A year ago I made a commitment to write one blog post a week, it was a commitment freely given and one I’d thought about. I considered workload, time and lots of other factors before deciding that I could happily write one post a week. I’m pleased to say I have just about managed to keep on target - holidays aside – and for me the biggest problem was not the perspiration and hard work necessary to write a post every week. It was the inspiration - so without further ado, my thoughts on where to find your inspiration:

What’s in the News

– The news is one of my go to sources for inspiration, I always start the day by browsing through the latest stories on my way to work. I start broad and narrow my focus, so the first few articles I read are general world level news and by the end of my bus journey, I’m reading much more niche content that is focussed on my sector and day to day work. Invariably there will be something that catches my interest.

Google alerts, and PR newswire –https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/) is a news distribution channel – mainly for journalists but you can still set up an account if you are not one – and you can set up alerts in the same way as a Google alert.     

Once I arrive into work, I scan through the various alerts I have set up – my Google alert brings me the latest stories around my sector, it’s really helpful to have an update like this because not only does it help with inspiration, but also it acts as a trigger to remind me that I need to write something. PR Newswire (

What questions do you hear or get asked on a regular basis –

of all my sources of inspiration this is probably the deepest well. Conversations with clients almost invariably bring up questions or problems they are experiencing and every question (combined with some research) is a potential blog post.    

Colleagues –

If I’m really struggling for inspiration, I turn to my colleagues, there is always someone with a suggestion they’ll give away – usually once they have written their post for the week.

Social media –

A source of inspiration I didn’t think of until quite recently – but actually every time I fire up LinkedIn, I find a selection of stories and possible topics appearing on my news feed, inspiration for many a blog post has come whilst browsing through stories on Pulse. Twitter is equally good – try setting up a list of people you follow that tweet regularly about a topic you are interested in, even a list of 10 people will yield an interesting topic once a week!   

What are you passionate about -

There are bound to be some topics or areas that you are particularly passionate about. If you can channel that passion you can find something to write about.  

Newsletters and digests – 

One of the reasons I committed to write one blog post a week is to contribute regularly to our weekly email newsletter, newsletters or digests are an excellent source of information and inspiration. Do your research and sign up for a couple that are interesting and regular and you will have yet another source of inspiration.  

What has worked in the past – 

If all else fails and you are still scratching your head, take a look back at what topics you have written about in the past, what has worked well? Got lots of shares or interaction? Rewrite an older post, cover a topic you have looked at in the past or find something that really worked with your audience.  

Editorial/Content plans -  

If you are lucky enough to have someone that co-ordinates content within your organisation, you might have a content plan? We have a series of monthly themes that help keep me (vaguely) on topic and make it that little bit easier to find inspiration.

Hopefully this was useful, the inspiration for this post was a combination of a question I get asked by clients and the theme for this months content…