My recent post on not making your newsletter about inspiration seemed to cause a bit of a ruckus with you all.

Many of you responded back about how much you loved the idea of treating your newsletter and blog like any other business task, not something that’s consistently relying on spurts of genius.

But… then you asked, “how do I come up ideas about what to write and talk about?”

I completely hear you on this common tripping point in having a regularly published newsletter and blog.

And I want to make it super simple to share your knowledge and connect with your audience.

So, here’s my list of top tips for how to actually come up with ideas for your newsletter:

1. Is there something you know more about than your audience? Your readers aren’t the experts, you are. Remember that you know so much more than you give yourself credit for or even realize. So share that expert knowledge.

For example, I had been using Canned Responses in Gmail for years before I wrote about it. I completely blew past the fact that not everyone knew how awesome the tech tool is until a client sent me an email raving about how much time she had just saved by introducing the inbox tool to her.

Extra points: if you have a larger concept you want to share, break it into a blog series and teach your readers all about it (and knock out a whole month or more of posts in one go).

2. Take a look at what people are talking about in the bigger world around you. Then, see how those topics can relate to your readers and write from that point of view. Social networks like Twitter, Reddit and Quora are perfect for checking the pulse on hot, buzzy topics.

3. Pick an idea or issue that’s in the mainstream and write about an opposing, perhaps controversial, thought about it. It might be a thought on how something should be done differently than how most people in your community might think about it. One caveat: pick a concept or idea that you truly believe it; don’t be controversial just for the sake of it.

4. Watch the online conversations people are having. What’s generating a fair amount of two-way dialogue in a Facebook group you’re a member of? And again, then find how you can talk to your readers about that topic or question.

5. Check out Lacy Boggs. She’s a writer with loads of free content to help you write better and much of her content is aimed at blogging. You can check out her stuff here: https://lacyboggs.com

6. Use an ideas generator. Don’t be afraid to get a little help here. A great place to start is AWeber’s idea generator: http://aweber.design/list-building-ideas

Remember, even if the idea you’re writing about is already out there (and it likely is because 2 million blog posts are posted each day), it’s going to be different because it’s in your voice.

Use one, two or all of these tips to write your next newsletter and blog post. Then, come back here and share your update on how it went for you.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash