Struggling with bloggers writer’s block? In this blog post, you will learn 11 different ways to find writing inspiration for your blog posts!
11 Quick Ways To Gain Writing Inspiration For Blog Posts
Please note: This blog post contains affiliate links
1. Why do you write?
Sometimes when we get a little lost for writing inspiration, it is a great idea to start with why we write in the first place! Try out this exercise to help wake up your writing muse, and to generate some writing inspiration for your blog posts.
Answer this question with, “I write because…” keep your hand moving, don’t pause to read what you have written. Don’t cross anything out or edit as you write. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or punctuation. Loose control, don’t think and don’t get logical. Write a blog post collating what you have written in answer to this question, and what you have discovered about your writing.
Link back to this post, or add a comment below linking to your post to share what you have created.
2. Create a list
This is another brilliant exercise to help your writing inspiration to flow.
Write a list of nouns to help trigger stories and title ideas. Be personal, for e.g. ” 10 things [your name] likes…”
If you blog about educational or industry related posts, make a list of what you have learned and skills you have gained in your field. Use this list to inspire a post based on a list item. E.g. If you wrote/ have learnt about a style of knitting, share that with your audience. Alternatively, you could share how you learn it, whether it is a necessary skill etc.
I would recommend using Evernote to record your lists and notes!
3. 1-Word inspiration
This technique is one of my favourites for creating new ideas and prompts for writing inspiration, both for blog posts and writing in general! Have a go and let me know in the comments what creative ideas you come up with!
Create a prompt box. This can be as simple as an old tea box with “prompts’ written on it. Write prompts on slips of paper, consisting of 1 word, or even short phrases. If you get stuck thinking of words, refer to www.oneword.com for ideas.
Be creative and write something related to your prop. If you blog about particular niches or a certain industry, try to write many slips of industry/ niche related words and phrases.
When you receive your prompt, use your senses. What do you think about that prompt? What do you see, hear, feel, smell or remember?
Get creative!
4. Use An Image Prompt
This style of prompt may appeal more to you if you are more visually creative and artistic!
Use an image as your focal point for your writing. This could be for an informative blog post, a poem or even a short story. Allow the image to serve as your prompt, to guide your writing and to tell your tale.
There are many online websites where you can source free professional images. Make sure that you check the copyright, and whether you will need to add a link to the website where you downloaded the image.
I recommend the following website for beautiful free imagery;
5. Use a quote
A great way to help find writing inspiration for your blog posts from words other people have used.
Quotes are a wonderful way to find inspiration. You can find suitable quotes for your cause or a quote that supports your brand or that is aligned with your personality. For e.g. a quote on; happiness, spirituality, funny, inspirational, motivational, help grief etc.
Simply carry out a Google search for a relevant quote, alternatively visit; www.goodreads.com/quotes… or www.brainyquote.com
You can include the quote in your blog post by using the blockquote, and elaborate or explain why you have chosen the quote. I would recommend linking back to where you originally sourced your quote from.
Connect with the quote that you have chosen, and tell your readers why.
6. Ask your readers
If you are struggling with writer’s block for your blog, one of the best ways to overcome this is to simply ask your readers what they enjoy. Afterall, unless you enjoy writing for yourself alone, your readers are your audience.
You can write a blog post for your readers and ask them what do they want to read more about? If you currently blog about a variety of different niche topics, this is an effective way of narrowing your focus and growing your blog more in the direction that your readers will appreciate.
Alternatively, if you have an email list, you can write to your readers. If you don’t want to receive lots of wordy messages back, consider creating a poll or a survey.
Try to keep your questions open so that you can get an insight into what your readers want, rather than receive a very boring yes / no survey response.
For surveys, check out SurveyMonkey… alternatively you can create a poll at polldaddy.com… Remember to invite suggestions and ideas from your readers, to help you create a blog post writing content plan!
7. Let social media inspire you
Similar to the quote technique, and writing inspiration found through images, however with this option, you can take it one step further and find inspiration from recent posts on social media.
For e.g. If you want to find a quote or niche/ industry related comment, I would recommend using Twitter. Do a search for your word, e.g. #quote… and find a relevant tweet that speaks to you.
You can embed the URL of the tweet into your post. Even better, you could even message the person who originally posted that tweet to share your post with them. This will help to build a community around your blog and connect in the online social world.
Alternatively, using the same idea of searching for your keyword, you could use the social network Instagram. Filled with beautiful images from around the world, you are bound to find an image from your keyword that wakes up your muse and inspires you to write.
8. Go offline
I personally find this simple but effective technique extremely useful to help generate some writing inspiration for blog posts.
In contrast to the writing tip above, this option encourages you to go offline and seek inspiration from the real world. Find somewhere suitable, perhaps a cosy warm coffee shop that smells of fresh pastries, or if it’s a beautiful summers day a simple park bench with the singing birds would be great.
Sit with your laptop, tablet or pen and paper and observe the scene before you. What do you see, hear, smell, feel, taste?
Be an observer of the world around you, pay attention and let the scene write itself.
9. Express in poetry
To help find blog writing inspiration, sometimes it can be beneficial to try something new! You don’t have to create a sonnet or worry about making a masterpiece which will challenge the likes of Shakespeare, simply have fun sharing your writing in a different way.
If the idea of poetry makes you feel a little uncomfortable, try a haiku! A Japanese poem which covers 3 lines in the syllable count of 5/7/5.
You could make this about, well any topic you like really. If you blog about educational or informative industry related topics, what better way to shake up your style and attract your readers. You could even create a challenge from it, share an industry-related tip in a haiku, and get your blogging community to join in!
Allow your writing to bring joy and fun and you will soon be filled with more blog writing inspiration.
10. Old becomes new
Dig through your archives for older blog content to help generate new ideas for blog writing inspiration.
I find that spider diagrams come in extremely useful for this! You could even prioritise previous posts that have been more popular among your readers; received more shares/ comments etc.
Write down the titles of previous posts as the centre topic in your sider diagram. Build on these previous posts with related ideas for new content. Before you know it, you will have lots of ideas for new writing inspiration for your blog!
11. Publish a roundup
Another great tool for blog writing inspiration, you can create a roundup in many ways including;
-The best of [your blog name]. Publish a post linking to different blog articles that you have created, such as the best of range, most useful blog posts for your blog niche, most popular blog posts etc. (referring to your analytics for details).
– Create a list of links to other peoples blog posts that you have read and loved, or blog posts that you found interesting and useful. Include a quote from each post into your post.
– A selection of your favourite quotes. Using the tools from the previous point about quotes, or referring to social media to find quotes, publish a roundup of your favourite quotes.
Did you find some writing inspiration?
There you have it, 11 quick ways to find writing inspiration for your blog posts.
How did you find these techniques? Did some speak to you more than others, or have you tried some before?
Let me know in the comments below!
Further reading
If you are looking for more articles to further enhance your blog writing, I recommend that you check out the following;
7 Important Blogging Fundamentals for Beginner Bloggers
6 Types Of Blog Post Headlines That Attract Readers
11 Things To Do After Starting A Blog
I hope you enjoyed reading this post!
Thanks
Emily x
This is a great list! It’s so so so easy to get burnt out when it comes to blogging – Having a list like this will really help me stay on task and get over that ‘writer’s block!” Thank you!
Hi Emily, glad I can help! 🙂 Thanks x