The Secret to a Gazillion Blog Post Ideas
Coming up with content for your blog probably see saws, going from this…
“Oh my GAWD I have to write about this and this and this and this…” (hopped up on caffeine, staying up late to write, etc)
…to this…
“Oh CRAP. What on earth am I going to write for tomorrow? I mean I SHOULD post tomorrow but I have no clue what to say. Maybe I’ll do a meme or maybe I’ll just write about my weekend. Well, um, I dunno. Think, McFly, think!”
For that time in between, you may keep a notebook (or a few) laying around to write ideas in. But eventually they drain faster than your cup of coffee and you’re left with a blank mind, a blinking cursor and a slight sense of dread.
Well, let me share with you a secret to coming up with a GAZILLION post ideas in one sitting. Okay, so “gazillion” is hyperbole but by the end of this post, you could have over 30 post ideas.
Not bad, right?
What’s the Secret?
Magazine covers.
Let’s get the microscope out and just look at headlines on magazine covers. Magazine editors know how to write catchy headlines that entice the reader to flip the pages. Use that to your advantage!
To make it easy, let’s walk through three ways to use front page headlines for blog post ideas. Then I’ll use three magazines from around my house and show you how to put these tips into action.
Word Swap:
Take a headline from a magazine and then swap out one or two words to make a new headline (and a new idea for a blog post).
ORIGINAL: The Secret to a Gazillion Blog Post Ideas
POST IDEA: The Secret to a Gazillion Veggies Growing in Your Garden
Springboard:
This simply involves taking the original headline and picking a word or two from that headline as the basis for brainstorming.
ORIGINAL: The Secret to a Gazillion Blog Post Ideas
POST IDEAS:
Secret: a post about our favorite hike that few people know about, a post about my secret to getting Big Roo to eat his veggies
Gazillion: gazillion funny things Big Roo says, seems like it takes a gazillion years to travel with kids
These aren’t necessarily post titles, they are just rough ideas I can then develop into blog posts if I choose.
Same Idea:
Sometimes you may read a headline on a magazine and say, “I wanna write about this too!” Change the headline, tweak the focus or keep it as is, and use your own perspective. Be sure though that you don’t copy or paraphrase the article. Instead, write the post from your own point of view. (I don’t even like to read the article until I’ve written my own post so I won’t be swayed.)
ORIGINAL: The Secret to a Gazillion Blog Post Ideas
POST IDEA: (whatever your secret is for great blog ideas)
Putting It into Action
All right, now let’s take three magazines I have laying around my house. I chose three VERY different ones to prove that it can be done with ANY magazine. When you’re doing this exercise, don’t think too hard. This is a brainstorming session so the idea is to think of as MUCH as possible then start circling the really good ones and running with those.
Here’s what I came up with:
Parents
ORIGINAL: How School Lunches are Failing Our Children
WORD SWAP: How our school district is failing our children
SPRINGBOARD: School lunch: cool ideas for packing a fun lunch, why my child will never eat a school lunch
SAME IDEA: Write your own opinion piece, take it from either a national level or your school district or state level
ORIGINAL: No More Toddler Power Struggles
WORD SWAP: No More Teenage Power Struggles
SPRINGBOARD: Toddler: toddler activities, funny story about my toddler, question about toddlers
SAME IDEA: Pick an example of when your toddler gave you a hard time and discuss tips that worked diffuse the situation
ORIGINAL: An All Natural Cure for Tummy Troubles
WORD SWAP: My cure for a cranky kid
SPRINGBOARD: Tummy Troubles: write about a time your kid was sick, write about the things you feed a sick kid
SAME IDEA: What’s your natural cure for tummy troubles?
Lucky
ORIGINAL: Your Whole Week Made Chic
WORD SWAP: Your Whole Vacation Made Chic
SPRINGBOARD: Week: run down your week in the life, write about a crappy week you had (or a great week you had)
SAME IDEA: Have any fabulous ideas for making your week chic? (of so, PLEASE let me know!)
ORIGINAL: 678 Instant Ways to a New Look
WORD SWAP: 8 Instant Ways to a New Healthy Lifestyle
SPRINGBOARD: Instant ways: instant ways to look like you got 8 hours of sleep, instant ways to take better pictures
SAME IDEA: More power to you if you have 678 ways for ANYTHING.
ORIGINAL: Totally Inspired Outfits for Every Situation
WORD SWAP: Totally Inspired Outfits for Back to School
SPRINGBOARD: Outfits: post about crazy outfits your kid picks out to wear, post about the outfit your baby wore home from the hospital
SAME IDEA: how do you dress for the park, the playdate, the mom’s night out, etc.
Macworld
ORIGINAL: How the iPad Fits into Your Life
WORD SWAP: How exercise fits into my life
SPRINGBOARD: iPad: fave iPad apps for kids, why you wish you had an iPad
SAME IDEA: How does the iPad fit into your life… as a parent, as a writer, as a student?
ORIGINAL: How Much Smarter Can a Smartphone Be?
WORD SWAP: How smart can my 3 year old really be?
SPRINGBOARD:
Smartphone: why you love/hate your phone, fave apps, how smartphone changed your life
SAME IDEA: what surprising ways has your smartphone simplified your life?
ORIGINAL: Inside the new iOS: Multi-tasking and more
WORD SWAP: Inside my sleep-deprived brain
SPRINGBOARD:
Multi-tasking: how you’re a great multi-tasker, the definition of multi-tasking now you’re a parent
SAME IDEA:How your iPhone makes multi-tasking through the day easy
Okay, Let’s Count ‘Em
Did you see count how many ideas I came up with from just from nine headlines? 38.
Doesn’t that ROCK?
::fist pump::
Let me know what happens when you try this for yourself! In the meantime, have you ever tried something like this before? Do you think it would help you come up with ideas for blog posts?
Want to come up with even more ideas? Take Content Brew, my e-course where you’ll get an ed calendar and learn to brainstorm 1-3 months of content (or more). Lifetime access to all the lessons. Find out more about Content Brew here.
