Top 5 Places to Find Inspiration for Blog Posts

I’ve always been one of those people who will stay up late and sacrifice sleep because I am too busy prowling around the nooks and crannies of the web. As a recent college grad, I just started a new job as an SEO for a scarf store and this skill has become surprisingly handy while writing guest posts for link building. (They sure don’t teach you that Internet scrounging is a marketable skill at the liberal arts schools. 😉 ) Because of Google’s newest updates and the Panda algorithm, the backlink profile of your website is becoming more and more important. To develop a good link profile, it is imperative to have quality guest posts on respected sites– you do not want to have all of your website’s links stemming from non-relevant PR link farms. And this all starts with good ideas.

While I am admittedly *ahem* too good at finding things around the web, there are times where I stare at my blinking cursor, stumped. I write for a website called Scarves.net so I do a lot of inspiration searching and blog prospecting in strange places. For this type of research, the methodic algorithms of Google are not the best place to find the fresh, creative ideas before anyone else. Many times the best ideas that I need are not the first hit in Google. When I am searching for great tips on how to tie scarves, how to wash your scarves, and DIY projects for scarves that make great guest posts, I always turn to these five websites. Whether you are searching for info on scarves, marketing, or cafeteria supply stores, it does not matter. These sites can always help to get those creative brain juices churning again.

1. Pinterest— Pinterest is by far my favorite source of inspiration, there is no better place to find carefully curated content. (I’ve even gotten my non-techy computer-struggling mom hooked on Pinterest!) For example, I recently made this graphic on 12 Ways to Wear a Scarf. I didn’t want to include scarf-tying styles that were the same techniques that were already all over the web so I browsed Pinterest and discovered some creative ways that I’d never seen. And Pinterest is not only for fashion and DIY. My friend and brilliant SEO, Maggie, wrote an awesome article on how you can find interesting content on boring subjects like plumbing with Pinterest. (No offense to all the plumbing SEO’s out there. ;))

2. Stumbleupon– Stumbleupon is not only a great place to fall down the giant rabbit hole that is the Internet and procrastinate, it is also a great place to find brilliant content in your niche before anyone else. You can go to the “Explore” section, you can type in a keyword and find content related to your interests. By thumbing up and thumbing down the content, Stumblupon will learn what you like and give you content that is relevant. For those in need of tips on marketing or web development, Stumbleupon’s “Explore” section is just the bees knees.

3. We Heart It— If you are searching for image, WeHeartIt is pretty great. Similar to Pinterest, WeHeartIt is a social image-sharing website. It caters to a younger audience, (ie: teenagers) but the photographs that people pull and tag from all around the web are incredibly helpful. And the teenagers on WeHeartIt have great taste. Plus, if you find an interesting image, WeHeartIt links back to the original source and you can find a blog you’ve never seen with a cool infographic.

4. Tumblr— Tumblr is another great site to find blog posts about certain topics. Tumblr is also filled with a younger audience but a few large (predominantly fashion) companies are starting to use Tumblr effectively. By searching for the keywords you need in the “Search Tags” box, you can find things that other marketers in your niche might ignore.

5. Twitter— Of course everyone knows about the awesomeness and power of Twitter, but if you are not following the leaders in your niche you need to be. A lot of bloggers post and tag their best blog posts on Twitter so it is easy to find new blogs that you’ve never seen. Easier than searching through Google blogs even.

While it can be daunting to find fresh content on the web, with the right channels you can easily find the tips you need! So whenever you have guest post writer’s block, remember these sites to get you blogging again.