As most people are aware, I have or write for several blogs spanning a wide range of topics. One of the most common questions I hear is “Where do you find topics and ideas?”
It’s not any great secret because most everything is available for free and actually, it’s right under your nose.
The following are my own personal tools for staying abreast of hot topics and content ideas:
1. Google Alerts – I love Google Alerts! Google tracks the web for topics and sends new Google results by daily email right to my account.
2. Yahoo Answers – This is a great place where people ask each other questions on any topic, and get answers by sharing facts, opinions, and personal experiences. You’re able to see what people are most interested in on a variety of niche topics.
3. Netscape – Netscape keeps a running list of the hottest stories of the day as voted by the people who read them. With channels in the sidebar broken down into just about every topic I cover, it makes finding content super easy and most times, I’m finding new bloggers within my niche that I can buddy up with.
4. Yahoo Buzz – Yahoo Buzz is a day-to-day eye on what the world is searching for. You’ll find a breakdown of actors, sports, video games and much more. Try to incorporate at least one of the top movers into your post. It’s great for the traffic flow!
5. Technorati – I like to keep my eye on Technorati’s Popular list. The entire page is filled with popular videos, news, movies, searches and more. You’re bound to find an idea or two (and some linking options) with the popular list.
Now you know my early morning routine! A couple’a cups of coffee and my top five idea generators and I’m good to go!
Your Turn: Where do your post ideas come from?
Tags: Google Alerts, Yahoo Buzz, Netscape, Technorati, Yahoo Answers, content ideas, blogging, weblog, work at home, wahm
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Gayla – this is a great, and very helpful, post!! You just totally unjarred my brain and gave me an idea! Thanks a ton!
I get a lot of post ideas via my feedreader (currently Google Reader) – not only from other blogs’ feeds that I’ve subscribed to, but also from search feeds for keywords or phrases I’m interested in. Of course that means some duplication to sift through, but it’s worth it because I’m always discovering new voices.
Lisa ~ Glad I could help
Easton ~ I’d never thought of search feeds. Thanks for the tip! I get so excited to learn of simple and effective methods of getting the end result with less work
I wondered where people got so many ideas for posts! lol! I did this the other day for my Christian blog because I couldn’t think of a thing to say to update it! So I typed in Christian news stories and found one about someone replicating Noah’s Ark. Ta da! I had my post! lol!
Bev
Hmm, I get them through my kids, talking with neighbors, reading other blogs. I may also get ideas from yahoo.com, google.com and mylot.
Love your list Gayla, will have to try them out.
Gayla,
I’ve been using Google alerts for awhile, but I just recently started using Yahoo Answers. I even jump in with an answer to a question once in awhile, which helps to build the link love back to the blog.
Great list – thanks for sharing!
Currently, i find new ideas from wikipedia, rss feed & technorati. Thanks for your tips, i will try netscape, yahoo answer, yahoo buzz & google alert.
I’ve recently (as in a couple days ago) started to subscribe to Topix.net searches and del.icio.us tags. It seems to be working well so far.
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