4 Ways to Make Sure You Always Have Something to Say Online

By Yasmin Bendror,Published November 9, 2013

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It’s probablythe most common problem faced by bloggers and social media users. What am Igoing to say? What can I post that is topical, interesting and valuable?

The problemusually starts before you begin publishing content online. Most people feelthat blogging is only about writing blog posts and social media is only aboutposting updates.

Stoked withenthusiasm and lots of great ideas, they start blogging and tweeting away. Butthat’s like hopping into a car and expecting to drive forever. Everything goesalong smoothly until the fuel runs out. Sooner or later all those great ideasrun out and the struggle to find something new and relevant to say begins. It’sa big reason why so many blogs and social media accounts are abandoned.

Your onlinepublishing will enjoy a more successful start and have a better chance ofsurviving if you begin by developing streams of information that serve asongoing sources for ideas and research.

As an addedbenefit, not only will information streams keep your content fuelled, they’llkeep you more engaged in what others are saying and doing online, which helpsyour content even more.

Here’s how todevelop streams of information and ideas for your content publishing:

1. WebSearches & Alerts:

Simple web searches are a fasteasy way to find sources of information for your posts. But it can get verytime consuming each day to search for new information relating to your keywordsor areas of interest.

Tools like GoogleAlerts and Yahoo Alerts monitorthe web for you and alert you, by email or through RSS news feeds (see below),every time a new piece of information relating to your keywords is posted tothe web.

Instead of yougoing out to find information for your posts, alerts send that information toyou.

2. Content Aggregators:

As you monitor the web, you will findfavorite sources that publish relevant content all the time. Combing throughyour alerts to find them gets annoying.

Using RSS (RichSite Summary, or sometimes Really Simple Syndication) news feeds, which arecommon on most online publishing sites (look for the familiar orange icon),content aggregators assemble feeds from different sources, including Google andYahoo Alerts, into one place so you can scan all of them at once to find itemsof interest.

There are anumber of good aggregators on the web. Feedly.com is the most popular, butothers include NewsBlur, DiggReader and Newsvibe.

Bonus Tip:Before deciding on an aggregator, check out its mobile app. Your time islimited and a good mobile app makes it easy keep up-to-date anywhere, anytime.

3.Hashtags:

It used to be that #hashtags were used almost exclusively onTwitter. But they proved so popular as a way to keep track of conversations andfind information that all major social media platforms, including LinkedIn,Facebook and Google+, now use hashtags.

Hashtags are agreat way to see what’s being said at the moment about your areas of interest.

Bonus Tip: Itcan be time consuming to jump from one social platform to another to trackhashtags. Try social media management tools, like Hootsuite, that let you trackhashtags on different social platforms from one site.

4. Your OwnContent:

Every blog or social media post you write presents an idea orthought that can be expanded upon. If you’re ever stuck for something to post,look to your previous posts and expand on the ideas they present.

This worksespecially well for your blog. Every post you write is full of ideas forsubsequent posts. Check this post, the one you are reading right now. Entirenew posts can be written around the opening paragraphs or any one of the threepoints presented.

Your first stepto successful online publishing isn’t to start publishing, it is to ensure youalways have something to publish. Developing reliable streams of informationwill make sure you do.