Ask HN: How do you find blog post ideas?
3 comments
Some sources of post ideas for my personal tech blog:
- hobby projects I work on (e.g. programming) - experience with my gadgets (e.g. smartphone, tablet, desktop systems) - articles and books I read - software, tools, and platforms I use - my personal workflows and processes - pet peeves
- hobby projects I work on (e.g. programming) - experience with my gadgets (e.g. smartphone, tablet, desktop systems) - articles and books I read - software, tools, and platforms I use - my personal workflows and processes - pet peeves
depends on what you are after I believe.
are you aiming to rank higher for certain keywords?
Chase rabbit trails. They might be a distraction, or they might turn into a story you could tell in a blog post. What made something the way it is? How have things changed over time? Stories like that with a connection between your product and interests and the wider world are perfect.
Read widely. Find connections between what different writers are talking about, and share your take.
Be curious. Keep your eyes open, notice things that could make an interesting story. They're everywhere—and often the most noticeable when we're not actively trying to find them.
Go for a run (or do anything that helps you get in a bit of a meditative state). That's a great way for the things you've been thinking about and working on to come together into new ideas, that you can then write about.
And, for more search-driven ideas, look at your site's Google Webmaster Tools to see what people are searching to find your site, use Ahrefs or Google Adwords Keyword Planner or other similar tools to find more general things people are searching for, and pay attention to what people in your community, your customers, support emails, and more are talking about for ideas.