Where Do I Find Things to Blog About?

A question that every blogger asks themselves on a daily basis, "Where Do I Find Things to Blog About?," to which there is no straight answer. With a little creativity, the Interwebs and the world around you, the sky's the limit when it comes to blogging ideas.

Coming Up With Ideas

Staring at a blank computer screen trying to come up with ideas is always tough. Don't fret, all writers go through this. Here are a few 'idea starters' to help get your creative juices flowing:

Your Own Airwaves

Every phone call you take, topic you're talking about with listeners, questions, comments and whatnot can make a great topic.

A recent win by Mack was a phone call from a soldier stationed in Afghanistan wishing wish his son a happy birthday sparked engagement with another listener who called wanting to give the birthday boy $50. She put together a post with the audio in a video and pictures of the boy and his father to really make it pop. The emotion of the phone call, partnered with the pictures really tugs on the heartstrings.

It's just that simple, people will share this with all their friends.

Identify a Need

• Is your reader seeking help on an issue? 
• Do you need help deciding something?
• Help your reader learn something new. I.e., cool projects, how to do something, where to find something, etc.

Write Something That Matters to You

There's no better topic to write about than something that matters the most to you. By writing these topics, YOUR personality will shine throughout your posts and will be engaging  to others who also think it matters.

Let your topics choose you, not you choosing your topic.

Write Something Topical

Take to where you're readers are going to find you, by searching the Internet. Google, Yahoo! and Bing are all great starting places.

Google Trends

Google trends shows what people are searching for, what search terms they use and can even breakdown to a distinct location.

When you first land on Google Trends landing page, you see the hottest searches by day. Here's a great place to find what people around the globe are searching.

YouTube

Did you know YouTube is the second largest search engine? Might have something to do with the great content people find. YouTube is chocked-full of strange independent films, funny videos, news clips, music videos and more -- all ripe for the pickin'.

Find a video, give it a funny commentary, video yourself/others reactions (use your cellphone, doesn't have to be Michael Bay quality,) or make a video of what you do on a daily basis around the office.

Take to Social Media

• What are people talking about and sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and more.
• Use Twitter Trends to help spark ideas. You can see what Twitter trends are happening in your area using this Trending Map or what's trending in real time.
• Watch what your personal friends or local people are sharing, grab that story and give it your own take.

What's Going On Around You

From time to time we forget to "stop and smell the roses" when it comes to writing a blog. The simplest things can be turned into the most engaging blog post.  What did you do this weekend? Did you do a DIY project for your house? Did you take a road trip? Snap photos wherever you go, you never know how easily something can take off.

Some of the most engaging posts are posts that share what others might want to do in the area, or something they need to do around the house or the best places to see Fall colors in the area. Most of us have cameras on our phones, a quick photo can make a great post.