Most of the time, when I talk to people about blogging for their organization, they say time is their main constraint.  But I think their real concern is related to that: they just don’t know what they’re going to write about!

It’s hard to get in the mindset of providing lots of information to people every day. I remember when I first started working as a journalist, coming up with story ideas was my biggest challenge. So what did I do to meet that challenge? I immersed myself in the topics I covered.

You can do the same thing by reading lots and lots of blogs online. The more you consume, the faster your mind will start to make connections that will lead you to write your own content. And the easiest way to do that is to subscribe to tons of blogs in a feed reader.  No matter what reader you’re using (I use Google Reader), subscribe to lots of other blogs who write about things in your area of interest. 

Don’t worry about putting too many feeds into your reader.  You don’t have to read everything!  But if you can open your reader every morning and see 50-100 articles in front of you, there’s a pretty good chance something is going to give you an idea for writing on your own blog.

I’m planning a post soon on how to use Google Reader to optimize your ability to cover lots and lots of material in a short amount of time.  If anyone has any tips, leave a comment on this post, or email me through the link on the right side of the page.