ing For The Web: Where To Get Article Ideas

 by: Richard Lowe, Jr.

A friend and I were talking the other day about writing. He liked to write, but even so his biggest problem was finding things to write about. My friend was astounded at the volume of writing that I do – at least one article and something as many as six, per day. Where do I get all of the ideas from?

I, in turn, was astonished myself. Why on earth would anyone have any trouble finding things to write about? In fact, my main problem has been I have so much to write about that I often find myself locked in a silent battle over which subject should be put on paper first.

People find it even more amazing when I tell them I try very hard to only write about positive events and provide helpful articles. Only rarely will you find any of my writings containing criticism, complaints or, worst of all, whining. Occasionally I will write an article which recommends against purchasing a product, seeing a movie, reading a book or visiting a web site, but these are the exception.

The world is a huge, amazing, wondrous place. Things are going on around us all of the time. There is so much good to see and do all over the planet, so very many wonderful things going on all over the place, that it’s easy to find something to communicate about if only you open your eyes and look.

One of my passions is the internet. I’ve written over 1,000 articles about all aspects of this massive communication medium. Much of this is taken from my 23 years of experience in the computer field, and the rest is from research, reading and, most of all, questions from other people.

Although much of my writing is about the internet, I also find time to communicate about many other subjects as well. These include relationships (marriage and romance), raising children, building a career, handling office politics, current events, hobbies and history. I have yet to find a subject which I don’t have something useful to contribute to other people.

How do I find so much to write about? Let me tell you some of the ways: Many of my article ideas some from real life – For example, I have a long and happy marriage, so I like to write articles which help people with their relationships. I’ve also worked hard most of my life, as have most people, building a career, which is another area where I enjoy passing along tips to help others.

Question and answer sites – Sites like askme.com and askjeeves.com are perfect places to visit once in a while looking for ideas for articles. I visit and just scan the questions (and there are thousands of them), looking for anything which looks interesting. When I find something, I write an article.

Newsgroups – There are over 70,000 newsgroups. Most of these are worthless, but several thousand of them contain useful information and varied conversations. Lurk in any active newsgroup for a while and you should find something worthwhile to write about.

Yahoo and DMOZ – Visit any big directory site and you will find thousands of subjects to explore.

Egroups and Topica – There are thousands of email discussion lists available at these two sites. Sign up for a few and get articles ideas from them.

There are many other places to look for article ideas all over the internet. I tend to avoid looking at things like ezines, ebooks and web sites for article ideas. Why? Because when I look for article ideas I am not looking for answers.

What I tend to look for is questions. What kind of questions are people asking? Is there a question which begs some further analysis and a little more explanation than a simple sentence? It does not matter if someone else has already answered, as my primary purpose is not to provide raw information.

My primary purpose is to help people understand. You can find out raw information from any number of books or encyclopedias, but finding out how to clean up the clutter in your bedroom, well, that takes something different. That requires the experience and knowledge passed from someone who has had to go through the experience of cleaning many times, so many times that it has become easy.

Interestingly, I’ve found that television is not as worthwhile as one would expect for article ideas. Excluding a few reviews, I’ve found television to be a vast wasteland, void of anything but the most trivial or violent concepts in our society. The exceptions are, of course, channels such as Nova, History channel and Discovery.

So the next time you are trying to figure out something to write about for your own ezine, web site or ebook, just check out a newsgroup, elist or directory on a subject which you find interesting. Sooner or later, you will get an idea and you can start writing.

About The Author

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.

Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net

Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm

Claudia Arevalo-Lowe is the webmistress of Internet Tips And Secrets and Surviving Asthma. Visit her site at http://survivingasthma.com

Source: High Quality Article Database – 365Articles.com

 Website Promotion – Where to Get Ideas for Writing Articles
Some six weeks ago, I began writing and submitting articles to free content sites in order to promote the six commercial Websites I own. The results have been both swift and dramatic, and the number of links from external Websites to my own Websites has increased from nearly nothing to more than 10,000 in a little more than a month. These results have inspired me to write more articles, and as I own six different Websites, I have six different topics to choose from. Still, my ideas occasionally run dry and that certainly happens to others who write articles for....

 Website Development The Old Fashion Way
The idea of designing your own website can be daunting and exciting. Often we jump right in without any preparation or planning. My father had a saying that, try as I might, I never was able to forget. Proper prior planning prevents poor performance, or the 6 P's for short. As easy as writing HTML can be, it places one in a logical frame of mind which can hinder creative thinking. Therefore, it....

 10 tips to stop blogging from keeping you up all night
Have you ever tried to go to sleep, only to find that your head is full of ideas for your blog? It used to happen to me all the time. Not so much now, though. Here are some tips to help you get some sleep without abandoning your blog completely. 1. Keep a notebook by the bed. This is for flashes of inspiration - not for working on new posts when you should be sleeping. Have some discipline! 2. Maintain a sensible schedule. Work time. Home time. Play time. Blog time. Sleep time. Set aside time....

 How To Generate Income Using The Power Of Article Writing » Video Tutorial
Writing and distributing articles on the internet is a very powerful and free method of advertising to generate income from your website. There are many free methods of advertising on the internet that are not very effective, but writing and distributing articles is a surefire way to get your website noticed and a great way to generate income online When it comes to writing articles you do not have to be an....

 Top Ways To Make Money Online With Highly Read Articles
If you want to make money online a good strategy that won't cost you a dime is to write articles that relate to your product or service. Search Engines are constantly on the "look out" for freshly written content that has been submitted online. So how do you come up with ideas for your next article? Here are several suggestions that may help... Hang out in online forums. Watch what people are talking about. Look at the questions they are asking. The topics that are bringing the greatest number of....

 Five Proven Methods for Internet Marketing Success
There are numerous ways that you can promote your online business or website, some more effective than others. These five proven methods will help you to generate traffic to your site and also to generate income into your wallet. 1. One thing that appeals to everyone is “free.” If it is free people will take it. Think of the samples of cheese given away at grocery stores. Do you really want a small piece of cheese? Of course not! But you take it simply because it is free and someone is nice enough to offer it to you. The same principle....

 Writing Articles for Publication – You Have What It Takes
Writing and publishing articles is the hottest method employed today to get targeted traffic to your website. You may not think you can write to get published, but if you have a computer, a passion, basic grammar skills, and time, you have what it takes to start writing and publishing articles today. If you have done any research on internet marketing, you know that article writing and publishing is the hottest topic today. ....

 How To Write and Publish A Successful Ezine Article
The ezine article is of major importance to the world of Internet marketing. It is a great way of list owners to provide great content for free to there subscribers and an excellent my for internet marketers to get there name out there and get some exposure for there websites, free. Tips for writing an ezine article: 1) Don't blindly dive in and start writing, do some research and make sure all your information is correct. 2) Once you have thought of a title, write it in the....

 Ezine Article Writing – Structure And Stretch
Webmasters should take advantage of every opportunity to get free publicity. This includes writing and publishing articles but many webmasters fear that they would not be able to write a whole article. There are ways to ensure articles fit the criteria for publication in ezines. If you are a webmaster you will know that writing articles for publication in ezines is an excellent way to get free publicity for your website. One thing....

 How Can I ‘Really’ Make Money Online?
This is the age old question. Funny to think that anything about the internet could be 'age old' but here it is. Ever since there was an internet for us all to use, people have been trying to profit from it. Many people have succeed, many are still trying. There are plenty of scams out there promising you instant riches for only $137. The seller of this scam will show you proof that his method works by revealing his bank account. Of course this works for him, he's selling the scam. His bank account is not proof that his ideas will....

 The Five Methods To Generate Profitable Marketing Ideas Quickly
Five innovation methods you can use to stimulate creativity and to generate profitable marketing ideas quickly. "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."- Harold R. McAlindon Mr. McAlindon, President of the Parthenon Group in Nashville, Tennessee said, "There is a difference between creativity and innovation.  Innovation is a creative collaboration.  Converting creativity to innovation is a team sport." Creative people generate marketing ideas by using stimuli to help them think "outside the box."  But true marketing innovation can only....

 Article Writing: 8 Tips For Success
Writing articles is a good way to promote your website or business and to explain product benefits.  But you can't just put anything together and expect it to do its job of bringing in traffic.  You need to think about what it is you want to say and then put some effort into saying it well.  You can enhance the written polish of your article by observing a few article writing tips... 1.....

 7 Tips For Better Blogging
According to the most recent estimates, there are currently nearly 150 million blogs online. So therefore, there is a blog on every topic imaginable. With such a crowded blogosphere, what can you do to separate yourself from the crowd?It"??s pretty simple: just be a better blogger. And believe it or not, better blogging isn't brain surgery. Here are 7 tips to get you started.1. Blog like you talk (be yourself!)"?" Blogging is all about communicating and relating to your audience. The best way to do this is simply to be yourself. Ok, this advice sounds a little motivational speaker like,....

 Be Your Own Website Copywriter – Let “3 Blind Mice” Show You The Way
You know what it's like when you can't get a song out of your head. For some reason, “3 Blind Mice” paid me a visit. As I heard the 100th replay, it hit me – this is great copy. As a matter of fact, this simple little ditty contains 10 elements of excellent website copy that sells. In case you've forgotten, here's how it goes. 3 Blind Mice; 3 Blind Mice. See how they run; see how they run. They all ran up to the farmer's wife. She cut off their tails with a carving knife Have you ever seen such a sight in your....

 You Don’t Have To Get It Right, You Just Have To Get It Going
Most people try to tackle a HUGE project or idea and they get so overwhelmed that they never even begin. Or, they keep putting things of for one reason or another. Are you one of these people? Don't let these MINOR dilemmas stop you from realizing your true potential! I have a confession to make. Starting something new sucks.Yup.  Plain and simple I'm impatient and when I see something I want, I don't want to have to go through the growing pains of getting it to where I want. Can you....

Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.problogtips.com/writing-for-the-web-where-to-get-article-ideas/1612/trackback/

Posted by Jaron in the catagory of... General Interest

No Trackbacks »