How to Brainstorm Blog Post Ideas for Your Blog or Content

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

Posted 11.26.24

“I’m working on creating my new site. However, I am having a hard time coming up with blog post ideas,” wrote a member of my online writing group. “I’ve always had A+ research papers with little effort. Writing and researching are my strengths. But getting ideas? I got nothing.”

The writer listed the niche areas where she had expertise: single mom life, finding a work/life balance, personal growth, and small business start-ups. Could the group share how to brainstorm ideas?

Yes.

Let’s use this writer’s problem to solve our own — the struggle bloggers have to build a stable of creative ideas for posts. We’ll give her a jumpstart by building a list of blog post ideas — a whole year’s worth, in fact.

Start by brainstorming “big bucket” topics

Our blogger-to-be can easily eliminate one problem: the need for more focus. She’s got a handful of niche topics. Her blog needs to narrow down to one subject that targets one audience. Let’s help her out by choosing a single area of expertise — single mom life.

Now, within the “single mom life” niche, let’s start by casting a wide net. (You’ll drill down to specifics in a minute.) Ask just one question: what issues does a single mom face?

Here’s where you brainstorm big-picture topics. Don’t censure yourself — just jot down what comes to mind. Your goal is to write down and qualify at least 10 “big bucket” ideas.

For practice, you can make your own list and weed down to at least 10. That’s what I did. Here’s what my list looks like:

1. Childcare
2. Discipline
3. Extended family
4. Finances
5. Health and school
6. Home life
7. Parenting
8. Self-care
9. Technology
10. Work

How to brainstorm ideas for specific blog posts

Those topics are broad. That’s good because it gives you plenty of opportunity to uncover an assortment of blog post ideas for each of them. With 10 solid topics in place, it’s time to get more specific.

Choose one of your big buckets. Now, ask yourself the same question as before, but with a tweak at the end: what issues does a single mom face about this particular subject?

Write down the answers that come to mind. You can also skim blogs, book titles, and social media groups to get ideas. Your goal is to record at least 5 different angles that address each big-picture topic. Again, don’t self-edit your list.

I came up with …

1. Childcare: Finding babysitters you trust; finding affordable childcare; identifying your emergency contacts; how to screen a babysitter; creating a single mom childcare co-op

2. Discipline: Tips for keeping consistent rules when you’re exhausted; how to manage behavior without backup; navigating disciplining differences with the co-parent; enforcing bedtime; modeling respect

3. Extended family: How to connect kids with both sets of grandparents; co-parenting tips; establishing boundaries with family members; fostering healthy step-sibling relationships; navigating holidays without (and with) your kids

4. Finances: how to manage on a single salary; cost-saving tips for clothing your kids; buy or rent — which is best for a single mom; how to build financial security as a single mom; how to manage car care as a single mom

5. Health and school: Choosing the best school option, especially if you co-parent; how to talk with your child’s teacher; when to call the doctor; getting homework done; keeping your child’s med schedule straight when they’re with their co-parent

6. Home life: Dividing up chores; preparing for emergencies; meal planning hacks for single moms; fun and low-cost family activities for single-parent families; how to travel solo with kids; managing bedtime without hassles

7. Parenting: Building resilient kids; encouraging independence in kids; teaching kids financial responsibility; how to get to know your kids’ friends; fostering your faith in your kids

8. Self-care: Finding adult time; finding alone time; dating as a single mom; best time management apps for single moms; how to cultivate supportive friendships with other single parents

9. Technology: A single mom’s guide to the internet; when to give kids a cell phone; how to manage screen time; what filters to place on your child’s phone; when to allow children onto social media

10. Work: Career growth tips for single moms; balancing work and parenting as a single mom; bringing work home or leaving it there; managing a work schedule with kids; flexible job options for single moms

It took me less than an hour to come up with these ideas. Sure, this list is raw. But now, you have a pool of blog post ideas for writing a year’s worth of content.

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Use this fillable content calendar template to track your content ideas.

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What to do with your list of blog post ideas

Getting ideas for blog posts or other content isn’t so hard. And once you have this gorgeous list of ideas, you can …

• Organize your list of blog post ideas on a spreadsheet or clean document.
• Start to map out what to publish and when. For instance, you’d schedule a blog post about “5 low-cost summer activities with your kids” in May or June (if you live in the northern hemisphere). Create a content writing plan for an entire year. It needn’t be perfect — but you’ll have a plan to work from.
• Choose one idea per week. Do the necessary keyword research so you can target and optimize the post.
• Research. Write. Publish. Repeat.
• Add ideas to your list as they come to you.

If you get stuck brainstorming ideas for blog posts, then try …

Here’s a bonus tip to try if you get stuck coming up with big-picture topics or specific blog post ideas based on the big buckets: Use the online tools that we are fortunate to have at our disposal — namely content idea generators (AKA blog post ideas generators) and AI chatbots.

Content idea generators

They exist to help you brainstorm ideas for writing — and do it fast. The Hubspot Idea Generator and the Portent Content Idea Generator come to mind.

I hopped onto one to expand my list of single mom life ideas and it pumped out this list.

• The Ultimate Guide to Balancing Work and Family Life as a Single Mom
• Single Mom Life: Navigating Challenges and Celebrating Triumphs
• Budgeting Tips for Single Moms: How to Make Every Dollar Count

AI chatbots

I opened ChatGPT and started a conversation by typing, “List blog post ideas for single mom life.” The app spit out 30 topics including, “Creating a Support System as a Single Parent,” “Dating as a Single Mom,” and “Time-Saving Cleaning Hacks for Single Moms.”

A word of caution

Don’t let these tools become your one-stop shop for blog post ideas. They churn out content that’s just not good enough to publish at face value. You need to tweak and personalize it.

Think of these tools as stepping stones to ideas that you might never thought of. Kind of like inspiration machines that you can use when you’ve exhausted all your internal idea-producing juices.

Collect a bucket of 50 blog post ideas in one sitting

Block off an hour of your time. Give yourself permission to think freely. Then brainstorm two lists:

• 10 big bucket topics
• 5 specific ideas for each of those 10 topics

Now, you’ve got a pool of blog post ideas to engage all different readers in your audience.

You can choose what you feel like writing each week from the list.

And you save the angst of generating an original thought every time you need to post. You can use your time at the keyboard, instead.

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