To make any website successful, you need to fill it with content. In most cases, this content refers to articles. And if you want any chance of gaining an audience, you’ll need to upload on some sort of schedule. But, where do these article ideas come from?
Are they hand-chosen by some higher being and plopped into a person’s brain? Do you have a master list of every idea you want to turn into an article that you pick from? Use an idea generator?
While there’s no one way to come up with ideas, I’ve found what works best for me is picking from a master list of all my ideas. To create this master list, I designate one day a year to brainstorm and write down all the ideas I can for the upcoming year (or years) content.
While this might sound like a dream (being able to concentrate your creativity into one super-productive day), it’s not without its downsides.
So today, I wanted to share some of the cons (and pros!) of using this brainstorming method.
Pros:
- You just have to come up with content 1 day of the year. This eliminates the stress of having to figure out what to post on a week-to-week (or month to month) basis
- You have more free time to pursue other interests/activities or to be present for the other important aspects of your life
- Having a master list of all your ideas might help spark new content ideas
- Having everything in one place will allow you to quickly see whether or not you’ve already done a specific idea
Cons:
- Forcing yourself to be creative on one designated day may have you drawing a blank
- If something comes up on the day you designated (that you can’t get out of) you won’t end up getting many or possible any new ideas down, which you’ll then have to make up on a different day, or wing it, which as said above, can be more stressful
- If you don’t have a back-up of your master list, and the file somehow gets corrupted or damaged, all of your ideas are gone with it
- It can be hard to force yourself to think of different content ideas for multiple topics on the same day
Despite the almost equal amount of pros and cons of brainstorming article ideas, I still feel it’s the best method for me. I feel a weird sense of chaos inside my brain if things aren’t scheduled out. Even without having the articles written, just seeing the ideas lined up nicely on a calendar lends a sense of calm to my life.
And I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels this way, which is why I recommend you try it! Not only does coming up with ideas all at once save time, but if you do end up having a cool article idea later on, you can add it to the master list – instead of saving it in a separate note.
You’ll also never know if this method works for you until you actually test it. And what better time to test it out than the early days of the New Year?
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