the upper-hand on millions of people and it means you already have some brilliant ideas you can share.
There are people out there who want your own voice, your own take, and your own unique approach.
Don’t be afraid to share it with others.
Pro Tip: If you have some experience in the field or the topic you’re writing about then the more reason for you to share your knowledge.
Even if it’s a subject that has been covered before, you may have an angle or opinion that’s completely different from what’s already out there.
2 - Learn from other Successful Bloggers
There is a lot of beauty in being a beginner.
You have other people who’ve gone before you and tested different strategies to see what works.
Which means you’re now in a prime position to learn from them.
- What are other successful bloggers writing about?
- What topics do they cover often?
- Which ones get the most engagement?
- What piece of content did you like or dislike?
Learn from those who’ve already been successful.
You can bring fresh perspectives on the same topics, cover an an area they may have completely missed or express your own opinion on a particular topic if you didn’t quite agree with them.
There are lots of successful bloggers out there.
See what they’re doing and keep yourself plugged into their content.
You can learn from them and use them as a source of inspiration for your own content.
Just make sure you never flat out copy or steal someone else’s material.
I don’t think I need to explain why that won’t be a good look for you.
Pro Tip: Sign up to the mailing lists of any bloggers you admire or look up to.
It’s a free and easy way to get more insight into the different topics their audience engages with and more blog post ideas for yourself.
3 - The Comments Section
This ties right in with the previous point.
Do you know where your (potential) audience is always hanging out?
That’s right.
In the comments section!
Now if you’re just starting out, you obviously won’t have any comments on your blog just yet. But do you know who does?
As you rightfully guessed, other bloggers do.
The comments section is a great place to gain inspiration for blog post ideas. That’s where people are actively engaged.
It works in 2 folds:
- It could tell you whether a topic is popular and if it’s worth writing about.
- You could find some potential missed opportunities.
Go through the comments and you’ll find recurring questions you can answer in the form of a blog post or maybe even just a quick response via email or on your social media accounts.
If people are asking about something, it shows genuine interest.
That’s a perfect opportunity for you to position yourself as a valuable resource.
As your blog grows and you begin to get comments as well, make sure you not only reply to them but use them as a means to create high quality content.
Pro Tip: You should try to actively engage in some of those comments yourself.
You could answer some of those questions directly in the comments sections.
It’s helpful to the people who need answers and in some ways could lead people back to your own blog.
Do not mistake help for SPAM!
If you’re going to comment on someone else’s blog, it should be a genuine comment and/or something that’s really valuable.
4 - Social Media & Popular trends
I guess I could technically have each of these as a separate point but they typically go hand in hand.
Popular topics or trends usually end up on social media and social media is a haven for popular topics.
I probably just said the same thing twice but the idea is really simple.
If people are talking about it or sharing it, then it is an opportunity for you to create content.
Social media is a great content resource for blog post ideas.
Google, YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Quora, the list goes on and on.
You can join groups, forums, and so many other outlets to engage with your audience.
Be active in the same areas where they hang out and invite them back to follow you and your content.
There’s a lot more to social media besides the occasional mirror selfie.
Same applies for trending topics.
Stay up to date on any popular topics in your niche.
If you can catch and ride the initial wave of a popular topic, then even perfect. You can instantly become a go to source.
Pro Tip: Focus on a single social media platform when you’re just starting out.
It’s tempting to try to be in several different places at once but it’s difficult to keep up with all of them especially when you have to cater to your blog as well.
The question you want to ask is which platform is the best place where people in your audience would go to look for answers.
Pick the best platform based on your audience’s needs, learn as much as you can about it and continue to evolve over time.
5 - Email Surveys and Subscriber Feedback
You’re probably saying to yourself “I literally just launched my blog. I have no subscribers and nobody to send emails to.”
You’re probably right – for now.
So why do I bring this up?
Because I need you take List building very seriously.
One of the most important aspects of any successful blog is to get people to subscribe to you.
Once someone visits your blog for whatever reason, they’ll get what they came for and be gone forever if you don’t find a way to keep them interested or have them sign up to your mailing list.
You need people to opt in to your mailing list and you need to do so quickly.
Your mailing list is the most valuable asset you’ll ever have online.
It really is the only thing you can “claim” any control over.
If everything else fails, your subscribers can bail you out in so many different ways.
Once people join your list, you can ask them what kind of topics they’d be interested in learning about.
I mean, talk about engagement. They literally joined your list.
So they’re interested in hearing from you.
Never underestimate the power of your mailing list.
I’ve made the same mistake before and I regret not taking action sooner.
Don’t make the same mistake.
Start growing your list today and ask your subscribers how you can continue to create content that will serve them even better.
There’s no better way to come up with valid blog post ideas than to ask the people who are genuinely interested in it.
Pro Tip: The best way to get people to sign up to your mailing list is to give something that’s irresistible for free.
People want to know what’s in it for them.
So when you’re creating your opt-in forms, you should really think about what kind of value that freebie is going to provide.
Point in Case
So many people reading this post are part of my FREE 7-Day Mini course where I show them how to start and grow a Profitable Blogging business from scratch.
This section is part of what we covered on DAY 5 of the course.
If you haven’t signed up already and you’re interested in building your own blog that makes money online then simply fill out the form below.
I’ll be glad to show you exactly how it’s done – even with a full-time job. 🙂
7 Excellent Blog Post Idea Generators
Even after all the steps we’ve just covered, I understand some people may still be stuck in a rut trying to come up with excellent blog post ideas.
In all fairness to you or anyone else, those 5 steps are far from everything you can do to come up with interesting ideas for your next blog post.
They barely begin to scratch the surface.
However they are excellent starting points and I know even if you relied just on those 5 points alone, you’ll never run out of content.
But since the whole purpose of this post is to make sure you never run out of blog post ideas, i’m going to show you some other resources you can use.
Cue in the blog post idea generator.
These are simply tools you can use to come up with different content ideas around a specific topic.
Before we take a look at some of these blog post idea generators, I want to give you a few words of advice.
Quick word of advice when using any Blog Post Idea Generator
A blog post idea generator is exactly just that.
You type in a keyword and it generates some ideas around that keyword.
They ARE NOT designed to be perfect. They are just meant to help get the ball rolling.
You should take them for what they are and use those content ideas for more in-depth research to find out if it’ll be relevant to your niche or if it’s even worth writing about.
1 - Google Trends
We’ll start the list off with Google Trends.
It’s more of a research tool than it is a “generator”.
It basically is a tool, from Google of course, that allows you to find the different things people are searching for.
It’s a great way to explore for different content ideas because you can get insight into which topics are breaking out in your niche and can even take a look at interest charts dating back to 5+ years.
It’s a great tool for Keyword Research.
2 - AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is an excellent way to cure writer’s block.
It’s very easy to use and is a good way to find out exactly what people are thinking about.
It’s a great source for “instant, raw search insights, direct from the minds of your customers.“
The platform is very beginner friendly and can truly be a goldmine for ideas you hadn’t necessarily thought about.
It’s free to use but you can upgrade to the Pro version if you want more data.
3 - HubSpot's Blog Ideas Generator
HubSpot offers a lot of services and tools for marketing, sales and really anything you need to grow a business.
Their blog topic generator is a lean and basic tool that’s easy to use and offers a decent amount of blog ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
You start with a list of keywords you’re interested in (up to 5 nouns at a time) then you’ll get 5 different blog ideas.
To get the rest of the content ideas, you simply have to sign up to their mailing list.
4 - WebFX Blog Post Idea Generator
The WebFX Blog Post idea Generator is about as easy as it gets to come up with blog post ideas.
You type in your topic, click on “Give me an idea” and the generator spits out different content ideas for you.
If you’re not satisfied with the results, you can continue to click on “Next Idea” to come up with some more topics.
The one thing I like about them is a lot of the generated ideas actually make for very attractive and clickworthy headlines.
5 - Portent's Content Idea Generator
Portent’s Content Idea Generator is also incredibly easy to use and really isn’t any different from the ones we’ve already taken a look at.
You type in a keyword, click on the refresh button and voila.
The one thing that stands out is they use some humorous insight and jokes to tell you why different words matter in your titles.
That works well if you need to add a little bit of personality to your content or your headlines.
6 - The Hoth's Blog Topic Generator
The Hoth’s Blog Topic Generator is another great way to come up with a handful of blog post ideas quickly.
The tool actually requires you to put in a lot more pertinent information related to your audience before you can generate your ideas.
It asks for relevant keywords, desired outcome, common problems, the names of your niche and your target audience.
Pretty neat in my opinion and after playing around with it myself, the topics generated were actually some very good ones.
7 - SEOPressor Blog Title Generator
SEOPressor describes itself as more of a blog “title” generator but I think it’s also an excellent tool to find some relevant topics.
It allows you to select the best description that matches your keywords based on things like generic name, brand, industry and skill.
Once you submit your keyword, you’ll get a list of 5 potential topics you can use and you can keep on generating more titles.
The best way to use it is after you’ve found a potential topic you want to write about then play around with your keywords to see if you can find a post format or angle that may not have been covered by other bloggers
Using The Customer Journey for Blog Post Ideas
Every blog (<–read as brand or business) needs to have a clear customer journey.
It represents the entire experience you expect someone to have every time they interact with your brand.
In other words you should be able to map out a journey that walks a your ideal customer from point A to point B and everything in between.
So when you’re brainstorming for blog post ideas you need to keep your audience in mind at all times.
Where are they at right now and where do they expect to be in the future?
What problems are they facing right now and how can you lead them to the solution(s) they need?
I think if you remain fully aware of the different stages of a customer’s journey it’s practically impossible for you to run out of blog ideas.
I’m going to walk you through the 5 stages and I’ll use my own blog to give you a general example of how I think of my ideal customer’s journey.
1 - Awareness
This when someone first realizes they have some kind of problem and they need a solution to it.
The problem now prompts them to start doing some research but at this point it’s only for informational purposes.
If you’re here from my Email course then you’ll remember we spoke about this on Day 1 and why it was extremely important.
Customer Journey: "Paul"
We’ll call my ideal customer Paul.
Paul has a full-time job which is great because it pays the bills and can afford for him to live comfortably but the hours are tasking and are starting to wear him down.
He also has some debts he needs to pay off (school loans, car loans, credit cards) and he’s come to the conclusion that he needs a supplemental income.
At this point he starts looking for different ways to grow his income and finds out blogging is an excellent way to make money as a side-hustle.
He starts to do some more research about blogging and happens to stumble upon this blog amongst all the other competitors.
2 - Consideration
At this point they know who you are but they’re still trying to figure out if you’re worth listening to.
This is where your message and your content need to shine.
You need to be able to grab and keep their attention.
This is why it’s so important to have excellent content all the time because you never know when the first interaction with your blog happens.
I’m now on Paul’s radar but he’s obviously got several other blogs who are competing for his attention.
My goal then is to make sure I have excellent content that meets his needs and fits right into what he’s trying to accomplish.
I need to resonate with Paul.
I need to address his pain points and guide him towards a solution, one step at a time.
3 - Acquisition
Now that you’ve gotten their attention, how do you keep them coming back?
How do you keep them interested in your blog?
How do you capture any potential leads and how do you build your email list?
Not only do I need to create high quality content, I need to find different ways to get Paul on my mailing list so I can continue to help him.
That means I need to create opt-in offers that match different points of his journey.
I also need to continue to test and experiment with different opt-ins to see which ones work best.
At the end of the day I have to make sure whatever it is I’m doing at this point is meant to help him and is of value to him as well.
4 - Service and Conversions
Being of service to your your audience is very important because it helps build trust.
At this stage you’re guiding them towards a solution to their problem.
This is something you may have been working on already in the previous stages but this is where you give that extra nudge to get someone to convert into a paying customer.
2 important things here:
- The solution needs to be relevant to the outcome your customer expects.
- It should be something that’s actually attainable.
There are a number of different solutions I could have for Paul.
The main ones being Affiliate offers or one of my own courses.
The point is the offer needs to get Paul that much closer to his goal of finally making money online, paying off his debt a lot quicker and one day becoming his own boss.
5 - Loyalty & Retention
The retention phase is very important because this is when people will rely on you the most.
They made a purchase based on recommendations after all.
Helping them during this stage is what builds loyalty and that’s how you get repeat customers.
Don’t be the one person who ignores their customers after a sale.
Not only will they leave you for someone else but that’s how you start to get a lot of negative reviews.
Now I need to help Paul with any questions he has and I need to continue to provide him with content that can further him along his journey.
This is a never ending process if I have Paul’s best interest at heart and if I expect him to remain loyal to me.
The whole point of the customer journey is you need to be able to walk in your customer’s shoes.
If someone is at the beginning of their journey, what kind of content do you think they’d be expecting to see?
What kind of outcomes or expectations will they have?
What about those at the intermediate stages?
What about someone who considers themselves an expert?
If you can find content for all of those phases (or at least the one that’s relevant to your blog) then you shouldn’t run out of blog post ideas.
Now What?...
So now that you’ve come up with excellent blog post ideas, what happens next?
Do you just scurry over to your laptop and start typing or do you validate your ideas somehow?
What’s the next step in your content strategy?
The answer is…
Keyword Research
Keyword research is any task that involves figuring out the actual search terms people in your niche look for online.
For the sake of being appropriate and being politically correct, everything you’ve done up until this point has been part of your keyword research.
(I’m not sure why I used politically but anyways, moving on.)
What we’re trying to do right now is validate whether all the blog post ideas you came up with are worth creating content around or figure out a different way in which you can tackle the topic.
The reason I say that is because there are certain questions that can be answered in one sentence or a quick email and there are others that can be turned into massive and engaging topics.
We’re trying to figure out the latter.
In order for you to accomplish that you need tools that can give you more concrete data about the keywords you came up with.
For 2 reasons:
- You need to optimize your content for your audience.
- You need to optimize your content for the search engines.
These tools will allow you to determine the number of monthly searches each keyword gets, perform competitor analysis, and so many other metrics you can use to target the right people and grow your organic traffic.
Here are some of the best keyword tools available:
- Google Keyword Planner (Free)
- Ubersuggest (Free)
- Ahrefs (Paid)
- Moz Keyword Explorer (Paid)
- BuzzSumo (Paid)
- SEMRush (Paid)
My suggestion is you Read this post for a more in-depth tutorial on Keyword research, SEO and all the different things you can do to boost your blog traffic right away.
Now let’s take a look at how to plan and organize your upcoming content.
How to Organize Your Blog Post Ideas with a Content Calendar
I used to be the person that would try to keep everything in my head and rely on memory for what piece of content I needed next or what other aspect of my blog I needed to take care of.
Not only did I end up forgetting most of the time but it was also very ineffective because I really couldn’t hold myself accountable for anything.
I thought I had some kind of structure but the reality is it was nonexistent.
I had nothing concrete to rely upon so it meant I was just winging it as time went by.
Needless to say, that’s something you want to avoid at all costs.
It’s very important for you to have everything organized so you know exactly what steps you’re going to take next.
There are a lot of things you’ll need an editorial calendar for but in this section we’re going to focus only on the content side of things.
Your content calendar that is.
At this point you shouldn’t have to sit down at your computer and worry about what topic you’re going to write next.
I’ve shown you several different ways to come up with blog post ideas and as you begin to get more and more, you need to make sure you have everything organized.
You need to keep track of everything.
- Deadlines
- New & Old Content
- Different ideas you’re working on
- Etc.
By the time you get up to 20, 50, 100 posts, there’s no way you can rely on memory for everything that you’ve written or what needs to be tackled next.
So what content calendar do I use and recommend?…
Google Drive
Here’s the deal.
You can choose to make this as complicated as you want to or you can choose to keep things simple.
I’d rather make things easier on myself and I’m sure you do too.
So my suggestion is for you to create a Content calendar in Google drive where you keep all your blog post ideas.
Google Sheets to be specific.
It’s free to create one and since it’s on Google drive, you’ll have access to it anywhere and at all times so you can make the necessary edits or add more content if you need to.
I’ve attached a snapshot of a sample calendar I created below.
Hopefully it is clear enough for you to see.
The primary goal of your content calendar is to make sure you’re organized and to make things a lot easier for you when it comes time to write.
You should make sure you organize and plan things in a manner that fit your schedule. Especially if you have a full-time job as well.
That’s why I love Google Sheets because it’s lean, it’s simple and I can make my edits on the go.
It’s perfect for anyone who’s just getting started.
As your blog grows, so too will your content needs and at that point you can look into some of the different paid options.
We’ve covered a lot about your content strategy today:
- How to come up with blog post ideas.
- How to use a blog post idea generator.
- How to use the different stages of your ideal customer’s journey to come up with blog post ideas.
- Using Keyword tools for advanced research and to validate your data.
- And how to keep all of your content organized.
Now that you have all of this amazing content, how are you going to write?
What format are you going to use?
If you want to keep your audience interested and have them coming back for more, there are different types of posts you need to create.
That means you need engaging content.
Stuff that your audience actually cares about.
You need different blog post formats that will not only help you improve your writing skills but can also allow you to deliver high quality content on a consistent basis.
The type of content that your audience will find so difficult to resist.
To find out exactly what they are, please read this post.
Final Thoughts on Blog Post Ideas
The one thing I need you to remember about anything piece of content you’re creating is you should always strive to help your audience.
Your ideal customer should always be at the forefront of every topic you plan on writing about.
If you can’t provide people with valuable content then all of the work you’ve just done will be gone to waste.
Your blog isn’t about you.
It’s about the people who’re going to visit your content and the same ones who will eventually use their hard-earned money to invest in something you recommend.
Every time someone lands on your blog, they’re asking themselves “What’s in it for me?”
It’s your responsibility to help those people.
That’s why I think the customer journey is one of the best ways to come up with different blog post ideas.
Take all of this stuff and put it to use.
Even if you took just an hour today you’ll come up with lots of topics you can use on your blog.
And I’m serious when I say today.
If you put if off for some other day you’ll never get it done.
As always I’m here if you have any questions.
Oh and by the way if you need help validating your blog niche then read this post about the most profitable blog niches.
P.S.
If you found this topic interesting, I’d be humbled if you shared it with others as well.
Also, I’d love to get your feedback. If you have any questions, ideas or opinions, please leave them in the comments section below.
FAQ
Most frequently asked questions and answers about blog post ideas
The best blog topics are the one that are directly related to any problems within your industry or niche.
Your goal as a blogger is to find answers and provide solutions for your target audience.
A good topic to write about is therefore anything that your ideal customer will find valuable.
It depends on if your “personal” blog is just a diary or if you’re using your personal journey to share stories that people can relate to.
If the focus is on you then you can share any ideas that come to mind.
If you plan on shifting your focus on the reader then your personal story needs to also include some of the emotions and ideas your readers will experience.
Either way, your goal should be to teach or help someone learn something.
To see a list of different effective post types, read this post.
If you want to start a successful blog, you need to find a niche that’s already proven to be profitable.
Ideally it should also be a topic you have some experience in or at the very least are interested in.
Some of the most profitable blog niches include:
- Health
- Fitness & Weight Loss
- Personal Finance & Making Money
- Self Improvement
- Dating
- Fashion & Beauty
- Travel
- Pets
- Technology
- Lifestyle
