February 3, 2008

One of the things that challenges that I am faced with in running my blogs (and I have several) is finding new and interesting information to post about. I am well aware of the fact that great content is a necessity to keep my readers interested and get them to come back and I am equally aware that it is important to keep my content original.

To me, this means that I spend considerable time each week finding this new and interesting information that is pertinent to my niche and then spend more time writing about what I find to make the content unique.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy doing this and consider it part of the learning process.


The part of the process that vexed me the most was finding the new and interesting information. Here’s some of the information sources I use:

IGoogle – I’ve set up a number of RSS feeds on my IGoogle page. As I visit a site that I enjoy, I find it’s RSS feed and display the summary on my IGoogle page. Each day I review the summaries and read what I find interesting. I also use the Google News Feed for more information – at least I can keep in touch with the real world!

Google Alerts – I don’t use these as well as I should but my husband does. His google alerts send him email updates when his keywords surface on the ‘Net.

Article Directories – Another great source of information. Most article directories have a RSS feed, which you can monitor on your IGoogle page, or in your RSS reader. Filter the feed for your specific niche and see what others have to say. Don’t use the articles though, unless you give full credit as required by the author and the directory you found them in. Use the information to learn more about your niche, and then write about it. I have set up an Article Directory on my site: Arvoreen Treasures Articles – perhaps this is a start, don’t forget to post articles there as well.

Guest Bloggers – Not something that I have done myself, but I have seen it used with great success by others. I welcome anyone who is a domain topic expert to post to my Blogs, what a great way to get new content.

Magazines – Believe it or not, for one of my niches, I still buy and read magazines. I find the publications have great information that I can then use to post on my Blogs.

Anecdotal Experience – It’s also great to write about your own experiences within your niche. If you have a great experience, share why. If it wasn’t a great experience, share that too. People are often looking for others experiences of a product or service before investing in it themselves.

Blog Surfing – What do other bloggers have to say? Learn from them. You will notice I have two “widgets” on the right of this blog. One is Blog Rush and the is Link 2 Blogs. Both give links to other blogs that should be similar to this one. Follow the links and see where they lead, you never know what you find and learn.

Social Bookmarking – Sometimes it helps just browsing the social bookmarks for a specified tag. At the bottom of this post is an icon that says SHARE THIS – the sites listed under this icon are a great place to start.

and last, for this post anyway, but not least:

Squidoo – A great social networking site where you can put the focus on something. As well as using Squidoo to focus attention, use others efforts to gain inspiration for your blog.

These are only some of the ways you can gain inspiration to keep your Blog Fresh.

About the Author Charly Leetham

Charly Leetham has worked for over 20 years in the IT industry, specifically in the area of data communications and local area networking. Charly is a qualifed "tech", holding an Associate Diploma in Electronics Engineering. Her experience with Personal Computers ranges from building computers to providing 2nd level user support. Charly also holds a Masters of Business Admin (MBA), specialising in Internet Marketing. Visit her site at ArvoreenTreasures.com

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