One of the top questions I get asked by new bloggers is “what should I write about?”.
There are two solutions:
- What you are interested in
- What people want to know
Which is the correct answer?
Truth is either can work. The best solution is a mixture of the two.
Have you heard the phrase “fire, ready, aim”? The idea is you put something out there, something approximately right, and see what happens. Judge the result then try to refine it.
Aiming in this context is looking at your feedback, your stats and asking questions.
When you start of course you have no audience to ask.
There is a world of sources of questions outside of your blog though. Forums, “answers” sites, email discussion lists, other blogs.
Find the hot questions and answer them and you will never run out of things to write about and you can be sure of always having an audience.
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I agree – forums are a great place to start looking for the hot topics and those that gain more attention than others, are one’s you may want to consider posting about. Yes, keeping your post quality and to the point with facts that are helpful to your readers is a great start too.
Nice post!
Lisa
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Always the interest goes first! If you don´t even
have any interest, how are you going to keep yourself being productive. In the end, blogging would only become a boring task.
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Hey wow, I’ve read a few of your articles and I’d have to say they’re pretty interesting. This would be my first time on this site but it definately won’t be my last.
If you get a chacne, feel free to drop by mine
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@Lisa – Yup, forums provide both the questions and an indication of how popular that question is
@Susan – You need both, trying to grow an audience and failing is a common reason why people become disheartened with blogging. Interest coupled with positive feedback are the best motivations.
@Richard – Thanks
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I know I sound like a stinker for asking, but… why are people blogging if they don’t know what to say?
I’m not being mean, I really want to know. I think that would make blogging hard, and that’s probably why most blogs don’t last.
On a nicer note, I think it’s great that so many people are interested in writing. It takes bravery and perseverance to write and anyone who tries it should be proud.
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It’s a more common problem than you would think. Every blogger will have a day where the ideas don’t flow as easily as we would like.