How to generate ideas for your blog posts

So now you have chosen the topic you wish to blog about, what are you going to write?

You may have chosen one of the "hot topics" like recipes, but what exactly will you write about "recipes"?

Will it be about the utensils required? Cakes? Healthy eating? 10-minute dinners?

Once you have decided on a specific subject matter, what information do you want to share?

Here are some ways you can generate ideas...

Ask your friends

We all have opinions on certain subjects so ask for your friends' opinions. What would they like to know about ‘recipes'? What are their ideas and suggestions?

You may be surprised with what ideas and things they come up with.

Start collecting ideas

You could be walking the dog, traveling to work and suddenly, a bright idea about a blog post pops into your head.

Are you going to remember that idea or do you need to write it down?

You could always carry a small pencil and paper with you, just for those situations.

Then when you get somewhere where you can add a few more notes, just spend a couple of minutes doing so. Those extra notes will help when you come back and refer to your notes.

And you don't have to use that idea that day, that week, that month.

I have a folder just on ideas of what to write about. When I want to start writing, out comes the folder with all my previous notes, which may have been written down months ago.

Use your own childhood memories

It depends upon the subject you choose to write about as to whether you have any related childhood memories.

But if we stick with ‘recipes', you could write about the great times you had with your parents cooking or making up your own recipes or just having fun in the kitchen.

Perhaps, even write about the cooking lessons you had at school and how much has changed over the years.

You know, "When I was young, we didn't have microwave ovens or fancy things like that. We had to..."

Make a mind-map

Without going off too much on a tangent, a mind map is a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. It is a visual thinking tool that helps structuring information, helping you to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize, recall and generate new ideas.

Here is a compilation of mind map tools

By using mind maps, you can easily generate numerous ides.

Ask your blog visitors

Conduct some analysis with your blog visitors.

Take a poll.

Do a survey.

Ask them questions.

You can even let them ask you questions.

Gather all the information and you've got some great ideas from your visitors.

Read and collect

Read a great article about recipes in the newspaper or magazine?

What ideas did that give you?

Write the ideas down and file away in your reference folder.

Even better, write the ideas down and file away in your reference folder AND cut out the article and file it away for future use.

Powerful tip: Visit a bookstore or a library or a magazine stand. Read through the books and magazines that are related to your chosen subject. I guarantee you come away with at least 10 ideas.

Search the internet

Of course, you have all information you need, right here on the internet.

On the internet there are forums.

A forum is basically a virtual meeting place for people with the same interest, who post messages and questions on the subject of that forum.

So do a Google search for your subject, for instance ‘recipe' and then add the word "forum", so you end up searching for "recipe forum" (by the way at the time of writing, there are a few!)

Then when you enter the forums, you can observe and study what the participants are discussing.

Forums are places where people look for advice, ask questions and air their concerns.

Using these methods, you'll never run out of ideas.

How do you generate ideas?