Blogging Advice #4 … Finding inspiration when you have absolutely no clue what to post about

Sometimes it’s hard to find inspiration for a blog post.

I don’t know about you, but I definitely have days of persistent writer’s block, or when I just cannot find a post idea that I like or inspires me. It’s so frustrating because no matter how hard you wrack your brains, it just feels like nothing useful is falling out.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who feels that way?

I definitely felt like that today … and then I was hit with inspiration!

Sometimes we have to work a little harder to think up ideas for our posts, especially if we’re suffering from writer’s block. So, today I thought I’d continue with the blogging advice series I started at the end of last year with tips for finding blog post inspiration even when you have absolutely no clue what to post about. I hope you enjoy it!

Keep an ‘ideas’ journal. 

I’m not sure about you, but for me, ideas for blog posts tend to come to me whenever I’m NOT blogging. It could be when I’m driving home from grocery shopping, or halfway through a lecture, when I’m cooking dinner or even in the shower. So, to make sure that all those fantastic ideas don’t go to waste, I highly recommend keeping a tiny ideas notebook or journal. That way, whenever you have an idea, instead of letting it float away, you can write it down, so you have it for days like this. That way, whenever you’re looking for ideas or inspirations, you can page through your notebook and hopefully one of those topics is the one.

Read other blogs 

One of the best ways to be inspired is to look to people who inspire you. Sometimes just scrolling through my WordPress Reader feed, or catching up on bloggers that I love is just what I need because I’ll see something or read something that just clicks and then I’ll know exactly what I want to write about. Just to be clear though – I’m not saying you should copy other bloggers. However, reading through other blogs or reading posts from bloggers you admire is a great way to get the ideas flowing again, even if it’s just from a small sentence or a photo.

PINTEREST! 

I will preach about the amazingness that is Pinterest probably until the day I get arthritis in my fingers or carpal tunnel syndrome and can no longer write. If you find yourself short of ideas or can’t think of anything that particularly inspires you, the best thing I can suggest is opening Pinterest. What I love about Pinterest is even if you type in ‘blog post inspiration’ you can get tons and tons of ideas so as long as you’re open to the options, I can almost guarantee you’ll find some idea that you’ll like on Pinterest. Fair warning though, Pinterest is highly addictive so you could end up scrolling for hours on end so as long as you’re aware of that risk, Pinterest is the way to go.

Use your personal experience and passions.

A crucial lesson that I’ve learnt with blogging is not to undervalue your personal experiences or passions when it comes to post topics. After all, your blog is meant to be an extension of you in some way, right? So, have a think – do you have any personal experiences that you could turn into a blog post? Or what about things that you love? For instance, my gap year and the things that I did and learnt during that time was a huge source of inspiration for so many of my posts. And even though my blog is quite a general lifestyle post, because I love baking and reading, I use that for post inspiration too. You could even do something like a diary entry if something interesting has happened to you recently, or if you just want to share your thoughts – never underestimate the fantastic ideas that can come from your personal experience or passions.

Go through old posts.

Last but not least, you should go through your old posts if you’re looking for inspiration. I used to think that once a post was up, that was it and you couldn’t really get more out of that post or idea. Boy how wrong I was. Going through your old posts can be inspirational in so many ways. You could decide to reboot an old post and give it a fresh take. You could see an old post and decide you have more to say on it, or a different perspective to talk about, or maybe you could build on it in some way? For instance, I never expected ‘How to have the ultimate girl’s night’ to be as popular as it is, and I was able to do two more posts on that topic like planning the ultimate girl’s night, and I plan to do a few more linked to that post in the future. So you see? Just because you’ve already published a post, doesn’t mean it can’t be a source of inspiration later on.

And there you have it! It can be so frustrating when you can’t think of anything to write about, and no idea feels like a good one, so I genuinely hope that this post is helpful to anyone who needs it. Do any of these ideas work for you? Do you have any tricks or ways to find inspiration when you don’t know what to write about? Let’s chat in the comments section!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Lots of Love

Blondey on a Mission xxx