Before putting together my own website and blog, I looked at how the pros do it. I loved the idea of the short, pithy posts by marketing guru Seth Godin. I also like the idea of longer, informative pieces by people working in marketing like  Liz Da Ponte.  Regardless of format, the big question was  how did they generate ideas for blogs and social media content. Many, like Natalie MacNeil of She Takes on the World fame   solicit questions from their readers. After doing a little research, I found a few free and easy ideas for those of us just getting started.

1. Google
Yes, I know it’s obvious, but a quick look at  Google News,  Analytics,  Adwords, or Scholar, and a few topics are bound to pop into your head.

2. Reddit, Quora and LinkedIn
Check out your favourite social media channels. They will let you hone in on what people are talking about in areas of interest to you, and your potential readers.

3. Soovle
This one is fun. It’s a key word search that taps into Google as well as other search engines.

4. Hubspot
The Hubspot Blog Content Generator is  nice little extra to go with their sales, marketing, and CRM offerings.

5. Build Your Own Blog
The best way to describe this is blog roulette. No need for key words, just keep clicking until an appealing  title appears.

6. Portent
I think this one might be my favourite. It looks like brainstorming by writing on a chalkboard. A single keyword will generate cute comments along with the topic. Like Build Your Own Blog, just click to refresh until a topic you like appears.

7. Tweek Your Biz
Tweek Your Biz divides the suggested topics into categories such as Lists, Best, How To, and Snark. This helps you focus on the tone as well as the topic.

8. Thesaurus 
The paper kind, not the online variety. Leafing through a thesaurus rather than putting keywords in to a content generator is the difference between searching online for a book, and walking through the stack in a library.