Simple Tips on Finding Things to Write About

June 18th, 2008 Corrisa Posted in Article Marketing |

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I came across this article recently and thought it was fitting to put here. The number one “complaint” people have when they’re starting their article marketing (writing) is “I have nothing to write about!”

The simple answer is to write about things that pertain to your niche, your target audience, your interests etc…

Maybe that’s too simplistic of an answer.

This article will go a bit deeper than that.

In fact, I know you’ll get a lot of great ideas. So read on…

Corrisa ;-)

——-

Where Do You Get All Those Article Ideas?
By Angela Smith

I recently saw a post on a networking forum I visit quite frequently that actually inspired me to write this article.

The question came from a new friend I recently made through another connection and went something like this.

“I am wondering if any of you experts out there have tips and tricks on coming up with article topics. Do these things just come to you or do you have techniques that help you decide what to write next?”

Thanks!

Jill
CWAHM.com

Coming up with topics for articles can feel like a daunting task especially if you try too hard to think of new ideas. I can say from experience, that you just need to relax and let the ideas come. They usually will.

But just in case that doesn’t work for you, here are some things that help me generate article ideas when I’m in a slump.

First, I ask my subscribers what they want me to write about. Not in so many words, mind you. I do it using polls and questions. I may send out a question and ask them to tell me what their most pressing question about _____________ is. On the other hand, I may put up a poll, ask leading questions about things in the industry, and then write about what was clearly of interest to them.

Second, I might do an interview with a leader in the industry and then write about that. I may use parts of the interview in the article (with permission of course.) This interview is sometimes formal and recorded and at other times I just call them up and we chat about what’s happening in the world of _______________. At least one or two article ideas always seem to come to me when I’m on the phone talking to an industry leader.

Third, I subscribe to newsletters from experts in my industry and see what they are talking about. If they think it’s important then my subscribers and readers will more than likely think it’s important too. I have a duty to my readers to provide them with information that they feel is important.

Fourth, I am a member of many message boards that relate to the industries I am interested in. You would not believe how many times people have asked questions or given little tips that has set my mind off in search of a quick article.

Fifth, at least once a month I make a trip to B&N or Book-a-Million with pen and pad in hand for some article writing research. First I pour over the magazine racks getting caught up on what is going on in my industries of choice at the time. I make note of headlines that catch my eye and flip through the pages for article ideas. I read the little, unknown sections sometimes called So and So’s Corner or Lessons Learned or whatever. You can find some awesome ideas for your next article in these. Next I check out the display and classified sections. Crazy as it sounds there are some article writing ideas you can get from these, not to mention tips on headline creation too.

My next stop is the Best Seller List. I’ve gotten some unique ideas for articles from these book titles and even one or two ideas from the content inside them.

My final stop before leaving the bookstore is the music section. No, not for generating article ideas, but because I love music.

You could probably do online bookstore searches just as easily, but I like to browse, touch and see the real thing.

Sixth, I subscribe to Google News for

keywords that I am interested in and that have to do with my web sites
my own name
my web sites
web sites of my competitors (but that’s a different story altogether)

When I see an article of interest, I check it out. If it has relevant information in it I think of ways I can write an article about that, maybe coming up with a twist on the concept, or my viewpoint on the whole subject.

Seventh, I get press releases from PR Web and then look for different angles and ways to write an article about things that may be of interest to my target market. On occasion I do a quick search for keywords on press release sites to see if I may have missed something I want to create a new article about.

Finally, a friend of mine ties his article writing into the holiday that is coming up. I’ve never tried it but it seems to work for him. I do press releases related to holidays, so I see no reason why articles can’t be generated using ideas like this too.

And remember, the whole World Wide Web is available to you as well. If you can’t come up with an article idea by doing a quick search on Google, Yahoo or MSN for the keywords related to your industry or topic of choice, then maybe your connection got lost.

I hope you’ll find these tips useful for writing your next article.

Thanks for asking the question Jill.

See… there you go… I just used my fourth tip and came up with an article of my own.

Now go… create… submit… repeat!

About the Author:

Angela Smith has been using article marketing to promote her web businesses since 1997. She owns ArticlesOn.com, a unique article directory looking for unique feature writers. Can you commit to writing a monthly, biweekly or weekly column to “jump start” your article marketing campaign? Let us provide your exclusive content to thousands of publishers looking for what you have to offer. Visit http://www.articleson.com/terms.php#feature now and sign up while there are still spots left.

[?]