You need things to write about for your article or blog post, and the clock is ticking. But you’ve run out of ideas.
Every writer knows the feeling. You need to write something quickly, but you can’t find things to write about.
Trying to find topic ideas can become stressful.
You enjoy writing, but finding a place to start can often be infuriatingly difficult.
How to find things to write about
Authors and short story writers have more time to get their creative juices flowing.
But for article and content marketing writers, waiting to be inspired to write is not always an option.
However, the process of finding inspiration is often similar. Start by looking for broad ideas, and then you can narrow them down.
But where do you look?
You can’t see the wood for the trees
The problem for some writers can be an overload of topics. You collect a little bit here, a little bit there. An idea or two to use later.
You write notes to yourself to remind you about notes from someone about notes about your deadlines.
In other words, you have information overflow, and your thinking can become muddled. When you think you are in this situation, it is time to clear the deck and your mind and start anew.
Forget all about your notes, and look for entirely new ideas.
Where to find things to write about
The run-of-the-mill ways to overcome writer’s block are of little practical use for an article writer.
Searching for an online writing prompt or writing about your real-life experiences or a family member will not help you much.
What you need are some quick ideas for an article or blog post.
But they need to be related to popular topics on search engines or social media that fit with the product or service or the advice theme you need to write about.
And you need them in a hurry.
Well, there are plenty of ways to find writing ideas quickly. Here are seven suggestions to help you.
1. Start spying
The great thing about the Internet is that you can quickly and easily spy on your competition.
But they can spy back on you too, so it’s all quite fair.
When you’re stuck for an idea and need to start writing, head off to the top websites and blogs related to your topics and categories.
If you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to bookmark these sites so you can get back to them quickly at any time.
Scan down the recent articles and note any post titles that might fit with your topics or industry.
When a post idea looks like a good candidate for you, copy the title into a text file.
If you do this on our site, you might end up with a list of something like this.
How To Make A Free Ebook Cover For Your Kindle Ebook
What’s The Best Free Passive Voice Checker?
The Best Publishing Companies You Can Trust
20 Common Grammar Mistakes You Need To Avoid
How To Format A Poetry Book For Ebook Self-Publishing
Register In English Writing And How To Control It
You could make a longer list, of course.
Now look for the SEO keyword phrase that the article is trying to rank for and perhaps mark it in bold.
Keywords are usually only nouns, verbs, and adjectives, so they are pretty easy to spot.
In only a few minutes, you should be able to find some great new writing ideas.
On top of that, you know that someone else has done all the keyword research for the seed keyword.
2. Google it
Search engines are great for finding information.
Google is an excellent source for finding related ideas.
Choose any search phrase you can think of, then look down at the bottom of the first page of the results.
You’ll see eight related search phrases that you can click.
Another option is to check the People Also Ask widget.
It’s a terrific help in finding questions you can answer.
Google is one of the easiest ways to find new writing topics.
3. Read your blog comments
Another excellent idea resource is your blog’s comments.
Take a look through them, and you are sure to find lots of questions and suggestions.
They could give you a new angle to improve one of your existing posts or a different perspective to write a new article.
You can do the same with feedback that you might get on Facebook and Twitter.
4. Support forums
The WordPress support forums are a mine of new ideas if you are writing about blogging.
The best part is that you can get ideas that will help solve problems for people.
That’s always a winning blog post topic.
If your blog is writer or author-related, you could try the KDP community forum for many topics.
On almost any broad theme you are writing about, there is usually a support forum related to your field.
5. Try Quora
Another great way to find questions people want answers to is Quora.
When you search for a topic in your field, you will find plenty of new ideas very quickly.
6. Ubersuggest
You need to sign up for a free account, but you will have access to a great idea resource.
The Keyword Ideas tool gives you hundreds of suggestions for keywords to help you find things to write about.
For bloggers, Ubersuggest is one of the best free tools you can have in your toolbox.
7. Google News
Google News is a great way to find new writing ideas and keep up to date.
Check the For You tab because Google tracks your topic preferences.
You will get a lot of articles that are closely related to your preferred topics.
You can also use the search feature and save your searches to check them regularly.
I find many great ideas and news about books, writing, blogging, and SEO.
Conclusion
Now you should be full of great ideas and ready to write your new article in no time.
But relax and have a cup of coffee first.
Your deadline is probably still hours away, and you now have plenty of things to write about.
There’s no panic because you have plenty of time now.
Related reading: Clarity In Writing – 10 Key Points To Write Clearly
