Five Tips to Generate Article Ideas

As my inspiration seems to crumble from time to time, I thought a way to spark my interest and generate more ideas would be to write an article on how to get more ideas. This forces me to do a little research and soul searching to get started.

After giving the topic some pretty heavy thought, I have compiled a list of quick and easy tips to help you on your quest for more article ideas.

Make a List: If you are like me, many of you probably made a master list of article ideas that you had when you started writing for Associated Content. If you're running out of steam, or reaching the end of the list, you can still go back to it for inspiration. Re-reading this list can make you reach an epiphany where you realize that you missed a good one, and bam, there's your idea for today.

Expansion, Expansion, Expansion: Now, if after re-reading this list, you haven't come up with anything new, read it again. This time look for articles that you can expand on using the same topic, but offering more, or different information about it. This is especially helpful for topics you are knowledgeable about, but don't milk it too much. I use it for a last result. You can also browse other reader's content and look at their headlines and articles, but be sure that you're willing to offer something completely different. The goal here is to make friends, not to upset someone because you're leaning on their content to create your own.

Research: If you still haven't come up with something new, or you're looking for even more ways to generate more content, use this tip. Find a topic that you know nothing about, but that you're interested in. You can divide it into sub-topics to create more articles as suggested in the previous tip. Now you're forcing yourself to learn something you've always sought more information about, writing a new article for income, and getting past the writer's block. When using this step, be careful to avoid regurgitation, and cite sources. When I do this, I read, read, read, and then walk away from what I've read for a few days so that I don't lean on their phrasing and interject my own thoughts and feelings.

Current News: Use current news, (politics, celebrity, whatever facet of news sparks your interest most) to generate ideas for content, or provide your own spin on the news stories you see. The research step comes in handy here as well. Tons of article ideas can spawn from headlines.

Calls for Content: Finally, look at AC. The calls for content offer quick fixes to your writer's block issue. If you don't see anything that sparks your interest, it may lead you to think of something else that does. If you're desperate, using the research step, research the topic on the call, and write one of those anyway. It may not offer you up front payment, but the performance pay is certainly better than nothing.

I hope that my words will help you as much as writing them has helped me add to my master list. Happy writing!