How to get blog post ideas fast and a content strategy to make money
I’ve written more than 2,300 blog posts on six blogs over the past five years and hundreds more as guest posts on other sites. Post ideas come in flashes all week and I’ve got a list dozens deep that I want to write.
But that’s not how it is getting started. I remember sitting there, watching the cursor blink on my laptop, for what seemed like an hour waiting for those first blog post ideas to come.
To help you get started, I’m putting this list and step-by-step together to help brainstorm your first five blog posts in less than 10 minutes. I’ll show you how to get ideas for new posts and how to make a content strategy that gets views and makes money!
If you haven’t started your blog yet, I’ve got a video and blog post here on getting everything set up and getting online.
Easy Blog Post Ideas in Minutes
This first list is just a quick brainstorm of ways to get blog post ideas before we get to a step-by-step process you can use to get as many blog post ideas as you need. No matter what your topic or your niche, you can use this list to get great posts that people will want to read.
- Search Google for a common question or idea in your topic, then check out the ‘People Also Ask’ box for the most frequent questions asked.
- Search Google for something related to your topic, then check out the ‘Related Searches’ box at the bottom of the page.
- While searching Google, note the top five blogs that come up in search results and visit the sites. If they are focused around your niche, look through the blog menu or sidebar for a ‘Most Recommended’ or most popular category for posts. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you know these posts are going to be popular on your blog.
- With that same
list of blogs in your topic, look for categories or menu options like
‘Resources’ or ‘Tools I Use’ as well as reviews. These will usually be
affiliate partnerships the blog has with companies and making your own blog
post can start making your blog money.
- Do a Google search for site:[similar blog name].com review to find the different review posts the blog has done in the past.
- Search YouTube for a common question or idea in your topic.
- Note the channels that come up most often in search results, visit their Videos page and sort by Most Popular. Copy down the titles for their most popular videos for blog post ideas.
- Do a few searches for ideas related to your blog topic and YouTube will start recommending videos in the Suggested section as well as on your Homepage. Browse through these and copy down good post ideas.
Search for books related to your topic on Amazon, click through each and check out the table of contents by clicking on the book cover. Each chapter can be a blog post idea.
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Step-by-Step Content Strategy for Your First Blog Posts
Just using the list above and you’ll get more blog post ideas than you can write in a year but I want to help you develop this into a content strategy. A content strategy is how you plan your blog post ideas to grow traffic and make more money.
Using the step-by-step below, you’re going to do more than just publishing random blog posts. You’re going to be growing your blog and you’ll make more money than you imagine!
- No matter how often you plan on publishing posts, whether multiple posts per week or just a few per month, I want you to get into the habit of publishing three types of posts; informational, community and affiliates.
- Informational posts are your how-to type of content, the posts that teach someone how to do something or give them information about a subject. These are great for getting Google search traffic.
- Community posts are a little more personal, though you should always try making all your posts personal and include stories were possible. Community posts are more for letting your readers get to know you and building that trusting relationship. These are great for keeping the traffic you get from other posts and getting them on your email lists.
- Affiliate posts are the main money-makers for new blogs. These are going to be review posts and lists including the tools and resources you recommend to readers.
- Sign up to an Affiliate Network like CJ.com or Shareasale.com and add your blog as a publisher. Then you’ll be able to search for available affiliate partners related to your blog topic for products and services you can promote for a commission.
- For each blog post idea you got from our list above, think about the information readers need to get to that level. For example, if you publish a post on why people need to invest their money then you should also have posts about how to open an investing account, how to save money to invest and how much someone might invest to reach their goals. Even the best blog post will leave readers with a few questions, you want to answer those questions with other posts and keep them on your blog.
- Start thinking about self-publishing ideas early. Plan a series of blog posts around a narrow topic that you can combine into a book and then self-publish on Amazon. It’s a great way to make your posts do double-duty and make more money!
Blog post ideas shouldn’t be your biggest challenge in starting a blog. I guarantee that after a dozen or so blog posts, ideas will just start coming to you on a regular basis and you’ll never have to go searching again. Use a content strategy with these blog post ideas and you’ll not only grow your blog but will make more money than you imagine.