Posts Tagged ‘ideas’
How To: 5 Ways To Develop New Ideas Using Amazon.com
Most of us have used Amazon.com in the past. It’s one of the best places to find bargains and pick up electronic gadgets. But did you know that you can use Amazon.com to come up with new ideas for your blog? The process can take a bit of time, but Amazon.com does have a few services available to help you with the process. Why Amazon? It’s simple. It’s one of the largest online stores around. There is a lot of data that Amazon stores on its data-stores. By taking advantage of what Amazon has to offer, you can not only come up with new blogging ideas but also with blog posts that people actually want to read.
If you are all out of blogging ideas and looking to find new ways to write killer blog posts, here are 5 ways Amazon can help you achieve just that:
Movers and Shakers (Bestsellers): Amazon does provide you with a list of its best sellers and popular items on a consistent basis. So if you want to see where the demand is or what the current trends are, these movers & shakers and best sellers lists could come in handy. The best part is, the ideas that you pick up from these lists are already in demand.
Amazon Recommendations: sometimes you just want to branch out and blog about related by slightly different topics. That’s where Amazon’s recommendation service. By searching for top products in your niche, you can gain access to a whole lot of related products that should give you ideas for your future blog posts.
Amazon Tags: Amazon does allow its customers to tag products that they buy online. These tags are made available on the product pages. They are extremely helpful in giving you ideas on how to develop new ideas and find new topics to talk about on your blog. You can also check Amazon’s top tags to come up with more ideas. Read more »
Mine for Blog Ideas With Glue
A lot of newbie bloggers complain about how they are out of ideas and can’t blog more frequently. That is going to be one of the worst excuses out there. With so many tools that are available on the Internet, there is no excuse in not finding ideas and concepts to talk about on your blog. Glue from Adaptive Blue is one of those valuable blogging tools that allow you to get involved with others and come up with new blogging ideas.
Here is how it works. It’s a toolbar that helps you gather what others have been saying about the page or product that you view online. You can see their comments, questions, and ideas. You can also respond to them. AdaptiveBlue has partnered with lots of website to help you connect with other users on those sites and discuss ideas. Let’s say I am interested in iPhone: the Missing Manual by Oreilly. Once I get to that site, I can see who has visited that page and what they have had to say about it.
There are just so many popular sites available through Glue that you would be hard-pressed not to find people who are talking about your niche in this community. Whether you are into music, video, book, or even wine sites, the Glue toolbar has something for you. Here are a few services available on this service:
- Amazon
- Apple Trailers
- Barnes & Noble
- Best Buy
- Blockbuster
- Borders
- Last.fm
- Rolling Stone
- Rotten Tomatoes
- UGO
- Variety
- VH1
- Walmart
- Washington Post
- Wikipedia
- Yahoo! Movies
- Zap2it
All you have to do is listen to what others have to say about products in your niche. That should give you blogging ideas for weeks to come. Who says blogging has to be hard? Download Glue here.
8 Places To Find Blogging Ideas – Part I
Filed under: Blogging Tips | View Comments
So you are an aspiring blogger. And you have been in business for a few months. Are you finding yourself out of ideas? Do you keep going back to your top posts and try to rehash them or find new angles? You are not alone. There are literally hundreds of thousands of bloggers who struggle to come up with new posts on an everyday basis. In fact, there is no shame in being stuck. If you never get stuck, then you are doing something wrong. Blogging is not a smooth ride. It’s not supposed to be a fun vacation. Blogging is not supposed to entertain you. You’ve got to work hard to earn the trust of your readers and set yourself apart from your competitors. And as long as you are not stuck, you may not push yourself hard enough to move your business to the next level.
There is a difference between being stuck and staying stuck. Those who stay stuck accept the fact that they are not good enough bloggers to make it big. That’s what sets apart superbloggers from mere mortals. Superbloggers never stay stuck! If you have no idea what to blog about next, don’t fret. There are plenty of resources that you can use to come up with new ideas. Here are some that I personally use for my own blogs.
- Yahoo! Answers: if you are looking for ideas for your next blog post, what a better way than figuring out what people are curious about. Yahoo! Answers is your best friend. The sky is the limit here. Don’t forget to participate on Yahoo! Answers to drive traffic to your blog as well.
- Facebook Groups: here is a gold mine that not a lot of people use. By joining groups in your niche and other markets, you can connect with other people and find out about their needs and questions. That’s how you can come up with new ideas for your blog. Bingo!
- Twitter Search: I don’t know about you, but I am crazy about Twitter search. There is just so much information there, and the sky’s the limit. If you can’t come up with a blogging idea from Twitter search, you should probably quit this business (stay tuned for more blog posts on Twitter Search).
- LinkedIn Q&A: you thought Facebook was a killer? Wait till you check out LinkedIn Q&A. It’s designed for folks to ask questions, and you can not only answer them but also use them for your next blog posts.
- WordTracker Questions: it really doesn’t get more simple than this. Type whatever you want to blog about in WordTracker Keyword Questions and find out exactly what people are asking.
- Fluther.com: a great Web 2.0 site that shows you all kinds of questions that people are asking. Another great tool to come up with blogging ideas.
- Wis.dm: another great Web 2.0 service designed to help folks find answers to their questions. And that’s what it all comes down too. If you know what people are asking, you can provide more value to your readers.
- Ask500People: Ask500People is a site that I have started using recently, and it is been very helpful for me. Call me biased, but I love sites that allow people to get answers to their questions. And these sites are all goldmines for blogging ideas.
There you have it. Told you it was simple 
Here is the reality: blogging is hard, and it takes a lot of work. But if you do your homework and research your topics, you are going to have a lot of fun and learn a lot of new things too. And you’ll be a better individual for it. That’s what blogging is all about!
32 Signs You Are Out of Blogging Ideas
Blogging is like everything else in life. When you are just getting started with it, you can’t get enough of it. No obstacle seems to high. And no challenge seems impossible. But once you have written a few hundred posts, things are going to get real interesting. You can think of your blog as your own Web show. You are the producer, and you need to constantly come up with content that your readers want to consume. If you can’t, then it’s curtains for you and your blog. As long as you can find ways to convey value to your readers, you can expect to keep your readership. The problem is, after a few hundred posts, it’d be hard to come up with topics you haven’t talked about already. If your niche is broad enough, you can always find new topics to tackle. But if you have focused on a narrow niche, your job is even tougher.
There are three kinds of bloggers in this situation. The first group have no idea how to come up with new ideas in their current niche, so they start broadening their blog topic and tackle more issues on their blogs. Some even find new angles to look at old topics. That way, they still keep their readers satisfied. The second group give up completely and try other things (maybe those get rich in 20 seconds schemes). The others understand the urgency of providing value to their readers, but have no idea how. These guys start losing the plot and lose their readers in the process.
Not sure which group you belong to? Here is a tip. You are out of blogging ideas if you:
- talk about completely unrelated things on your blog.
- find weather discussions very interesting.
- complain about the previous night’s episode of lost.
- dedicate a whole week to dancing with the stars.
- change the date of your older posts to make them look like new posts.
- rewrite your old posts without adding anything new.
- write a new post only to find out it’s almost identical to an old post.
- dedicate a week to user comments.
- keep slacking off and post less frequently.
- keep taking vacation.
- check other blogs to find out how you can copy their ideas.
- post PLR articles directly to your blog.
- keep talking about politics on a non-political blog.
- have too many guest posts.
- keep talking about twitter but add no value.
- keep complaining about Facebook’s new interface.
- try to create controversy by talking about art vs. science.
- talk about your traffic accident for weeks.
- make up your traffic accident story!
- tackle relationship issues when you are not old enough to have a serious one or too old and never been in one.
- obsessively talk about how great other people are.
- attack yourself and make fun of your own posts.
- get in conversation with yourself.
- post fake comments and write blog posts about them.
- discuss what you had for lunch, dinner, and after-dinner.
- discuss what was on TV 2 AM in the morning.
- write posts on 2012 presidential election.
- or worse yet 2012 doomsday!
- complain about how blogging is hard.
- go on and on about your iPhone.
- fake a hack attack and talk about it.
- ask your visitors if you should post less when you post only once a week.
Have you found yourself out of ideas? Which of the above topics do you go for?
