7 tricks to generate new blog post ideas

I’m currently sitting at my desk and thinking about what to write about in my next blog post. @breskeby was so kind to mention that if I don’t have anything to say I shouldn’t write a blog post. I think he is right, but on the other hand I don’t want to break my habit of writing a blog post every week. I’m caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

But then @fjeisenberg came around the corner and proposed the topic „How to find ideas to blog about“. I liked the idea. And now that’s the topic of this blog post. Thanks Florian 🙂

1- Ask your followers on twitter

As this already worked for me, it will also work for you. Just ask your followers on twitter what they want you to blog about. If you’re lucky you’ll get one or more good idea you can use.

2 – Install the WordPress client on your mobile phone

In the past several of my articles came onto my mind, when I was outside with my kids. Or I had a great idea when sitting at my desk at work. Before I used WordPress on my mobile phone, I forgot about these ideas most of the time. But now, every time I have a good idea for an article I create a skeleton article on my blog using my mobile phone. That way you can create a pool of article ideas. Unfortunately, none of the articles in my pool inspired me today 😉

3 – Have a theme for your blog

It often helps to have a theme for your blog. In spring of this year I started a series called „Food for Thought„. It really helped me to generate a lot of articles based on this theme. A lot of other successful blogger did the same. A good example is @jurgenappelo’s blog about Management 3.0 which is now a successful book in the agile community. I’m still searching for the theme that works for me, but some day I’ll find it.

4 – Use your twitter timeline

If you follow enough people on twitter you may have the chance to observe an interesting conversation or a new idea. Use this as a starting point for your article. Refer to the tweet and write about your opinion about the topic, instead of writing a simple tweet or comment.

5 – Conversational writing

A few weeks ago @catoliv and @mfloryan started a conversation by writing blog posts. One was writing the initial blog post and the other one was answering with another blog post. This way you get inspired by the other person and get some feed for your own blog. Find someone on twitter (or elsewhere) and start doing the same.

6 – Write about your own experience

One of my most successful articles „10 things to drive your ScrumMaster crazy“ was based on real life experience of a team at that time. One day they bugged me that much, that I decided to create a list of the things that drove me crazy. There are several other articles in my blog which are based on real life experience. IMHO that’s maybe the best approach.

7 – Ask your blog readers

Yes, that’s a good idea 🙂 Dear blog readers, what do you want me to write about in the future? Did you like anything special in the past I should write a follow up? Do you think there is the one topic I have to write about? What do you wish to read on this blog? Please leave a comment. Thanks!