Where Blog Content Writers Can Get Ideas

The question author Malcolm Gladwell gets asked most often just happens to be the same as I’m most often asked when offering corporate blogging training sessions: "Where do you get your ideas?"

Gladwell’s conclusion, interestingly enough, is very similar to the one I discussed in my Say it For You blog post series, "Learning Around For Your Blog".  The way Gladwell explains it, "The trick is to convince yourself that everyone and everything has a story to tell."

While the author is referring to making books and articles interesting for the reader, the challenge he pinpoints is precisely the one facing all blog content writers. "Our instinct as humans, after all," he observes, "is to assume that most things are not interesting."  I remind newcomers to corporate blogging for business that online searchers tend to scan rather than read.  That’s because, as Gladwell reminds us, "there’s just so much out there, so readers filter and rank and judge."

However (and here’s where Gladwell makes a point that’s absolutely germane to creators of SEO marketing blogs), "if you want to be a writer" (insert "blog content writer"), "you have to fight that instinct every day.’

Reminds me of something a waggish friend of mine used to say. "If your parents had no children, you won’t, either."  Point being, if you’re not keenly interested in your subject, chances are your readers won’t be, either.

The Gladwell bottom line for writing, as stated in the preface to his new book What the Dog Saw, is simply this: "Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade." (As an Indianapolis blog writer, I can assert that statement is particularly true. In offering business blogging help, I emphasize that in business blog writing, it’s crucial to avoid the urge to directly sell a product or service.)  "It succeeds or fails" continues Gladwell, "on the strength of its ability to engage you and to make you think."