Written on December 14th, 2007 at 12:12 am by Darren Rowse
Discover Hundreds of Post Ideas for Your Blog with Mind Mapping
Yesterday I wrote a post on keeping the momentum going on your blog by building on previous posts.
Today I want to extend that post (you knew I would) with a practical exercise that any blogger with a blog can do. It’s something that can take as little as 10 minutes (or that you could do more comprehensively) and something that I do on those days when I’m struggling to come up with something to write about (we all have them).
It’s an exercise in mind mapping - here’s what you do:
Get a whiteboard, piece of paper, note book, tablet pc or something else to write on (there are also various mind mapping tools and software options out there - but I find a pen and paper can work just fine) and draw five circles across the middle of the page. In each circle write the titles of the last five posts on your blog (if you want to do this more comprehensively go back further and do it with more posts).
Now take each post in turn and spend a few minutes brainstorming on ways that the post could be extended. For each idea draw a line out from the circle, draw a square (or use a different color) and write the idea inside of it.
Remember last post where I suggested how you could extend a post in numerous ways including by answering a question that a reader asked about it in comments, taking an opposite view point, writing an opinion piece, doing a followup ‘how to’ etc.
The key at this point is to let yourself be as creative and outside the box as you want. Any idea is allowed at this point.
Let me take a recent post of mine (why you should use AdSense on Your Blog) and show you how it might work:
At this point I’ve got 7 potential new posts to write that extend upon my original one - coming up with them took me 2-3 minutes - if I were doing this seriously I’d give it more time and come up with 20 or so posts.
These ideas are logical next steps for readers wanting to explore this topic - some of them based upon actual questions by readers. Do this with the other four posts you’ve written and you’ll have plenty of ideas for new posts to cover in the coming week or two.
You might want to stop this exercise at this point if you feel you’ve got enough topics to keep you going - however while you’re in a brainstorming frame of mind - why not take it a step further and think about how you might extend the topics you’ve come up with. The beauty of thinking forward even further is that you could quickly come up with a further 10 or so posts and be able to map out the next few weeks of blogging.
Lets do it now with the post above - just for fun (click to enlarge).
You can see that I found some posts easier to extend than others. This is OK as not every post is in need of a follow up one - while others will have multiple next steps (some will even have a longer series of posts that you could run).
You can take this exercise as far as you’d like into the future (you get the idea I’m sure so I won’t keep going).
You can see that I’ve come up with 15 ideas above (not bad for 5 minutes of brainstorming) - some of them for multiple posts (series and ongoing weekly columns). Do it with more than one post and you will find that you’ll often come up with more posts than you can actually use on your blog.
The key when you do it is to let your creativity run wild (because it can take you in some wonderful directions) but then to be ruthless in culling ideas that don’t actually add anything to your blog. Remember - everything that you post on your blog either adds to or takes away from your blog’s perceived value - so not everything that you come up with should make it through to the front page of your blog.
78 Responses to “Discover Hundreds of Post Ideas for Your Blog with Mind Mapping”
Coen Jacobs
December 14th, 2007 12:27 am
Really a great post Darren, usually I do this kind of thing in my head. The hint to do this on paper is a great one, I haven’t really thought about it, maybe it was too simple.
Today I’ll start doing this, on a train trip that will take about an hour, so enough time to think about it! :)
david
December 14th, 2007 12:32 am
Wow - excellent post! Gives folks a very simple method for figuring out ways to “extend” their blog and their brand - and that was simply by springboarding off of ONE post and ONE topic. Well done.
BW
December 14th, 2007 12:45 am
Great extention of yesterday’s post.
Mind Mapping (Brainstorming) is used in a lot of industries, especially for troubleshooting and it is a perfect fit for blogging.
It is a great way to generate ideas for a series of posts on a particular subject.
This is something that you should do on a regular basis (and even return to older posts) so that you can keep your content fresh and interesting for your readers.
Everyone should give this a go for a couple of weeks, to see how their productivity changes (increasing hopefully, but without a decrease in quality).
Thanks Darren for the post
plonkee
December 14th, 2007 12:53 am
This is a brilliant idea. I was just flicking through my archives the other day, looking for one post in particular, and lots of new ideas for expanding on old posts came to mind.
I must remember to keep the idea generation, and idea editing parts separate, or I’ll end up dismissing most of my thoughts out of hand.
James Mann
December 14th, 2007 12:55 am
Excellent Darren
I sometimes sit and just scratch my head thinking of post on my blogs.
I have heard of mind mapping and have Alex Goodall’s Mind Map for my marketing products but never thought of using it to come up with ideas of my own. That’s pretty cool.
Thanks, today is as good a time to start my first mind map.
Colin King
December 14th, 2007 1:16 am
This is exactly the way I am starting to plan my blogging schedule. Instead of starting with posts I am starting with a general subject area for each day and then branching out.
Andrew
December 14th, 2007 1:24 am
Wow great idea! I use mind mapping alot but never thought of it for blogging. I’ll try this out and post back with how many new Ideas I come up with!
Thanks alot!
Andrew
Never the Same River Twice
December 14th, 2007 1:29 am
For people interested in using software for mind mapping, I really enjoy Freemind, which has the definite advantages of running on all platforms and being FREE!
Rajablog.info
December 14th, 2007 1:53 am
Yup, i always use this software for mind mapping my study notes but do not use it yet for blogging ideas.
So thanks Darren for the tips.
Deb - Mom of 3 Girls
December 14th, 2007 1:54 am
I like this idea, especially for those times when you’re blindly staring at the computer screen, wondering what in the world you could possibly find to write about. Definitely a more productive use of time. :)
Kennedy
December 14th, 2007 2:08 am
Darren,
I love this idea! This will truly help me create a near endless resource for post ideas, get the maximum return on my investment used to create previous posts and get the old creative juices flowing. Thanks again.
Allison
December 14th, 2007 2:19 am
What a great idea! I love brainstorming exercises like this - to come up with great new topics that haven’t been covered on every other website out there is tough. Sometimes we all need to approach blogging creatively to find different information to give our readers.
Sangesh
December 14th, 2007 2:19 am
Certainly Darren,
You’ve hit bulls eye. People, including me, will be curious to know about the things that has happened in the past and its developments that it makes in the future as well.
Curiosity kills the cat as they say it.
And, by doing up a follow-up article on a previous it certainly sounds logical to grab the audience as well.
Cheers.
Antoine Khater
December 14th, 2007 2:25 am
Darren I have to say that there are some of you posts I don’t quite agree with but this one is A class great idea :)
Definitely worth a try
Famous Quotes
December 14th, 2007 2:38 am
Excellent post. Never thought of it that way. You are obviously a very smart cookie!
JEMi
December 14th, 2007 2:57 am
aha! but of course! This was something I worried about..
Thank you for sharing this tip with us - a new blogger like me really appreciates the wisdom
:)
redwall_hp
December 14th, 2007 3:19 am
Great post. I sort of do this in my head, but not as often as I probably should. :D
Laura
December 14th, 2007 3:39 am
This is a great idea. I was struggling on what to write next week and now I have something to work on this weekend. Thanks!
Shana Albert
December 14th, 2007 3:41 am
Excellent post, Darren. Brainstorming can be such a huge process for me and your idea is simple and totally makes sense. Thanks!!
PureWordPress
December 14th, 2007 3:47 am
Sounds like a great idea to me! Great post, Darren. I think I might also bookmark this for late so I don’t forget… ;)
Steve
mcangeli
December 14th, 2007 4:00 am
Thats a really good brainstorming idea. I’ve had days (weeks) before where I couldn’t come up with a single topic to write about and other days where I was over flowing with too many ideas…
This way, I could map out a whole month’s worth of posts…
vicequeenmaria
December 14th, 2007 4:09 am
I was tutoring a kid the other day who had no idea what to write for his social studies essay. I should have shown him this, even though he wasn’t blogging. Great way to break through any resistance to writing!
coolthought
December 14th, 2007 4:09 am
It is a good idea to use mindmap to see clearly what are the area to explore further and as well as generate more idea. It can also be used for planning your blog future.
Not trying to teach you how to create the mindmap. But with big monologue balloon, it won’t be clear to see the relation when the mindmap grow really big.
You might want to check out http://www.buzanworld.com/mindmaps for some samples.
Tanny
December 14th, 2007 4:11 am
This just amazing, it looks so easy, well it will help me unblock my blog block
Thanks Darren
Tanny
Mike Smith
December 14th, 2007 4:50 am
Thanks for the tips. I generally just sit down and brainstorm different ideas and write them down, but now, I’ll definitely brainstorm for future articles like this.
Thanks,
Mike Smith
JamieO
December 14th, 2007 5:15 am
If you do use software for this exercise - such as Freemind which NTSRT mentioned which I am a particular fan of - you can turn this into a further asset for your blogging. If every time you add a post to your site, put an entry (with link) into the mindmap, there are some quick benefits…
1) When you hit “didn’t I write about X?” questions, this tool has the answer easily accessible.
2) If you have “Previous Posts” in your post footer, a complete map of your site is very easy way to know which posts are best suited to link.
3) Seeing your categories / topics represented visually might give you more ideas about cross-linking topics. From your example thoughts on adSense - what about some CSS examples of visually enhancing your AdSense bar that tie in with a site theme.
My current theme features a unique take on this concept - although I’m going to be redesigning it in January 2008 so not sure if it will stay around. Curious for anyone’s feedback on the current theme.
Good post!
Tamar Weinberg
December 14th, 2007 5:54 am
Brillaint Post, Darren. Mind mapping is incredibly powerful and this is a great application: blogs. I can’t believe that I hadn’t even thought of that!
Vicky
December 14th, 2007 6:00 am
Thank you for a very timely post. I have done this in the work I used to do but never thought to use it for blogging. I to like pen and paper because you can take it anywhere. I am a traveling blogger. I would rather be at a cafe working than at home.
WFH Pro
December 14th, 2007 6:33 am
You might try the free web-based Mindomo at http://www.mindomo.com
I was inspired by this post to sign up for their free acount to test it out. Robust features.
per olav molvaer
December 14th, 2007 6:53 am
Hi,
Thanks for the excellent blog and tips. I found the blog quite recently and following it for the last few weeks. I have been running a blog which I don’t think was very successful (I couldn’t make much money, it was only like a seldom gift from a stranger :)). After seeing your blog, I decided to start a new blog (http://saltovitale.blogspot.com) and follow your tips strictly to have more success. Finding a subject to write about has always been a problem for me and now I have a method to try out! Hopefully you could check my bog as well to comment on the structure…
Anurag Bansal
December 14th, 2007 7:11 am
Great post Darren,
I have been already doing that on my blogs though. As an example, I give my readers a monthly recap which consolidates the posts for the entire month, so that they can see what they have missed in the month.
Moreover lot of times it happens that you get some different idea based on the comments or may be a different perspective on your own post.
It really helps when I don’t have anything extra ordinary to write sometimes.
David
December 14th, 2007 7:57 am
Very smart idea! As usual… I was about to wonder what to write tomorrow! Your tips will surely help me to improve and, most of all, to make the readers coming back… Thanks!
Jansie Blom
December 14th, 2007 7:59 am
excellent article. never thought of doing this, till now, that is. thanks!
DefogMyBlog
December 14th, 2007 10:02 am
I think it is a good idea because it could also lead to deep linking within your own blog which in terms of Google ranking is something to be recommended.
Sonia Simone
December 14th, 2007 10:11 am
Love it, Darren!
An important tool for me is a way to capture all of those ideas & be able to refer back to them when I’m stuck–I use 37 Signals Backpack for that, and I love it. Simple, web-based and cheap.
theblackactor.com
December 14th, 2007 10:16 am
What an excellent and informative post.
I will definitely do this.
spencerkam.com
December 14th, 2007 10:50 am
Very good post. I’ve always had problems thinking about good topics to write about.
I’ve also found that carrying a little notebook around with me helps for when I think about topics while I’m away from my computer.
JamieO
December 14th, 2007 10:58 am
I wonder - would the mindmap model be useful as a sitemap? If you could find a solid css / dhtml way to present the content, extracting the data out of database as a series of nested unordered lists wouldn’t be too much a challenge.
Richard Byrom
December 14th, 2007 12:11 pm
The mindjet blog has an interesting related post, see http://blog.mindjet.com/2005/07/blog-better-with-mindmanager
If you already have mindjet you can also download a blogging template here. Also, the writing an article template on Mindjet is a good way to ensure your blog postings are comprehensive http://www.mindjet.com/doc_eng/Mindjet_Writing_an_Article_Windows_%20Map.mmap
netvalar
December 14th, 2007 1:55 pm
Admittedly I don’t use paper for this but I quite often start at the beginning of my blog and look for posts that could be extended upon. I also look closely at the keywords used to find my blog and think about posts that can expand upon those.
I use notepad for note taking on these journeys and save the files for future quick look ups. As a file appears to be complete I delete it at this time only 2 have been deleted out of 11 so most can be added to almost infinately. Especially as I find new social and technological updates to the everchanging new music industry.
Speaking of which I am adding a ad to this post hope you don’t mind the question is what is record label 2.0 and my thoughts can be found at http://blog.timelineonline.org/2007/12/record-label-20.html only for those who are curious. Especially since it is music not blog related.
Dr.Mani
December 14th, 2007 2:34 pm
Excellent idea, will use it next time. My personal preference until now has been to go the other way - with selecting a topic or area where there are many aspects to cover, then listing them all out in the beginning, sometimes even writing the entire LONG article - and then breaking it up into smaller posts for my blog.
That way, I have to spend less time coming up with ideas, and more time researching each component.
A good source for ideas is the Google Hot Trends list - http://www.Google.com/trends/hottrends/
All succcess
Dr.Mani
Suzie Cheel
December 14th, 2007 4:58 pm
What a fantasic idea, I can see that as a way to really stop that what am i going to write today feeling. A great way to also take action and move forward
Thank you
Suzie
Melissa Donovan
December 14th, 2007 4:58 pm
I love mind mapping. I haven’t yet applied to to blogging but I’ve used it for constructing ideas for books, stories and web sites (and blog, just not the actual posts within). I’m going to spend some time doing this tonight. Thanks for the great idea!
-Melissa Donovan
Writing Forward
Ben Tremblay
December 14th, 2007 5:05 pm
Nice … mind mapping or concept mapping, that approach has been around for a long time, but this is a really sweet application. (I’m a very lukewarm proponent … my http://gnodal.livejournal.com started out as an effort to survey the field as I floundered around for an alternative.)
I think the operative point here is that our blogs can be well structured and well ordered without needing to be exhausive and encyclopedic … which means that a nice set of tags that really work for us personally will do the trick; there’s no need for us to stretch trying to arrive at something canonical.
Good stuff … heck, good sense!
congrats
–bentrem
Reno
December 14th, 2007 5:25 pm
Very informative post. Coming up with content is the hardest part for me as a new blogger. I am going to start brainstorming about my posts away from the PC more now.
I just subscribed to your feed a week ago and I now understand why you call yourself the ProBlogger. Thank you for the advice.
Landon
December 14th, 2007 8:30 pm
You can actually use mind mapping to generate separate ideas from the initial post topic, not just for follow-up posts. If extend the ideas far enough, you can reach completely unrelated ideas that constitute new posts.
If anyone is interested, I’m offering free ideas for your blog if you describe a specific problem you’re having on your blog.
Skellie
December 14th, 2007 9:59 pm
Darren — it’s no wonder you never run out of ideas!
Idea generation is one of the trickiest things for me, so I will absolutely try this out.
JBagley
December 14th, 2007 11:25 pm
Legend!
Shannon
December 15th, 2007 12:23 am
Thanks Darren! For a new blogger such as myself your post came at the perfect time. I had generally just been waking up in the morning, and wrting what had first come to mind. Not exactly reliable, but so far it had worked OK. I can see however, the value of brainstorming/ mindmapping, and am looking forward to putting it to use post haste!
While I am at it, I am mighty glad you are here sharing your acquired wisdom!
Webworm
December 15th, 2007 1:33 am
Darren,
Really thumb up for you !
Such a great post…
Thanks…
Kelly
December 15th, 2007 2:44 am
In one of your mindmapping examples, I saw that an idea you wrote was, “Case study on a blog’s first 3 months”. If you decide to go with this idea, I’m planning to have my brand new blog open & ready to go in January and would like to help you with this! (It will be on health & nutrition topics.)
By the way, I’ve been working on this new blog since October and your posts have been a huge help to me as I have NO previous experience in this area! Thanks!
Bob
December 15th, 2007 7:16 am
Excellent.
I often think of an idea, write on it, and then am stumped on what else to write. This will help me strategize a better writing plan.
Thanks!
Mark
December 15th, 2007 8:56 am
As a new blogger I am spending too much time (I think) coming up with ideas for posts. I have limited time and I want to do the best with what I’ve got. So, after your post I investigated mind mapping software and found Mind42, which is free and easy to use. I have started mapping out ideas from the few posts I have done already and I am coming up with lots of potential posts!
Thanks for the great ideas, keep up the good work!
David Dunn
December 15th, 2007 10:53 am
Absolutely love this idea. Just had a go at it myself and thought of loads of ideas for the future.
Would never have thought about doing this myself - thanks!! :D
Ryan
December 15th, 2007 12:51 pm
We had an inservice on mind mapping a few years ago where we used a program called Inspiration. It worked fairly well but was a little too clunky for my tastes. I downloaded FreeMind at the suggestion from above and it seems to be a much faster process which I think is important. Being able to add nodes very quickly is an important ability for a program to have for it to be useful.
Question for those of y’all who use software to do your mind mapping. Do you have one master file or do you have a separate file for each topic? It seems that keeping one file has the advantage of staying a little more organized but might get a little too large to stay efficient.
Stuart
December 15th, 2007 1:36 pm
Thanks for this information, a few days ago i wrote a post on my blog related to keyword research - i briefly described the mind mapping technique but didnt give it nearly as much justice as it deserved. Cheers!
Atul Karmarkar
December 15th, 2007 4:05 pm
Very well written post, Darren. I truly appreciate the way you always manage to talk about such apparently simple but important issues and bring them to the forefront.
I’m sure from time to time, all of us have had similar thoughts and great ideas, but never pursued them to the extent of using them in a really constructive manner.
I’ve used FreeMind and MindMapper, though I never imagined I could use it to enhance my blogging experience.
Thanks again for sharing.
Small Business MArketing
December 15th, 2007 6:44 pm
Thanks for the technique. Obviously it can be used outside of blogging but for now it can really help me map out quite a while into the future where I could possibly take the blog. I also appreciate your writing style.
Ahmed Mohamed
December 15th, 2007 10:43 pm
That’s a great blogging and writing in general practice. I am putting it to work on my blog (or in my mind) immediately.
Reverse Funnel System
December 16th, 2007 11:10 am
Thats a really good mind map. Blogging is not that easy as everyone would thought. Especially successful blogging.
sorryle
December 16th, 2007 5:11 pm
great thought.
thanks man
Lucky Balaraman
December 17th, 2007 12:37 am
Excellent post, way up there because it’s one of the few that add something new to human knowledge. Well done!
Mary Emma Allen
December 17th, 2007 2:33 am
Nice, Darren. It’s a lot like we teach kids to do when they’re having trouble writing about a topic for a school assignment. Now to carry it over to “real life” and blogging.
Daryl
December 17th, 2007 7:14 am
Thanks Darren. I find myself saying, “okay what next?” a little too often. This will definitely help.
VP
December 17th, 2007 7:30 am
Hi - just found your site. It’s great for blogging newbies like me! I’d like to add a few tips about mind mapping that I’ve used for a long time and others may find useful:
1. Use a different colour for each subject heading and breakdowns - it makes each part of the map easier to read and follow through. I also use things like red exclamation marks for points I don’t want to forget or to act as warnings!
2. Add simple cartoons to illustrate your ideas - this increases the visuality of your mindmap e.g. if an idea means you need to phone someone to get more information, then draw a little telephone next to the entry on your mindmap
3. Don’t be afraid to use things like arrows to link ideas together from different parts of your mindmap
Complete Geek
December 18th, 2007 2:57 pm
I went back 10 posts and now I have enough material to cover at least the next two weeks. Thanks for the tip Darren!
Referáty zeměpis
December 23rd, 2007 10:54 pm
Thank you for this brilliant post. Now I know what I will write next week :)
Syd
December 28th, 2007 5:10 am
Excellent method for generating dozens of post ideas within few minutes if we ever get stuck. I think I will try this as soon as possible for my blog.
Luke Kohler
January 8th, 2008 10:32 am
Thank you for introducing this to me. I often have a hard time coming up with new ideas, and didn’t realize how much easier it is to revisit old ideas. Going through my older posts on all of my blogs has led to a bunch of new ideas.
Rather than use a piece of paper, I just opened a Word file and listed my most recent, and my most popular posts. Then under each title, I listed my new ideas. The beauty of doing it on the computer, is I can keep these files on my desktop, and add to them with each new post, keeping a solid supply of ideas right in front of me.
Great post, great method.
Rowell
January 14th, 2008 6:56 am
Delicious post! I’ll have to look into creating a mindmap and writing a post on mind mapping. Great way to work out the brain the come up with new ideas for blog posts.
Merchant Account Guy
February 6th, 2008 10:39 am
This concept is great. It’s very simple way to generate idea, but if you a just starting fresh without any posts to begin with, then you don’t really have a starting point. Any other ideas for someone without a starting point .. . Maybe I just gave you a great idea for your next post.
Steven Di Pietro
February 15th, 2008 10:52 pm
The circles with last to 5th last post are as simple and insightful as the Seinfeld calender. Love it.
Michelle Dunn
March 2nd, 2008 6:28 am
This is a great idea, I did it for both my blogs, and came up with a bunch of topics. I am so glad to have read this post!! Thank you for the great and helpful infomation!
Search Marketing Courses
March 12th, 2008 2:14 am
Perhaps this question was asked and/or answered in one of the above 47 responses - if so, I’m sorry for being repetitive. I was wondering how one should space the follow up posts? I notice that this post follows immediately on the heels of yesterday’s post. How long can you keep that going for?
If I come up with 20 ideas then I could theoretically have the next 20 days of posts covered, but I would then alienate that segment of my readership who is not into that topic. In short - do you have any suggestions (or a method) for determining how to space out these ideas.
Search Marketing Courses
March 12th, 2008 2:19 am
By the way - semi related to my previous comment - I think the idea of using this method to come up with weekly columns is great. That way you are set for a while with a relevant and useful topic.
Along the same lines, it may be helpful to note which posts get the most comments and to apply this method to those posts first. Those posts most likely struck a chord with your readers and there is no reason you shouldn’t try to strike that chord again.
Reign
March 20th, 2008 7:15 pm
This is very useful to me and I thank you for posting this one. I’ve been having problems writing but I believe this will help a lot. Next I’d like to read something more on the topic of giving my articles “a title that stands out”. Have any idea on that?
Indian Moms
April 4th, 2008 6:53 pm
Thanks, we are starting a blog on our site & your tips will be very useful….
Paul Foreman
April 15th, 2008 7:22 pm
Thought I would add details of my Mind Map website - http://www.mindmaps.moonfruit.com It could help spark ideas for you and there are also some templates you can use on the site to get started with Mind Maps - everything is FREE to download including example Mind Maps.
Regards
Paul
Leave a Reply