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Writer’s Block Cure: 100 Resources To Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas Again

  • Lexi RodrigoLexi Rodrigo

Nobody tells you this, but you’ll probably quit blogging. After the honeymoon period, when the excitement of a new blog wanes and the headiness of authorship dissipates, it hits.

Blogging is a lot of work!

Blog Post Ideas to Cure Writer's BlockOnce you start, you have to keep going. If you want the traffic to continue flowing, you have to keep feeding the machine with posts.

And not just any post you quickly crank out of your keyboard. No, the blog post topics need to rivet attention. Your writing needs to connect with readers and rouse them into action.

And you have to keep doing this over and over again.

I’m not telling you this to scare you away from blogging. I’m saying this so you can brace yourself for the tough days ahead. So when writer’s block comes and blogging becomes a slog, you’ll say, “Ah, here you are. I’ve been expecting you.”

And then you’ll be prepared. Especially since I’ve already put together all the advice and the tools you need to kick writer’s block to the curb.

Jump to:

Blog Post Ideas, Prompts, and Topic Generators

Idea Catchers

Writing Tools

Content Planning Tools

Writer’s Block Solutions

Creativity Enhancers

Blog Post Ideas, Prompts, and Topic Generators

When you’ve been blogging consistently for a while, you’ll start feeling that you’ve run out of things to say. When that happens, use any of these resources to find a fresh supply of blog post topics instantly:

1. 150+ Blog Ideas That Will Absolutely Kill Writers’ Block

The CoSchedule blog offers some new blog topic ideas, like hosting a blog hop, writing an FAQ, and interviewing team members.

2. The Ultimate List of Blog Post Ideas

Digital Marketer provides a useful list of different types of blog posts (rather than specific topics), organized by whether you want to be useful, promotional, human, etc. At the very least, download the infographic, print, and hang it beside your computer for inspiration.

3. The Only 6 Posts Worth Writing (and How to Totally Nail Each One)

Blogging success is more about the quality than the quantity of your blog posts. Smartblogger’s Glen Long dishes the six types of blog posts that create the most impact and gives the low-down on how to write each one.

4. Blog Post Ideas: 21 Proven Ways to Create Compelling Content and Kiss Writer’s Block Goodbye Book book (starts at $2.99 for Kindle) and Udemy course ($20)

This is the book I co-wrote with Danny Iny, Founder and CEO of Mirasee, and Jim Hopkinson, Mirasee’s Courses Director. You’ll discover not only ideas for blog post topics but also ways to turn yourself into a blog idea machine.

5. 6 Months of Blog Post Ideas (Free)

Sign up for this free service and Darren Rowse, one of the most successful bloggers in history, will email you 30 blog post prompts every month for six months.

6. Turn A Single Blog Post Topic Into 12

What if you could leverage one blog topic into 12 posts? Blogger Marie Mills shows you one way to do that in this post.

7. Hubspot Blog Topic Generator (Free)

Type three nouns and Hubspot will give you five blog post topics, with the option to get a lot more. Fun to use 🙂

8. Portent’s Content Idea Generator (Free)

Type one word or phrase and it generates a title. Whether you use the results or not, the occasional wacky topics will get your creative juices flowing.

9. The Blog Post Ideas Generator (Free)

With this generator, you click a button and are rewarded with a fill-in-the-blank blog post title. As the creators say, they’re “ready to serve when your brain is out of service.”

10. Best Online Title Generator (Free)

Similar to other topic generators, you submit your topic and then click a button. The difference is, this site gives you 700 ideas! Sure, most are probably nonsense, but you’re bound to find a few good ideas on the list.

11. Kickass Headline Generator (Free)

Sumome puts a twist on headline or topic generators. First, you choose what kind of post you want to write (numbered list? how to? explanatory? other?). Then you submit, not just your topic, but other aspects of it, such as your audience, desired outcome, a power word, and other relevant inputs. Based on the information you enter, it gives you different kinds of headlines (teaser, outrageous, ignorance avoidance, and many others). They’re terrific for jumpstarting your creativity and sharpening your headline writing skills.

12. Free Headline Generator (Free)

Tim Gross’s headline generator is no-frills, but it’s another prolific tool. You enter a product description, claim, desirable result in the present tense, and desirable result in the past tense. The generator then gives you dozens of results based on proven headline formulas.

13. Tweak Your Biz Title Generator (Free)

Simple to use but rewarding. Type your topic, click submit, and the generator gives you dozens of topics divided into the following categories: lists, best, how to, questions, love, sex, celebrities, secrets, snark, business, motivation, problem, and the kitchen sink.

14. Upworthy Generator! (Free)

Although not affiliated with Upworthy, this generator generates random Upworthy-style titles. You know, the ones that get clicked on and shared all over the interwebs. The titles you get won’t be specific to your topic, but you can use them as inspiration.

15. Blog Title Generator (Free)

Enter your topic and indicate whether it’s a generic term, brand/product, event, industry, location, person’s name, or skill. Click the “Generate Titles” button and you’ll be rewarded with five catchy titles or creative topics.

16. Catchy Headline Generator (Free)

This site randomly generates clickbait-style headlines that you can adapt for your topic. For example, I got “10 Incredible Joke Writing Secrets From Christopher Walken,” which I could have turned into “100 Incredible Writer’s Block-Busting Tools for Bloggers.”

17. Topical Brainstorm (Free)

Submit your topic and Topical Brainstorm plugs it into templates for different Copyblogger-inspired titles: lists, the 5 Ws, more questions, errors, secrets, more, and love and sex. In addition, it gives you links to search your topic on other websites like Bizsugar.com and social media sites like Twitter, Reddit, and Digg.

18. Content Strategy Helper (Free)

Why guess which topics your readers are interested in when you can find out beforehand? With Content Strategy Helper, you have your very own market research tool, but you do have to set it up yourself in Google Docs. After you type in your keyword, Content Strategy Helper will bring up what’s trending on that topic from social media, news sites, and content aggregators.

19. Buzzsumo (Free for up to 10 results)

Buzzsumo helps you discover the most popular web content around a topic or domain you submit, based on the number of social shares. If you can write a post that’s even better than what people are already sharing, then you may have a blockbuster on your hands.

20. Answer the Public (Free)

Submit your topic and Answer the Public shows you all the questions that web users have typed into search engines around that topic. You can easily discover half a dozen possible topics for your blog, knowing you’d be responding to an existing need or desire. For example, typing “writer’s block,” I came up with: “what can help with writer’s block,” “why am I having writer’s block,” and “how to prevent writer’s block.”

21. Feedly (Free for a basic account)

Feedly is an RSS reader that delivers web content from websites and about topics you specify. At a glance, you can stay on top of your niche and know what’s being said about the topics you’re interested in.

22. Cassandra Daily (Free)

This website curates what’s new, what’s trending, and what’s coming up in lifestyle, fashion, entertainment, and technology. If you’re in those niches, Cassandra Daily will help you discover a popular topic before your competitors do.

23. TED Ideas Worth Spreading (Free)

You can either watch TED talks to stimulate ideas for blog post topics, or write entire blog posts around TED talks. Either way, you’ll find this website stimulating. For instance, I found a TED talk by Sting entitled, “How I Started Writing Songs Again.” That inspires me to write a post on “What Bloggers Can Learn from Sting About Overcoming Writer’s Block.”

24. Cool Hunting (Free)

Cool Hunting delivers the latest in design, technology, style, travel, art and culture, food and drink, and books. You’ll find, not only articles, but also slideshows, new products, and even music—plenty of fodder for your imagination and creativity.

25. Trend 24 (Free)

This website shows you what’s trending on Twitter by the hour. When I checked, I found out that Evernote was trending 13 and 14 hours ago. Knowing that, I could decide to write a post on “Evernote: 21 Uses for Bloggers.”

26. Facebook Trending (Free)

Look on the right side of your Facebook news feed, and you’ll see what’s trending in politics, science and technology, sports, entertainment, TV and movies, business and finance, gaming, music, celebrities, and health and lifestyle. One easy blog topic idea is to respond to a trending topic. You can build on it, agree with it, or contradict it.

Facebook Trending

27. Google Adwords Keyword Planner (Free)

You have to have a Google Adwords account to use this free tool. After submitting your target keywords or a domain, the planner shows relevant keywords. You can choose the ones with the highest average monthly searches (aim for at least 500) and write blog posts around them. The planner also tells me which month(s) of the year a keyword is more popular, so I can schedule my post when more people are likely to be searching for it.

28. UberSuggest (Free)

Based on your initial keyword, UberSuggest proposes related keywords that are not available in the Google Keyword Planner. It can spit out a long list of keywords that you’ll have to comb through. Get ready to sift through them to find the gems.

29. Reddit (Free)

Reddit is another site where you can discover what’s new and popular on the web. Users submit links to various web content and vote on them. Sort by the number of points to find out which subreddits got the most votes.

30. Google Analytics

Let your audience tell you what topics they like. Look at your Google Analytics dashboard for the past year or so (longer if you don’t post often, shorter if you do) and look at the most popular posts on your blog. See which ones you can update or spin off into fresh but related posts.

Google Analytics Popular Pages

31. How to Think Up a Year’s Worth of Blog Post Topics in an Hour

Tired of topic templates and generators? Follow this step-by-step process for brainstorming dozens of blog post topics.

32. Use Pictures to Bust through Writer’s Block

When the words aren’t flowing, try using pictures. Either draw your own (don’t worry, your readers don’t ever have to see your sketches), or use mind-blowing photos to stimulate ideas.

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Idea Catchers

Having many brilliant ideas is useless if you can’t remember them when you sit down to write your blog posts. That’s why this list includes tools for you to record your ideas and retrieve them anytime.

33. Moleskine notebooks (Varies)

Available in a variety of sizes and layouts, Moleskines are a favorite among writers. Always bring one with you wherever you go.

34. Mod notebook ($29)

If you prefer pen or pencil and paper, but want to be able to search your notes for keywords, use a Mod notebook. After you fill one up, you send your notebook to the company, and they will scan and digitize its content. You’ll have your notes in the cloud and be able to search through them.

35. Aqua Notes Waterproof Notepad ($7)

Do you get your most brilliant ideas in the shower or tub? Stick a pad of Aqua Notes so you can write them down before you forget.

36. Evernote (Free for a basic account)

Download the application to your computer, web browser, and mobile gadgets, and you can take notes and capture snippets of the web anywhere you are. It even lets you take photos and record audio. And your notes sync through all your devices, which is neat.

37. Your smartphone

As long as you have your smartphone, you’ll be able to capture your ideas. Use the built-in notes app, voice recorder, or camera.

38. GoodNotes ($7.99)

This iOS app for your iPhone and iPad lets you make notes, annotate PDFs, Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint files, and sign forms.

39. Lino (Free)

If you like sticky notes, then you’ll love the Lino app. Available on your web browser, or iOS and Android devices, it lets you take notes on virtual sticky notes. You can also add photos, YouTube videos, and other types of files on notes, and organize notes into canvases.

40. Padlet (Free)

Padlet, available for both iOS and Android devices, is a virtual blank sheet of paper where you can make notes, upload files, or drag photos and recordings.

41. iCardSort ($9.99)

This iOS app is not just for recording your ideas, but also for brainstorming and organizing. Use words and/or images to record ideas, then group, categorize, and arrange them to your heart’s content. It’s ideal for visual thinkers.

42. Paper app app (Free)

Take notes, draw diagrams, make lists, and more with this iOS app. The optional stylus (aka Pencil, $49.96), makes using the app easy-peasy, but you can always just use a finger.

43. Ideament ($2.99 in the Windows Store, $3.99 in the App Store)

Capture your ideas in the form of diagrams, mind maps, flowcharts, and concept maps, and transform them into a text outline, or vice versa. Also great for brainstorming.

44. Scapple ($49)

Scapple is similar to a mind mapping tool, but it’s more freestyle. Your canvas can have several central ideas, not just one, and different items can connect with each other. It’s great for getting down your ideas before you know how they relate to each other.Go back to top of post

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Writing Tools

Writing is so much easier and the words flow more smoothly when you’re using a tool with just the features you want.

45. Google Docs (Free)

It’s free, it’s simple, it automatically saves your work in the cloud, and it tracks revisions. What’s not to like?

46. Microsoft Word ($109.99)

If you’re used to writing in Word, there’s no reason you can’t keep using it to write your blog posts. You can even format your post in Word and paste it into WordPress.

47. Scrivener ($45)

This powerful software is a favorite of novelists, screenwriters, playwrights, and other long-form writers. Bloggers will like having research, notes, and other files together in one document. It also includes a distraction-free mode.

48. Draft (Free)

Draft is a free, web-based writing platform with robust version control and other features. In Hemingway mode, you can’t revise your work at all, forcing you to focus on writing and put off revising until after you’ve completed a draft.

49. Hackpad (Free for personal use)

Acquired by Dropbox, this cloud-based platform is best for bloggers who collaborate with other writers, editors, and team members when writing posts.

51. BlankPage (Free trial)

If the thought of writing an entire blog post overwhelms you, then BlankPage may be your best platform. It takes a fresh, modular approach to writing that breaks down a writing project into manageable pieces.

52. Omniwriter (Pay what you want, but they request at least $5.11)

Omniwriter provides a distraction-free writing environment for your iPad, Mac, or PC, with your choice of backgrounds, audio tracks, and keystroke sounds.

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Content Planning Tools

The following tools provide structure to your blog, which, surprisingly, can stimulate rather than restrain your creativity.

53. Days of the Year (Free)

Discover the special days, holidays, and celebrations relevant to your niche, and create content around them.

54. Weekly Blog Memes Organized by Day (Free)

An easy way to always have blog content ideas is to assign a specific meme for each day that you publish a post. This post gives you some memes bloggers use that you can either incorporate on your own blog or adapt to your niche.

55. WordPress Editorial Calendar Plugin (Free)

If you use WordPress, you can have your editorial calendar right on your blogging platform. Schedule posts, and drag and drop them to quickly organize your calendar.

56. Google Calendar (Free)

Sometimes a simple, cloud-based calendar is all you need to manage your blog content. Google Calendar lets you share your calendar with collaborators, color code events, and send notifications so you never miss a blogging deadline.

57. Trello (Free)

Buffer’s writers use this online task management tool as an editorial calendar. With Trello, you can organize your posts as cards and track them through the different steps of your editorial process (for example, research, drafting, revising, publishing). You can view items as a calendar as well.

58. Marketing Nutz’s Content Calendar Template (Free)

If you prefer to manage your blog with a spreadsheet, get this free content calendar from Pam Moore.

59. Hubspot’s Content Calendar Templates (Free)

Hubspot provides, not one, but two editorial calendar templates: one for Excel and another for Google calendar.

60. CoSchedule (starts at $60 per month)

CoSchedule provides an all-in-one marketing calendar, not just for your blog, but also for your emails, social media posts, and other marketing content.

61. Gather Content (starts at $66 per month)

More than an editorial calendar, Gather Content lets you manage content production, including collaborating with authors and other members of your team.

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Writer’s Block Solutions

Ever wonder how other writers overcome writer’s block? Here are writing routines and advice from other writers.

62. How to Overcome Writer’s Block: 14 Tricks That Work

The advice does work, but the real gems in this post are the five ways you do not overcome writer’s block.

63. Advice From Great Writers About Kicking Writer’s Block

Entertaining and illuminating, read how great writers overcome writer’s block, as expressed in their own words.

64. 27 Wacky Ways to Beat Writer’s Block

From washing dishes to cursing like a sailor, these are wacky ideas all right!

65. Writer’s Block: The 12-Step Cure

If the primary cause of your writer’s block is fear, then these tips will help you overcome it.

66. 911 Writer’s Block (Free)

Simply press the correct number to get help with verbs, endings, settings, and other elements of writing. It may not be for bloggers, but it sure is fun!

67. The Daily Routines of 12 Famous Writers (And How They Can Help You Succeed)

James Clear quotes E.B. White, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, and other famous writers as they describe their writing routines. Then he distils these into actionable lessons we can apply to achieve any goal.

68. Famous Writers’ Sleep Habits vs. Literary Productivity, Visualized

Does sleep have anything to do with writing productivity? Check out this fascinating infographic and decide for yourself.

69. Rise and shine: the daily routines of history’s most creative minds

This post synthesizes the daily routines of writers and other creative people into six pieces of advice.

70. The Sleep and Work Habits of 15 Famous Writers

Sarah Stodola, the author of Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors, shares some of her findings on the habits of 19th and 20th centuries’ greatest writers. Read it for the inspiration and for the amusing embedded tweets.

71. My Morning Routine

Contemporary writers, from indie writers to bestselling authors, share their morning routines, sleep habits, and more.

72. The Miracle Morning for Writers: How to Build a Writing Ritual That Increases Your Impact and Your Income (Before 8AM) (starts at $6.88 for Kindle)

Create your own morning ritual, based on the now famous Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. This book is adapted for writers with the input of bestselling author Steve Scott.

73. Coming up Blank: Here’s the Science of Writer’s Block

First, the author, Maya Sapiurka, explores the scientific basis of writer’s block. Then she uses that knowledge to recommend five steps to overcome it.

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Creativity Enhancers

Coming up with ideas for your blog will be less of a problem if you optimize your creativity. Here are tips, apps, music, and other proven ways to heighten your creativity.

74. The Secret To Creativity, Intelligence, And Scientific Thinking

Find out why creative thinking is all about connecting the dots and what you can model from Benjamin Franklin.

75. 20 Free and Inexpensive Creativity Boosters

Boost your creativity without breaking your budget—even if the advice includes going to stores.

76. 7 Effective Creativity Boosters

The illustrations in this post are enough to spark fresh ideas in your brain.

77. Creativity Boosters: The One Activity that Always Sparks My Imagination

Psychcentral asked coaches, artists, and authors for the one activity that ignites their creativity. This post summarizes their answers.

78. 7 Ways to Boost Your Creativity

Boost your creativity by loving others, using counterfactual thinking, and trying the other research-backed tips in this post.

79. 33 Surprising Ways to Boost Creativity for Free

These creativity boosters made the list because they’re all fun. They’re also organized according to the amount of time you need to do them, from 10 minutes or less to long term.

80. An Easy Way to Increase Creativity

Discover the science behind psychological distancing and how to use it to stimulate creativity, especially in problem solving.

81. 8 Psychology Hacks to Increase Your Creativity and Productivity

Use human psychology to heighten your creativity and productivity.

82. Ron Friedman on Building a Better Workplace

In this episode of the Business Reimagined podcast, Danny Iny interviews Ron Friedman, award-winning psychologist and author of The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace.

83. How to Optimize Your Environment for Creativity with The Perfect Temperature, Lighting and Noise Levels

Surprisingly simple ways to increase your creativity by controlling your work environment.

84. Brainfm (Starts at $6.95 per month)

The developers of Brainfm apply auditory neuroscience to help you focus, relax, or sleep. Many writers swear by it.

85. Coffitivity (Free for 7 tracks, $9 per year to access all tracks)

Research says productivity increases when there’s a low level of noise, not complete silence. Coffitivity provides coffee shop ambient sounds to boost both creativity and productivity.

86. Ambient Mixer (Free)

Play relaxing music, atmosphere sounds, or create your own mix of sounds that enhance your creativity.

87. Focus@will ($9.95 per month)

If you have a hard time focusing, then try Focus@will. It has numerous tracks developed to help you focus and increase your attention span.

88. Raining.fm (Free online, $1.99 in the App Store, $2 in Google Play)

Listen to the sounds of rain, rolling thunder, cracking thunder, or a combination of all three.

89. Music For The Mozart Effect, Volume 3, Unlock the Creative Spirit (starts at $8.99)

If you like classical music, you’ll enjoy this collection of songs hand-picked to stimulate creativity.

90. 12 Spotify Playlists for Writers

Whether you go for classical music, jazz, or punk, you’ll find something you like among these playlists created just for writers.

91. Stanford Study Finds Walking Improves Creativity

Now you have another reason to walk regularly. According to this article, walking increases a person’s creative output by an average of 60 percent.

92. Here’s Why, How, And What You Should Doodle To Boost Your Memory And Creativity

Doodling isn’t a waste of time, after all, no matter what the grownups said when we were little! Follow these tips to use doodling for creativity and problem-solving.

93. Why We Have Our Best Ideas in the Shower: The Science of Creativity

Now we know: creativity is a result of hormones and distraction.

94. Kickstart your creativity

Instead of bingeing on Netflix, watch this playlist of six TED talks that will “unleash your creative spirit.”

95. Why Emotional Excess is Essential to Writing and Creativity

This surprising piece says creativity is the result of excess: excess emotions, excess living.

96. How to Use Mind Maps to Unleash Your Brain’s Creativity and Potential

Mind maps are great for learning, enhancing memory, organizing thoughts, and jumpstarting your creativity. This post shows you how.

97. XMind (Free, $79, or $99 depending on which features you want)

Create mind maps, fishbone charts, timelines, hierarchical charts—whichever helps you brainstorm and get the ideas flowing. The Brainstorming Mode includes an Idea Factory for recording your brilliant insights.

98. Freemind (Free)

This free mind mapping application runs on any platform and has received many high marks from users.

99. Mindjet (starts at $129)

This popular mind mapping software from Mindjet boosts both creativity and productivity by supporting free-form thinking as well as organization.

100. Focus Essential Oil Blend ($35)

This combination of lavender, rosemary, and other essential oils inspire creativity and mental clarity.

According to the New York Times, 95% of blogs are virtually abandoned and haven’t been updated with new content for the past six months or more.

So if you can keep going, if you can overcome writer’s block and become an unstoppable blogger, then you will be one of the 5% of bloggers who survive. Use the advice and tools in this list to out-blog your competition.

“Check out these 100 resources to out-blog your competitors ”

Tweet Me

What do you do when you’re at a loss for blog post topics? Share your strategies and tips below.

7 thoughts on Writer’s Block Cure: 100 Resources To Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas Again

Cody

Lexi, great post! I’m bookmarking for sure. I use Ramit Sethi’s idea about using the same idea in different ways crossed with Derek Halpern’s branding yourself on one topic.

I recently used 71 and 72 on your list and wrote a detailed post about my morning routine using Hal Elrod’s the Miracle Morning.

Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://wp.me/p6BVUQ-ag

Thanks for the great resource!

Lexi Rodrigo

Glad you found the post useful, Cody, and kudos to you for taking action right away!

I also enjoyed your post and shared it with the Mirasee team 😀

Cathy_H

Super grateful for the topic generators. Fantastic resource!

Lexi Rodrigo

Thanks, Cathy! Glad you found it useful!

Lance

WOW! What a great list of resources! Thank you very much!

Rohi Shetty

Hi Lexi,
Thanks a TON for this epic post. I’ve bookmarked it; I guess it’ll take me at least a couple of hours to read it.
Which prompts me to ask: How long did it take you to research and write this post?

Lexi Rodrigo

Hi Rohi,

Great question! I worked on this post for three days, on and off. I had other tasks to do and meetings to attend, so it wasn’t a solid three days of work. Of course, writing the book, Blog Post Ideas: 21 Proven Ways to Create Compelling Content and Kiss Writer’s Block Goodbye (#5 on the list), gave me a running start 🙂

Comments are closed.