Where and how to you get inpsiration for you blogs?

I'm finding it difficult to come up with anything interesting to add to my blog, I'm suffering from bad writers block!

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Kels

www.kellycairns.co.uk

Kelly, try searching Google for news in the small business world and post about it, or write about software you use and love.

Signing up for Google News Alerts on topics that might interest your readership is another great way to keep current content coming in!

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Great ideas from Tess!

I've also been keeping a 'blog journal', eg. whenever a particular situation arises, I make a note of it so that when I run out of ideas I can refer to it for inspiration

Kelly, I know you're the database queen ( ) - it would be really interesting to read about challenges you've faced. Think of it from a client's point of view too; someone struggling with an overloaded address book and not sure how to make the best use of his contacts...

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"Instead of looking for things that have gone wrong and trying to fix them...Look for things that went right and try to build on them" Tom Peters

This isn't a post of suggestion, but rather empathy. I totally feel ya because I struggle with the same issue!
I can comment on blogs all day, but everyone else in the blog world already discusses any ideas I have.

Best of luck to the both of us.
Dawn

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Dawn Lawson | At Your Service
http://freelanceadminsupport.com

Let me get in line, because I too suffer from this lack of inspiration for blogging, and I created one wrote a few things and just stopped. But almost every week I think post on the blog, but I don't. But with these suggestions I might give it another try......next week

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Mary Harris

Originally Posted by Kelly

Where and how to you get inpsiration for you blogs? I'm finding it difficult to come up with anything interesting to add to my blog, I'm suffering from bad writers block!

Hi Kelly,

Your question itself is an excellent topic for a blog post. If you expand on it you can engage your readers to answer the question for you AND create some fresh content for your site thus assisting with your SEO efforts.

Other places to look for topics: your email (Are there any emails in which someone is asking you a question? That could be a good topic for a blog post)

VAF and other forums are great places to find topics. There must be at least one question that has been asked on this forum to which you know the answer. Write a blog post about it.

As Tess mentioned: your Google Reader is another great place to search for topics.

Also: Lists - make a list of 5 or 10 things - people love lists

Have you found some good sources of information that have helped you in your business? Link to them in a blog post

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Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)

Great suggestions from Tess and Morag!

I used to think that I always had to have "good" and professional content, but after reading many blogs of successful bloggers I realized that they don't do that all the time.

Sometimes it's okay to write off topic. There is so much happening around us all the time, but even if you write about the same topic as other bloggers, you will have a different perspective that is unique to you! You can probably even find a twist that applies to your niche.

There is also an advantage to writing about the same hot topic as successful bloggers: you may be clumped with them in search results. Imagine the exposure!

The most important thing is to start writing. I find that inspiration kicks in as soon as I put some words on paper (or PC) and sometimes I end up with a totally different subject than where I started. The hard part is to sit down and do it

You just have to think about it: fresh content is better than no content!

This is next on my to-do list. Now that my class if over I am going to get serious about my blogging. I have to admit like Kelly I run into writers block and by no means is writing my strong point to begin with.

I will take all these wonderful suggestions to heart and get my butt in gear to get this off my list.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Can I piggyback another question on Kelly's? When a VA writes a blog, who is usually the reader? Is it the client? Or other VAs? I suppose that would make a difference to what you posted.

Deb

Hi Dejam

I'd say that the readers of your blog will mainly be the people you market your website to. So, say for example you're a VA mentor, then of course the majority of your readers will be fellow VAs. However, if you're a VA doing client work, then you should ideally gear your blog posts and content to your niche market. Just my opinion...

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"Instead of looking for things that have gone wrong and trying to fix them...Look for things that went right and try to build on them" Tom Peters