Written By Nicholas Cardot69 Comments
25 Great Sources of Blog Ideas & Inspiration
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Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? You know that feeling where you just can’t seem to come up with any good ideas to write about at your blog.
Today I’m providing you with 25 fantastic sources to help inspire you and provide you with the ideas you need to drive your blog upward and onward.
My goal today is to teach you how to draw inspiration from every area of your life. Whether you are at home, at the mall, at work or anywhere else you should be able to continually be developing new ideas and new notes for future blog posts.
- Fellow Bloggers: If you’re actively reading other blogs then be sure to jot down topics that you see being discussed throughout the internet. If they are interesting to you then they might just be interesting to your readers.
- An Idea Map: Idea maps, or mind maps, are a terrific way to graph out ideas for your blog. For more information about them check out this article I posted about it: Accelerate Your Blog With Idea Mapping.
- Good Books: Leaders are readers. If you want to keep growing your skills then you need to keep reading good books. As you do that, be sure to take notes of any ideas or quotes that you might be able to use.
- Your Competition: This is a great one. Check out what others in your niche are blogging about and determine to write up articles about the same topics that are even better than their posts.
- Daily Conversations: Do you ever chat with people about the topics that you blog about? If you do then take notes of the questions and answers that arise. These make perfect topics for articles.
- News Headlines: News headlines are designed to grab people’s attention and they can provide us with terrific inspiration for writing headlines for our own articles.
- Comics: I’ve written two or three articles at Site Sketch 101 based on things I’ve read on the Dilbert comic strip. These are terrific because they help you to infuse humor into your writing.
- Problems You’ve Faced: If you face a problem at your blog, research a solution and then share the answer that you found with your readers so that they won’t have to struggle with the same issues.
- Reader’s Feedback: Who knows what your readers are interested in more than your readers? When they leave feedback in the comments section, be sure to hone in on it and provide them with more articles answering their questions and comments.
- Television Commercials: Commercials are great because they teach us how to grab people’s attentions and get our messages across. Pay attention to your favorite commercials and emulate them on your blog.
- Movies: Have you read my article “4 Blogging Tips from The Dark Knight” It’s a perfect example of drawing inspiration from a movie. Check it out and then do it yourself.
- The Classroom: If you are in school, you take notes all through class and then after the exam you never use them again. How about using some of the concepts from class to help with your blog?
- The Mall: The mall is a terrific place to check out the popular trends that are taking place. Take a walk through the mall and check out what’s attracting people.
- Emails: Anytime you correspond with someone you should consider if you can use any of it in a post.
- Your Work: Conversations at work, problem solving, tasks you deal with…all of these can be terrific ideas for posts. I’m a U.S. Soldier and I use my experiences in the army to shape my blog in many ways.
- Children & Family: My family is a great source of inspiration to me. The games that we play and the conversations that we have provide great insight into what interests the people around us.
- Holidays: It’s always a good idea to post something related to the holidays. You can post something related to Christmas, Thanksgiving, Veteran’s Day, etc.
- Complaints: Do you have a complaint about the way you see something being done? Or has someone complained to you about something? Write about it.
- Pictures: I love the Flickr explore page. Every time you refresh it, you’re presented with another set of new random images. Check it out at Flickr’s Last 7 Days Interesting
- Quotes: If you hear something witty or powerful on TV or in a book, write it down right away and use it at your blog.
- Church: Check out the church bulletin. Write down catchy phrases that your pastor mentioned. Even Scriptures can be used as great quotes to help build your points.
- Family Events: Go out and do something fun with the family. Try playing some mini-golf or going roller skating. Think about what makes you and your family really happy. Think about what’s really fun about it.
- Vacation: Remember the last time you went to a theme park or to a camping resort? What did you see there that really appealed to you? Learn from it and practice it yourself.
- Restaurants: Restaurants are a fun place to learn from. Check out their banners. Check out the specials and deals. Check out the customer service. And then put what you learn to work at your site.
- Brochures & Pamphlets: These are great because they can provide you with great color schemes, font ideas, catchy phrases and much more.
I hope that after 25 ideas you get the main idea that I’m promoting here. You can learn from everything around you. Just as a Zen master might teach you a lessen in enlightenment from a leaf gently drifting toward the ground so we can learn and find inspiration in every aspect of the world around us.
Nicholas Cardot
Nick uses his blog Site Sketch 101 to express his passion for helping bloggers and webmasters connect with real people through brilliant designs, unique content, and genuine creativity. Nicholas Cardot has 186 post(s) at Site Sketch 101
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izzat aziz said:
Ultimate list for inspiration I would say. From that list I often use fellow blogger, like i say in my post i read more than hundread blog perday.. if i gain nothing from it that just a plain lie.. I learn and manage to come out with some ideas just by doing that.
the classroom – i do have post that based on what currently I’m studying, like entrepreneur stuff it really help me to find point for post
idea map sound like very good idea, i should try it too.. thank for the link and this great post.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
izzat aziz –> You’re welcome. I hope that it helps you keep driving on with strong and powerful posts on your site.
Renz said:
Anyone care to give some advice on my niche? I feel my posts are not interesting enough. Thanks in advance.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Renz –> What is your niche? If I asked you to describe in one single sentence what you write about then what would you tell me? Answering this question will help me to advise you.
James Rose said:
Another point is a lot of those ideas are good for SEO purposes as well. For example Movies giving you idea’s can capitalize on people searching ‘Dark Knight’
Nicholas Cardot said:
James Rose –> That’s true. I hadn’t even thought of that, but you are right.
Wayne said:
Nice list indeed.
Stop and smell the roses. Then blog about them.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Wayne –> I like that. That’s exactly the right concept. Just look around and think about what brings you joy and then share that with people.
Antti Kokkonen said:
I’m an RSS addict myself and fellow bloggers have always been my inspiration. And I’m learning at the same time as I’m reading all the different kinds of blogs. Other great source of inspiration (and again, learning at the same time) for me is listening to podcasts when not at home or office.
As Nicholas’ list shows, inspiration is all around us, so make sure you’re writing down all the ideas during the day
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Antti Kokkonen –> You’re right. Inspiration is all around us and I really like your idea of listening to podcasts. I hadn’t even thought of that and yet it really is a terrific idea.
Chris said:
This is an excellent list and right now it’s just what I needed. I banged out over 180 posts on my blog in the first 5 months and now I’m feeling some serious writers block. I’m not sure if I went too fast or not but I’m just feeling…well, blocked!
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Chris –> Often times, we drive on hard for the first five or six months and then get burned out. It’s important to be able to develop new and fresh ideas and to keep on growing.
Josh Star said:
Excellent post once again Nicholas!
It is certainly important to keep reading. Reading provides you with multi-dimensional ways to approach particular topics.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Josh Star –> That’s exactly right. Often we find ourselves honing into our blogs with tunnel vision. It’s good to breath new ideas and new life into what we’re doing.
25 Great Sources of Blog Ideas & Inspirations | Blog Mixer said:
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chandan said:
Hi Nick nice idea, For me I learn lots from my fellow bloggers, I discuss my problems with my fellow bloggers and they are really very nice and helpful.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
chandan –> That’s true and that shows the importance of connecting with other bloggers.
Robomaster said:
Great list here. I’ve found that one of the most powerful of these inspirations is “problems you’ve faced.”
Because each challenge you go through is a pretty amazing experience (whether you realize it or not,) they can make some really convincing posts. Copyblogger does this a ton (integrating real-life problems or stories into a post) and it’s one of the things that makes them so popular.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Robomaster –> Sharing problems and solutions are terrific because everyone can relate to them. Who hasn’t faced problems?
Teen Blogger said:
Great post.
I think reading other blogs will bring new ideas and inspiration. I read quite a lot of blogs every day and they really do give new ideas.
Networking can also be good as you learn new stuff.
I also think doing random stuff like watching tv, listing to music or just going outside for a bit can get some great ideas and inspiration.
Thanks,
Robomaster said:
That’s definitely true! Just subscribing to a few feeds on your favorite blogs and reading them each day will give you many ideas on what to blog about.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Robomaster –> That’s right. If you’re not constantly taking in ideas then you’ll eventually run out of things to write about.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Teen Blogger –> You really can get ideas from just about anywhere we look. I think that most of us simply aren’t used to thinking about it so we fail to see the opportunities around us.
Website Designer said:
Very much agree..though I tend to forget to look around sometimes…it helps to reminded..thanks a lot.
Gabe | freebloghelp.com said:
Movies and current events are excellent sources. People easily get sucked into the “in” thing.
For example, if someone wrote an article that ties into the New Moon, I’m sure readers would flock to it pretty quick, especially the girls in love with Rob.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Gabe | freebloghelp.com –> You should do that. That would be a great challenge and I think that you’re absolutely right about it. That’s a great way to draw from popular trends in movies and events.
Claire said:
Some really good suggestions. I’m a bit of a people watcher, and I often get inspiration for my blog by watching and listening to people as I go about my day (this is especially true on public transport, for some reason!). I would also recommend keeping a notebook in your bag and on your desk to jot down blog ideas when they come to you – I have a long list of topics that will keep me going for a while if I’m not inspired.
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Renz said:
That’s a good advice too! Thanks Ma’am.
Claire said:
Hey, no problem! It does make a huge difference if you know you have a list of blog topics you can turn to when the inspiration doesn’t strike.
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Renz said:
I do have list of categories but I mostly end up on neobux and money making topics. Hmm. It’s like a bad habit already.
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Robomaster said:
That’s sound advice! Having a notebook or some place to jot down a quick sentence or two can really help you find topics when you’re out of creativity.
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Claire said:
If I haven’t got a notebook on me (which is rare), I’ve even been known to leave myself a note about a blog idea on my cell phone!
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Robomaster said:
That’s the spirit!
Make do with what ya have. And if you have a cell phone, that’ll do just fine.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Claire –> That’s good. I highly recommend to people that they carry a notebook with them all the time and focus on gathering topics even when their not in front of their computers. That is the best way to stay inspired for a long time.
Barbara Bramblett said:
Thanks for the great ideas. I am a newbie blogger, and one trick that works for me is that when I get a new idea, I go to my dashboard and type in the Title and save it as a draft. That way the idea is in front of me everytime I go to my dashboard.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Barbara Bramblett –> I used to use that same method so I know that it is extremely useful. You just need to do something to record your ideas so that you can come back to them without forgetting about them and that is a great way to do that.
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[...] 25 Great Sources of Blog Ideas & Inspiration [...]
designfollow said:
great
thank you
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Roschelle said:
Great ideas and inspirations Nick! Another idea I’ve utilized a lot is post ideas from comments. I always try to leave meaningful comments and every now and then I find the beginning, middle or ending of a blog post idea right there in front of me (inspired by the comment I’ve written).
Some of my most popular posts have originated from comments I’ve left on other blogs.
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Robomaster said:
Interesting! How do you find inspiration from commenting on blogs?
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Roschelle said:
It’s pretty simple Robo. If the original post is something I’m already very passionate about my comment will usually be something to help add another perspective or additional information about the subject.
By doing this, a topic that I hadn’t thought of posting about (but definitely have an interest in) becomes an idea for my next post.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Roschelle –> I’ve actually done that myself and I probably should have included that right in the list. Then, of course, I would have had to try to find a cool picture that said 26. Seriously though, if I engage in a conversation somewhere and my comment is passionate and long enough to be a post, then I copy it into WordPress, edit it so that it doesn’t create duplicate content with that content and then publish it. I’ve done that on several occasions.
Lucasmelb said:
Agree, but Twitter is one of the most effecient way to acess most of the items on your list. Why fight it when it’s there.
Phaoloo said:
I like you list indeed. I prefer watching movie with a pen and paper. Listening to the conversation may bring me some idea for my next posts. Then just write down what I get.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Phaoloo –> That’s good. I’m becoming more and more convinced that people who carry notebooks with them end up accomplishing so much more than those who don’t. We consider it a part of our military uniform to have a pen and paper on us at all times. If we don’t have one with us then we are considered to not be in the right uniform.
Jeevanjacobjohn said:
You are absolutely right Nicholas. I have used some of these methods for blogs. But most of these are new to me. Thanks Nicholas for this wonderful post. When I started to blog, I didn’t get along with bloggers much. But soon, I realized the value of Fellow bloggers. This post will be surely helpful to both pro bloggers and newbie bloggers. Thanks you again !
Nicholas Cardot said:
Jeevanjacobjohn –> Often it’s our natural reaction to view other people as our competition especially if they are working on something similar to us. But I’ve found that some of the strongest people are the ones who build alliances with those people and help each other become stronger and better.
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Design Informer said:
Great article! These tips will be very useful in my future blogging. Thanks!
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nFormas design said:
Nice list!
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Tisha said:
I have not yet started a blog, but i am in the process of starting one. I am glad that I came across this site. You know I always have had a small note book with me just to jot down ideas I may have or something that interested me and i would research it out. Thank you so much for this positive out look on blogging about inspiration. You have just gave me many ideas on how to start my first blog!!!
~T
Nicholas Cardot said:
Tisha –> That’s good. As you’re starting your blog, don’t hesitate to ask any questions. I’d love to help you be the great success at connecting with people that you can possibly be.
Pavan Somu said:
You have listed cool points Nicholas. Thanks for sharing.
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amanda said:
Great blog. Definitely know what you’re doing to attract readers. Your ideas are appreciated. My site just went live yesterday, got a lot ot learn.
Thanks,
Mrs Dem said:
Thankyou! You have inspired me. I am a new blogger, still learning the ropes and I am very unsure of what I should write. Your list above has helped me to realise that I need to be fully conscious and present in my life so that I don’t miss anything. I love your blog!
Nicholas Cardot said:
Mrs Dem –> I’m thankful for your feedback and I’m very excited that this was helpful for you. If you have any questions or need help don’t hesitate to get in touch with me and ask me anything.
scheng1 said:
I think if anyone backstabs us a few times, we can write short stories to drown, cook and kill that person 1001 ways.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
scheng1 –> That’s a pretty intense source of inspiration. Wow.
Shurandy Thode said:
Great article! Dugg! btw your follow link under “stay up to date” is dead or points to a page that doesn’t exist. Just FYI =)
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Shurandy Thode –> Thanks for letting me know about that. It should be fixed now. I appreciate that you told me about that, otherwise it would have continue to sit there broken.
CyncLymnson said:
Amazing blogpost, I did not thought this was going to be so awesome when I read the url!!
Nicholas Cardot said:
I’m glad to hear that you liked it.
Self Improvement said:
Good post and excellent ideas. I agree with them completely. I know you’re very passionate about your blog so I’m guessing you barely get writer’s block.
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gautam hans said:
Inspiring List. Btw you are right readers are the best ones to get new ideas. They have queries which have not been solved earlier.
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