Monica Lent - build your blogging idea engine 🗂

Today's challenge:

Build your idea engine

Hey friend,

It's Day #2 of our blogging challenge, and I want to start with a question. Have you ever said one of these things:

• "I want to blog, but I don't know what to write about"
• "I'm just not creative"
• "I can't tell if what I'd write would be interesting for anyone but me"
• "Does the world really need another blog post about [insert topic here]?"

Whenever I talk to one of my friends in tech about blogging, one of these replies is almost automatic.

After years of blogging and writing well over 100 posts across different blogs and subject areas, from tech to travel, photography, and career development, I've found a system that works for me. It's like a constantly running production line that always has ideas at various stages of readiness.

Here's how you can apply it:

1. Maintain an idea log
2. Determine the best medium (social media vs. search)
3. Validate your idea with research

This process is less like a step-by-step and more of continuous cycle. And I want to show you how to adapt it for yourself!

1. Maintain an idea log

Here's something that doesn't work:

Deciding you want to write a blog post, opening up your editor, and producing a masterpiece.

Why is that? It's known as the Blank Piece of Paper Problem. When anything is possible, it's hard to know where to start.

That's why I keep an idea log. For this, I use Asana. Anytime I get a new idea, it goes into my log as a new task. I use a different project for different kinds of ideas:

• Ideas for my tech blog
• Ideas for my travel blog
• Ideas for my SaaS' blog
• Business ideas
• Conference talk ideas

This means that whenever I feel like writing or creating, I've already got an arsenal of ideas waiting for me.

You don't need to use Asana, you can use tools like Notion or an even trendier tool like RoamResearch.

My main tip is to use something with an app you can install on your phone. Some of the best ideas happen on the go (at conferences or meetups), or, in my case, before falling asleep 😴

2. Determine the best medium (social media vs. search)

One of the KEY concepts we'll be returning to again and again is your reader's intent.

It's the main reason why some content performs better in social media, whereas other content does better in search.

Think about it like this.

Why do you open Twitter? It's usually for entertainment. That's why content that is funny, relatable or inspirational does well on Twitter and social media. You do NOT typically open Twitter and search for "Vue tutorials", for instance.

Why do you open Google? Usually to find information and solve a problem. That's why content like tutorials and informational content can do really well in search, provided you set up the SEO right.

Understanding your reader's intent will help you write content that helps people better and is discoverable in the right place! It's a win-win for everybody.

After that, it's time to do the research.

3. Validate your idea with research

There are a lot of ways to do this. You can go on a veritable safari in forums, facebook groups, reddit, hacker news, and twitter looking for patterns and trends. It is a great place to see what kind of content is currently resonating with people.

But there are a few possible problems with that.

1) You're looking at other people's content, which makes it harder to be original for your own

2) A lot of content that trends on social media does so, at least in part, because the author already has an audience

That's why I encourage new bloggers to focus on SEO.

An SEO-optimized blog post can bring you thousands of visitors every week for years. Even better, there are somewhat objective ways to research and evaluate topics you can write about.

It's called Keyword Research.

Combined with understanding your reader's intent and the rules of the medium (search), SEO can bring relevant readers to your blog who are likely to get value from your content and, perhaps, even join your audience or community!

In tomorrow's email, I'll teach you how to validate your ideas with keyword research and use those keywords in your posts.

Your homework.

• Create an idea log if you don't have one already, ideally with a tool that has an app! Bookmark it.
• Fill it with a couple of ideas. You'll never use all of them, so don't worry about how good or bad the idea is, just put it in there!

Let those ideas flow!

@monicalent

P.S. Do you already have an idea log? What method do you currently use and what do you like about it? I'd love to hear if you have a system in place and how it's working for you! Hit "Reply" to this and share your experience.