Ten Easy Methods You Can Use to Generate Ideas to Write About

Have you ever sat down to write an article to publish online only to find that you can't think of what to write about? I believe that most online publishers and accomplished writers have experienced writer's block at one time or another. Even though I have a long list of article ideas sitting on my desk, I sometimes don't feel inspired enough to write about any of those particular topics when I actually have the time to write. This actually happened to me the other day so I decided that it was time to tear down the writer's block and seek out inspiration. I hope that after reading this you will be able to find more ways to produce high quality content on a regular basis.

Don't you love it when readers post comments on your articles (when it's not spam, right)? I know that I do. When you need an idea to write about, why not check out some of your older posts and see if the comments will help spark something in your brain. Often times, interested readers will write a comment that asks a question that wasn't answered or thoroughly covered in your original post. These are the kind of inspirational comments that you can easily use to generate new article writing ideas.

Sometimes it's good to ask other people for help with coming up with something to write about. You can ask your friends or family about what interests them or what they would like to read about online. If you are not inclined to ask them a question like this, why not turn a thought provoking conversation that you had with them into an article to post online? Perhaps you could even interview a family member or a friend on a topic or series of topics that the national media is talking about at the moment. I believe that within any exchange of words between two people lies many great topics to write about.

I am sure that everyone out there has heard a great quote from an inspiring leader at one time or another. Why not take that great piece of dialogue and turn it into an online article for everyone else to enjoy? The quote that you start to write about doesn't necessarily have to be from someone that is well known. Funny, inspirational, or just plain thought provoking statements made by anyone around you will suffice. If you choose the right quote, it should be fairly easy to expand upon what the speaker was talking about.

If you have children that are in school (or even know someone who has kids), you have probably realized that they have quite a bit of homework. The assignments that teachers hand out to their students are often filled with many great ideas for you to write about. So the next time your son or daughter brings home an English assignment, why not take the time to complete it yourself and post it online? Of course it's probably best to allow your children to complete the assignment on their own, but when they are done you will have also something to write about. Moreover, If your child needs help completing the assignment, this would be a great way for you to get involved in helping them learn.

Everyone has a funny story to tell, so why not share yours with the world? Did I ever tell you about the time that my car keys were dropped down an elevator shaft at a hotel located over 200 miles away from home? No? Well, perhaps one day I will write a detailed story about how it happened and how the situation was eventually resolved. These kinds of stories are great to write about for many reasons. In addition to being easy to translate into words, readers seem to really enjoy (and like to socially share) humorous stories of personal accounts.

Did you buy a Sham-Wow and just loved how it cleaned up your son's spilt milk? Yes!? No? Did you really hate it? Why not write a detailed and specific product review about a item that you recently purchased to help out your readers. If you feel particularly positive about a product, it shouldn't be too difficult to write a decent quality article about it and you could even get commissions on sales generated from your online post.

One of the best and easiest things that you can write about is something that answers a question and helps someone out. Fortunately for us online publishers, the internet has plenty of Q&A style website that you can browse for ideas to write about. Hubpages has a great questions section with this main purpose in mind. You can also use websites such as WebAnswers and Yahoo Answers to find inspiration.

When you write a lot of articles on similar topics, it's easy to create a "best of" page that recognizes all of your favorite ones. In addition to quickly creating fresh content for your blog or website, these kinds of articles have the added bonus of breathing new life into your older posts. New readers will be introduced to your writing by being shown a list of your best work on a particular topic. What a great way to get some new followers too!

Many of you out there have probably experienced a time in your life when everything moved so quickly that it was literally a blur. How many of you actually remember anything specific from those periods? Not many I'm sure. The point I am trying to make here is that when things move too quickly people tend to limit their focus. In this way, we literally miss many of the great things that are happening around us - including writing opportunities. Sometimes the trick to overcoming writer's block is to slow down, take a step back, and pay attention to the world around you.

Sometimes doing some simple Keyword research can help you conjure many great ideas to write about. This tactic is actually pretty simple. First, start by looking the top keyword searches for a time period or a region and then use those to spring forward to other associated keywords. Eventually you should see some great new word combinations that can be the start of your next article.