I get asked often…”How do I find topics to write about on my blog?” The answer is pretty simple…I use my feed reader.
What I’ve done is identified a number of topics that I want my blog to focus on. I then search for those topics in Google Blog Search. Once the search results come up, I subscribe to the RSS feed for that specific search. Now each time I update my feeds, I get an update of the most recent and relevant results of from a search for that topic.
This may not seem like such a big deal. But think of it this way…if I want to seach for 10 topics each day to write about, I would need to go to Google Blog Search, search for each topic, read through the results, click on interesting links to read about the post and then somehow capture the link for that post for future use. And, I’d have to do that 9 more times to search 10 topics.
By subscribing to the search results in my feed reader, I can see the results of 10 topics, with titles and links, all from my feed reader – all at once. No need to search each time. All I have to do is find the topic titles that most interest me. This is a HUGE time saver.
What makes this even more powerful is that most of the other blog search engines offer the same search subscription feature. So you can not only do with with Google, but with Technorati, BlogPulse, IceRocket, Feedster or your own favorite blog search engine. So now you can track multiple topics from multiple search engines – all in one place.
I can’t even begin to tell you how this has changed my blogging.
How do you find topics to write about?
I started doing this recently, and I now have so many things to write about I can’t keep up with all of them. It’s a little maddening. 🙂
Another one to subscribe to is PRWeb, which has a gazillion niche feeds, and their press releases, when cited, offer a trackback (and they don’t use the ‘nofollow’ tag, either!!).
Ah – PR. Not my stong suit – but I really only say that because I haven’t had the bandwidth to figure it out yet. Once things are relaunched, I’ll be on a PR frenzy – then I’ll let you know how PRWeb is for distributing press releases.
I have a guest post coming up on the subject soon, btw. Maybe in the next week or so – keep an eye out for it from Ponn, it’s very good (and so is she at PR, for that matter!)
Thanks for the tip Dawud, learned something new and practical again today 😉
Wendy
I know. I’ve learned that I need to keep my focus. And still I leave the ranch sometimes.
PRWeb – great. Thanks. Do you post press releases there yourself?
Karin H.
Thanks Karin H.. How do you find the topics that you post about?
That’s a super tip. I’ve been writing whatever I’ve thought would be a good topic…….and fortunately I have yet to run out of ideas, but I’m gonna start doing this. The more ideas the better.
Anthony,
Yeah, and with tracking search results, you can also see what topics are hot. BlogPulse, specifically, offers this feature.
Wendy,
Thanks Wendy. I get your feed so I’ll certainly watch out for the post.
I know what you mean about bandwidth. I’ve got lots upon lots of things I want to do – but not enough time to do them all. Being a dad/husband makes life pretty full.
By the way, how do you balance work with being a mom?
Morning Dawud (11am already here, where did the rest of the morning go?)
I ‘find’ most of my Kiss2 topics by reading funnely enough: reading business books, reading newsletters from other companies, reading blogs also.
But also from ‘business’ things (concepts, practices – good and/or bad) I see or encounter.
Or discussions I have with my mnetor – consultatn (great, another lunch-meeting coming up this Thursday, really looking forward to it)
So a lot of ‘finds’ available, I think the only thing you need is to look (and learn of course ;-))
Learn of course ! (Yeah, when am I going to learn to type correctly??
What a great idea!! I had to read your post a couple times thru to understand what you mean. Terrific idea. What a time saver. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Chris
Karin H.
Many of my newsletter articles come directly from client experiences. I’ll often cover things that my clients are struggling with – knowing that others are finding the same sticking points.
Chris
Thanks. Sorry if I confused you. I found this sort of a difficult topic to easily explain without getting too techie. Much better if I could have posted a video…hey, great idea.
For me it’s a bit different, depending about shich blog I’m talking (‘owner’ of three different ones).
Re our ‘real’ business blogs FAQ on Natural Wooden Flooring, yes definitely on ‘problems’ of our customers (and our solutions of course ;-))
Side-note: ‘re-done’ my blog searches, realised I’d set them up as email alerts instead of feeds (learned again ;-))
Karin H.
I can understand that. I keep discovering interesting ways to use my blog. So much more to come.
Very excellent post. Good information on the strategy you use.
I will be implementing this in my own blogging.
Thanks and keep up the great work!
Ryan,
Thanks – on all fronts. Using search RSS to track blog links and various topics has made it much easier to follow topics as they develop.
Finding a topic becomes complicated as we write more articles each day. This is due to less readings. But if we keep on reading more books we are like a jar full of water.
lei,
True. What I’ve found important is to try to stay close to your topic. While I wander from time to time, I mostly write about business growth, marketing and the use of social media.
This is a cool tips 🙂
I usually get my inspiration from blog that I subscribe to, and see whether there some unanswered comments. But I’m just a beginner. I’m gonna try your tips. Thanks yo!
Gunady,
Happy to help. Remember to pull the feed from your search results.
Very good tip.I really thought how you write these articles.Sharing of this is nice of you.
usa,
Thanks.
i newbie plz how us the baton “add me”?
I initiate a by sort of soups that inquire terrific, and can be made in big batches and frozen.
Is there any interest?
Hey people.
Well i don’t think it’s the right forum to post questions like this, but i’m just in need of quick advice.
I’ve set up a forum recently, after it was indexed by Google the entire forum got spammed. This lucky, for some, day turned to nightmare for me. I use vbulletin with all necessary fixes, but it’s turns out that everything i’ve done is useless. If there’s anyone is familiar with vbulletin, please suggest some ways to stop this.
Almost forgot, these spammers left these links:
Any idea on what it is? Why would someone even bother spamming this stupid stuff? I mean spammers work for 24/7, but what they try to accomplish with this nonsense spam?
Hi people
As a fresh dmiracle.com user i just wanted to say hi to everyone else who uses this board 😀
Some peoples says that you need, other that you dont.
So how to choice?
I like the comparisons you have made. Absolutly true.
Hi Everyone,
I have a carpet cleaning business in Houston,TX that was doing pretty good until the economy went bad, and with it my clientele. I have a website for the business but I dont
know what I have to do the get it to show up in a search. Right now it’s somewhere in the yahoo/google netherworld (LOL).
Is there someone on here that can give me some insight or know of anyone that coud give me insight on how I can get my local website on the front
page of a Yahoo or Google search to increase my business without it costing me 5 or 10k $$$? If so please share with me.
I thank you and my hungry over-eating children thank you.
thanks,
That’s truly a great idea which prevents you from running out of ideas. I mean seriously who are we kidding, writing at times can become tiring and rusty… Now and than there has to be something to motivate and bring us back jumping on our feet. Your mind can facilitate you only so much and that’s when computers kick in, the ingenious minds. But that is the great part to it… You can never run out of ideas, simply great… Great job Dawud 🙂
Great article. There is spamming and spamming. I run a blog and never mind people contributing a reasonable comment. Yes they gain a link to there site but thatc great. Looking for blogs to on google that you can follow is hardwork anyway. Try Do Fellow its a good software
Very useful tip! Haven’t done much article/blog writing on my own up until recently and already sometimes suffer from writers block. Another recommendation I try to follow is to become a regular at on topic forums. Hmm, come to think of it I could probably use Google’s discussion search and feed that into their reader…
I use Google Reader myself and think it is a great tool. I get all my comments in the one place and can subscribe or unsubscribe…well especially when I go on holidays.
Running a search for topics on blogsearch is an excellent idea. I usually find inspiration from a few blogs that I subscribe to. I think I will find my google reader to be filled with searches. Many Thanks!
I thought I would add some quick advice for bloggers. Don’t hesitate to debate someone else’s articles. Instead of commenting on that blog post, write a post on your own blog referencing that article and why you agree or disagree with it. Basically, just turn a “response” into a post on your own blog. I always suffer from writer’s block, but I can’t stop talking when I have the ability to respond to a subject.
Your idea is simply great. What I have always been doing is subscribe to plenty of sites. Never knew about blogsearch rss feed until today. This would definitely help me organize my reader by topic which can be more effective. Thanks!
I just recently started using feed reader to save time on reading my favorite blogs. Your idea on searching for topics might save more precious time. Many thanks!