5 ways to easily come up with awesome guest post ideas

You know that guest blogging is the best way to build a popular blog, yet you struggle with it.

The problem? You don’t know what to write about. Sure, you’ve written for your own blog plenty. But somebody else…? That’s a different story. All you get is a blank when you sit down to write a blog post for others.

A way to research blogs

The problem is that you need a way to find something to write about.

You need specific methods that are guaranteed to give you ideas that readers will love and you’ll be able to write about no with problem.

That’s what this list is for.

These methods/tools are great for generating guest post ideas that’ll create great engagement. Why? Because these methods/tools are based on what’s actually popular at a blog.

It’s almost impossible to choose a losing topic with these methods, so why don’t you give one (or all of them) a try?

1. Check out the most popular posts list

This is one of the easier methods to use.

If a blog has a “most popular” list, all you need to do is take a look and see what kind of topics and headlines are the most common.

The repeat topics and headline structures are what you’re interested in. Are guest blogging topics popular? What about content writing tips? Make a note of whatever the hot topics are.

Next you want to check out the headline structures. A popular headline structure is like the one I used for this post: (x) ways to (something). Also popular is “How to (something),” so take note of this as well.

After you see what topics and headlines works there, it’s just a matter of integrating that knowledge into a post you can write about.

2. Read the comments of the most popular posts

This one requires a little more research, but it’s worth it. Why? Because without a doubt readers will love to see topics that they’ve mentioned in the comment section.

Scan the comment section for questions, controversial conversations, repeat topics, and so on. A topic created from the comments practically guarantees good engagement with the audience, so don’t overlook this method of idea generation.

3. Use “strip the blog”

“Strip the Blog” is a great tool because it shows you the most popular “recent” topics based on social shares (soon to include comments). This means that you’ll know what an audience considers a hot topic TODAY.

This may or may not give it an advantage over using the “most popular” list, but it’s easy to use and highly recommended as a tool to research for blog post ideas.

4. “Copy” their posts

This is a technique I developed when I had no idea what to write about before. It’s particularly useful when I feel creatively dry and can’t get any momentum going.

It’s a simple, systematic approach to building outlines. It goes like this:

1. Pick a popular post that you know a little about.
2. Write down the main points/tips of that topic in an outline of your own.
3. Search that blog for a similar post.
4. Add the main points/tips to your outline
5. Repeat 1-3 more times till you have lots of tips to work with.
6. Look over your new outline and see if you can draw any interesting topics from it.
7. Create a fresh post with your own spin on it.

For example, you could copy the 5 tips I have in this post. Then you’d  check this blog for other posts on guest blogging and add those tips to your outline. Eventually you’d have something like 15-20 tips to work with.

After that you just mix and match the tips till you see a blog post to write about.

By the end of it, you’ll feel creatively recharged since you were able to build up some momentum for your post. And since it was based on a popular post, you know it’s a good topic for that blog’s audience.

5. Tweak a popular headline into something you can work with

This is like the lightweight version of tip #4.

You’re basically just spinning a headline until you find something you can work with, let me show you how.

Example headline – 7 Easy Ways to Create an Awesome Headline

Now we spin it till we find something we can use.

1. How to create an awesome headline
2. How to make a super-clickable headline
3. 5 Mistakes you’re making with your headline (and how to fix them)
4. 5 Awesome tips the pro’s use when writing headlines
5. One unique tip that’ll increase headline click-throughs 10x over

And so on till you’ve got about 10 headlines. Don’t hold back when you’re doing this, just write any headlines that come to mind. This is about GENERATING ideas, not judging them.

Once you have your list, pick out your favorite. Then you start tweaking it till it’s about something you can write about.

Eventually you’ll have a great headline to get things started.

Over to you

Do you have any ways to generate guest post ideas? What are they? Please leave a comment below because I’d love to know them!