Having a varied background in the arts (film, painting, music, etc) and a nearly endless array of part-time jobs to support my artistic habits has given me an interesting background from which to pull from. So this leads to the first main tip:
Start With What You Know
The best place to find a good blog topic is with what you know. Everyone has their specialties, things they’ve learned over the years. Whether from formal schools, part time jobs, extra-curricular activities, activism, hobbies, etc. We all have specialty knowledge about the world and chances are good you can write about it.
Bottom line, if you have any sense of authority about a particular subject, you can blog about it.
Blogging Versus Writing
Aren’t they the same thing? Not necessarily. I’ll explain why.
Professional writers that get paid to write books, columns, magazine stories, etc are either reporters, investigators or experts in a particular field. While you probably don’t have aspirations to be a professional reporter, you may be an expert in something. Chances are good that you know a few subjects inside and out and the fact is, there are other people who want to know what you know.
So what’s the difference between blogging and writing?
Blogging is informal. Writing is more oriented towards selling books, magazines, etc and the standards are really high. But blogging is simply sharing ideas and information, in a much more conversational manner. Right now I’m writing this to you as if we were having a conversation. I’m imagining what questions you’d ask, then integrating that into this article.
That’s what blogging is… it’s sharing useful ideas and information in a more informal manner. You didn’t need to drop $20 for a book to read what I’m writing, but you’re (hopefully) getting something useful out of this.
The point is, virtually anyone can write a blog.
As I said, chances are high that you have specialty knowledge about a particular subject. Because your thoughts are getting posted on the internet, the whole world has access to them. So if you are writing about a particular niche topic, chances are high that someone out there wants to know what you know. Blogging is the process of sharing the knowledge you have with others.
The conclusion is — blog about what you know. Don’t worry about trying to be as good as a writer in the New Yorker, just share your thoughts and put it out there. Step away from the computer, get a blank piece of paper and start jotting down some potential blog topics based on your personal experience and then blog, blog, blog!
Free Blogs for Creatives
If you’re a creative type (artist, musician, designer, photographer, etc) you can make free blog posts on our site to promote your work.
We like to approve memberships simply to cut out spammers, but once you’re approved you can post as much as you like!