How To: Have more post ideas and develop them

August 20th, 2008

Okay, you’ve started your blog, wrote some posts, have some traffic and some readers. Great! But by the time your ideas for new articles are fewer -and getting fewer. I know; it’s hard to be in a such situation but you must get over it. But remember! You should write only posts when have something to say and not because you think you must write one or re-blog another article.

The first thing is to use a GTD (Tomboy for Ubuntu is ideal) app to write a new idea instantly down and not to forget it. Of course you can use a notebook or a normal paper for this job too. It’s better though, to write down the idea in the GTD app and then to start developing onto the paper.

The main factor of a good post is content. Without a good content or if you re-blog who will read you? So be sure to analyze your ideas in depth. Try to cover all the aspects. And of course use and think about a good and attractive title.

Another thing is to use pictures, not only for gaining more visits of possible image searches but to make your readers understand visually better your topic. This method can be used also at the paper-notes you might take -I’ll describe below how to do that.

The most important part though, it’s before you start typing on the keyboard your post to have a good concept of your article. That’s why you should use the paper-notes. You’ll have to write briefly your main ideas about what to write, how, any resources you might use, things to mention and make some sketches/diagrams for a quick visual summary. When thinking about your post and taking paper-notes don’t to do anythings, because it might distract you and forget an important thing to mention in your article. You can find my paper-notes for this post here.

What are your methods of developing and expanding your post ideas? Do you have any suggestions or a different opinion? Feel free to comment below!