Let’s be honest, being a blogger can be tricky when it comes to churning out fresh content to excite your readers. Between my travel blogging, freelance writing and contributing guest posts it can feel like I’m meant to be a vending machine of articles who should dispense stories on demand. Of course, the reality is that writing is an art and it takes inspiration to create a truly strong post. Of course, sometimes inspiration runs dry and I find myself trying to brainstorm ideas for posts. In the two years I’ve spent travel blogging, I have learned some ways to find topics for blog posts and (even better) know which ones will best resonate with my readers. Here, I share my tricks!
1. Finding out what your readers actually want to read.
Everyone has their ways in which they find ideas for their next story-be it a recent trip, past experience, travel trend or series of tips-but wouldn’t it be helpful to have a tool to show us what readers actually want to read? Enter stage left, Sumo, a free online tool that allows nifty ways to track what content your readers are loving vs. those posts that aren’t getting much views.
Sumo offers a variety of apps-from newsletter services to analytics-but their “heat maps” app is a great way to see what readers are clicking on when they visit your site. In this screenshot of The Pin the Map Project homepage, the heat maps shows me that people are clicking on the categories of SOLO TRAVEL, NEW HERE?, DESTINATIONS, TRIP PLANNER and are really enjoying the featured content, which gives me an idea of what topics really resonate with my audience.
2. Using Sumo to decide what topics are of interest.
To take that one step further, if I click into the categories of interest I can see what articles within the subject of “solo travel” or “blog tips” pop for my readers. Above, I can see that the 10 THINGS THAT HAPPEN WHEN YOU SOLO TRAVEL story really was a popular piece judging by the heat map tool. Likewise, in the screenshot below I can see that THE HONEST GUIDE TO BECOMING A TRAVEL BLOGGER was significantly better received than my BLOGGERS & BRANDS series, which gives me an idea of future posts that will prove more popular with my readers.
3. Finding inspiration on Bloglovin’.
Sumo points you in the right direction of what topics are popular with your readers and more likely to get clicks; but Bloglovin‘ helps provide inspiration on what your next story can actually be. It’s said that imitation is the highest form of flattery and while I do not condone the stealing of other people’s ideas, Bloglovin’ is a useful tool to help inspire future stories by showing you what other bloggers are covering and what’s new in the travel space.
There are many ways to find inspiration for that next blog post-be it personal experience, a current trip, something you’ve seen or read or another blogger’s work—so make sure to pair Sumo’s heat map technology with your next story to ensure a popular post that will capture your reader’s attention.
Check out my BLOG TIPS section for more articles on blogging and share your best tips below on how you find inspiration for future posts!
