101 Ideas to Motivate You and Expand Your Blogging

I was trying to sit down and outline a new book, or at least brain storm ideas for one, when I came across an interesting thought. \”Maybe all some people need these days is a list of ways they can motivate themselves to get into tip top blogging shape.\”

Let\’s see if this is what YOU need right now with my list of 101 ideas to motivate your blogging. Some of the items in this list have nothing to do with writing and everything to do with clearing your head or exposing you to new blogging ideas.

Others are meant to help you expand upon your current writing style.

101 Ideas to Motivate You and Expand Your Blogging

1. Exercise every day. Clear your head before you write.
2. Write about a newspaper article or online journal topic.
3. Try to mimic the presentation skills of a news anchor or weather reporter.
4. Pick a character from your favorite movie and pretend to be him or her in your blogging.
5. Read more books written by best selling authors, regardless of genre.
6. Follow trends on Twitter that relate to your niche.
7. Link to and write about a stable site you visit daily.
8. Ask someone who emailed you what they think about an idea you had.
9. Take all your past posts and compile a top ten based on reader feedback, then write number 11.
10. Google until you find a blog that you\’ve never seen before. Read three posts.
11. Email a blogger you\’ve never spoken to before about guest posting for them.
12. Play with a household pet and give it 100% of your attention.
13. Call a friend you haven\’t spoken to in a long while.
14. Go see a movie that is outside your comfort zone (action, romance, drama, etc).
15. Eat at a local restaurant and order something you\’ve never had before.
16. Take out a pencil and a drawing pad. Draw whatever comes to mind for 30 seconds, then write about it.
17. Sit on a park bench and people watch. Create stories for the people you see in your mind.
18. Get in touch with your faith if you have one. If you don\’t, read up on a faith you know very little about.
19. Listen to a talk radio show.
20. Think about your dream job.
21. Shower; you smell. Then sing in the shower.
22. Listen to music you typically avoid and try to see the value in it.
23. Write down what you are good at and what you are bad at. Try hard to make it two equal lists.
24. Create a madlib for your readers to play.
25. Look at your first post ever written and compare it to how you write today.
26. Identify a mistake you make while blogging and correct it in your next post.
27. Pretend you were the world\’s best blogger, what would you tell people?
28. Find a blogger with a smaller audience and ask them to write a guest post for your blog.
29. Pick your favorite super hero. Write about what they would do as a blogger in your niche.
30. Take your last post and find what someone else had to say about the same topic using google.
31. Use twitter search to find someone looking for help in your niche. Help them.
32. Take your favorite quote and write about it.
33. Create tshirts using an online store and sell them to your audience. (Hint: Make them funny!)
34. Ask your audience what they would like to see you write about and then deliver.
35. Randomly select a post you\’ve written and try to provide the opposite viewpoint in your next post.
36. Go to wikipedia and look up an animal you know nothing about.
37. Write down a reason why you shouldn\’t quit. Family, money, etc.
38. Write down a reason why you should quit. Family, money, etc.
39. Try to break the news with your next post about a timely event in your niche.
40. Write about an old topic that no longer works in your niche and explain why.
41. Write about a tried and true topic in your niche that still works and explain why.
42. Create a really long list… it\’s hard! Push yourself beyond what you think you can do.
43. Total how much money you have made. Write how you plan to make double.
44. Write about a charity and endorse it.
45. Pitch a product to your audience with your experience as proof it works.
46. Create a list of goals and keep the list on your desk at all times. Always add, never subtract.
47. Use calendars, contact lists and take notes to help stay organized.
48. Always carry some sort of recording device (even pen and paper) to write down post ideas.
49. If you could hire a celebrity which would it be and why? Write about it!
50. Create a find and seek for your readers based on past posts you\’ve written.
51. Start a blogging carnival or participate in one.
52. Try republishing all your posts to an article marketing directory (or three).
53. Tweet about your favorite post you\’ve written.
54. Ask yourself what your audience really wants in a product. See if you can make it.
55. Ask a fellow blogger to do a post swap.
56. Create an Aweber follow up that asks for feedback and suggestions from your readers.
57. Rewrite an old post with any new twist you can think of.
58. Force yourself to not look at a computer for 24 hours. Come back and blog away.
59. Play a video or pc game you suck at. Even a flash game will do.
60. Look at your history and find a site you haven\’t visited in a while. See what\’s up there.
61. Go to ebay and look for obscure items you wouldn\’t expect to sell there.
62. Watch a movie that was originally sold on VHS.
63. Watch a movie that was originally black and white.
64. Blog about the perfect script for a movie you\’d go to see.
65. Examine the pros and cons of any decision a person in your niche can make.
66. Play devil\’s advocate once in a while.
67. Interview a blogger in your niche that is moderately popular.
68. Set your standards higher for your next post.
69. Take a reader comment and post your response.
70. Try writing questions for your readers to answer in comments.
71. Write half an answer, ask your readers to finish the rest of it.
72. Link to a post on another blog with your response to it.
73. Criticize yourself or use reader comments and defend yourself tastefully.
74. Find a picture online and write a post tailored to it.
75. If you don\’t normally eat breakfast, try to adjust your lifestyle so that you can.
76. Pick a side regarding a controversial issue in your niche.
77. Write about how a blogger in your niche inspires you.
78. Write about how you feel a blogger in your niche could improve.
79. Summarize the opinions of two people fighting in your niche.
80. Pick the top 10 comments on your post and thank the posters by publishing them all.
81. Use Microsoft Excel to create a chart about metrics in your niche.
82. Make a post series of at least 10 follow up posts to be published in sequence.
83. Start a colossal project. Then finish it.
84. Poll your audience.
85. Create a tutorial for any valuable area of your niche.
86. Read a tutorial in your area of expertise and add 5 additional steps to it.
87. Use a metaphor in your next post.
88. Think back to a book you read in any class you\’ve taken. Write about a lesson you learned from it.
89. Write about what you\’d like to leave behind for the world after you die.
90. Pick an evergreen topic and relate it to your blog (like life and death).
91. Hold a meeting on skype or any other voice protocol software with your audience.
92. Start a podcast with at least one other blogger.
93. Critique another blogger but offer helpful suggestions.
94. Create a theme for your posts on friday or any other day of the week.
95. Create a segment of your blog that happens monthly.
96. Have a conversation with yourself in your next post but make both \”voices\” present.
97. Create a riddle for your audience to solve.
98. Take a post you wrote that sucked and make it pure gold.
99. Write about what your niche would be like in the 17th century.
100. Make up a fictional character and use their mistakes to teach lessons to your audience.
101. Talk to a friend, preferably one who doesn\’t blog, and tell him or her about your site and your plans.

Care to add to this list or share your own thoughts?

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