Use Brain Power to Come Up with Blog Topics
One of the laments that we at Ray Access hear constantly from small business owners, website developers and marketing pros is that they have trouble coming up with unique blog topics every week. Some even tell us that they draw a blank for new blog topics they churn out only once a month!
Coming up with new blog topics week after week, trying never to repeat a topic, is a challenge for sure. Even though you may be able to get away with a different angle on a single topic, it still takes a certain amount of creativity, open-mindedness and yes — imagination.
Fact and Fiction
Some people equate imagination with fiction — things that are just made up and not necessarily true. And while you certainly can imagine fantasy and great story lines that never happened, you also can apply a vivid imagination to the truth, reality and your readers’ — and clients’ — interests.
In an article titled Nonfiction: Access to Information, Insight and Imagination, collaborating scholars write:
Nonfiction surrounds each of us daily. Such a profound notion suggests that nonfiction should be quite accessible… Such an assumption becomes reality…”
The thrust of the article — as published in The Dragon Lode and reprinted by Springhill College — basically covers how writers of fiction and nonfiction are more alike than not. They argue that the genres really aren’t all that separate. Each type of writing relies on a clear and open mind willing to receive ideas from that same place where the imagination rests.
Tap into Your Best Thinking
Now we’re not talking about making things up and trying to pass them off as fact. Actually, what we’re suggesting is exactly the opposite. Applying your imagination — whether you’re coming up with blog topics, creating a documentary, writing a company newsletter or covering breaking news — allows you to see beyond your own prejudices and ideas of right and wrong.
Being open-minded rightfully relies on the imagination to think beyond your upbringings, your assumptions and even sometimes the very foundation of your faith. For example, as a former newspaper woman, Linda was sent on a mission trip to a third-world country with a group of evangelical medical missionaries. Even while the members of the group proceeded to try to convert her to their religious beliefs, she had to write about their bravery and compassion.
It’s only because she learned how to leave her fears and prejudices behind whenever she covered a story that she was able to produce an award-winning special section. She could see past the facades these religious zealots wore outwardly to see the real humanity and oneness they shared with the “unbelievers” in their care. Linda came away a better person, a better writer and a respected journalist — all without converting.
Too Many Blog Topics
When you apply the principles embodied by information, insight and imagination to the act of coming up with blog topics every week, year in and year out, you may feel like you’re heeding a higher calling. But you never know who you might reach, what you might learn and how you might teach.
So, let us provide a few tips for opening your mind and tapping into the endless well of imagination you were born with. Use these tips when you sit down to create your own list of upcoming blog topics:
- Brainstorming. It’s said that the average person has about 60,000 different thoughts every day. When you storm your brain, alone or preferably with one or more other colleagues, you shake some of those thoughts loose and throw them down on paper. Even if you only use one percent of those random ideas, that can lead to 600 potential blog topics!
- Jotting it down. Keep a pad of paper nearby at all times. Most of the ideas we get pass through so quickly, they don’t have time to stick. Whether you use actual pen and paper or tap the words into a note-taking app on your phone, commit your ideas to hard copy when they catch your attention.
- Meditating. The practice of stopping all thoughts is the exact opposite of brainstorming and gives your mind a break, leaving it open to funnel in some surprising new revelations you may not even know you knew. Many meditators believe that their God/Higher Power/Source speaks to them during this quiet time. If your spiritual guide truly cares about you, she’ll pump you full of great blog topics exactly when you need them! All you have to do is get out of the way.
- Getting out of your chair. Exercise can shake loose a few of the cobwebs stuck inside your head. When you pose a question to yourself and then stop thinking about it while you push your body to move and sweat, all kinds of imaginings can take root and grow. The healthy shot of blood to your brain doesn’t hurt either.
- Caring and sharing. Out with friends who play no part in your industry? Mixing it up with fellow dancers before your Zumba class? Sitting around the dinner table with family? Toss the imagination ball around the room and see what happens. People love to explore new notions and tap into their own creativity out loud — even if it’s only to give you some new blog topics.
- Reading the news. Every day, you should get at least one blog topic from the news. The way your business and/or industry intersects with current trends and interacts with something in the news is one of the best ways to find blog topics. And it’s one way that web developers and SEO professionals get blog topics that are already trending online.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
