Blogging Inspiration




Greater than 2 minutes

I knew, I would have a blog from the moment I decided to set up a site. Firstly, blogging is good for SEO. Secondly, I’ve always liked Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City and the way she sat in her stylish apartment in front of a small table writing some witty article on her laptop.

One thing that was kind of stopping me was the fear that I won’t have enough ideas to write the posts consistently. I guess, many bloggers-to-be have the same doubts. This is why I decided to share my sources of information and inspiration. I deliberately tried to be as general as possible, so that you could use these ideas for your business blogging, even if you are not a translator.

Your experience

We all have stories to tell. You might have seen this post by my colleague Dmitry Kornyukhov, in which he shares some of his experiences as an interpreter. I have a couple of stories of my own and I’m sure you do, too. It’s amazing how many things happen in our work life every day, if you think of it. Victories and failures, interacting with clients and colleagues, ethical dilemmas — they all make great material for posts.

Talking to colleagues and (potential) clients

In my case it’s rather reading posts and tweets written by them, but it works well too. This is how I got the idea for my previous post. If there’s one thing I would have done differently regarding my translation career, I would have started making connections with other translators much earlier, because their stories and ideas have become a huge source of inspiration for me. And what better way to write a post that will be of use to your customers can you think of, than to discuss their problems or read something that’s interesting to them?

Google Alerts

This is a great way to get new articles from all over the Internet delivered right into your inbox. You can choose a few topics and it takes only a couple of minutes to scan their names and choose which ones you’d want to read or share.

Medium

This is another source of great content and food for thought. I have subscribed for a few topics and scan through the list of posts every morning while having breakfast.

Subscription to LinkedIn groups news or news-letters

I get the news from several industry groups and a couple of news-letters. This helps me stay on top of what’s going on in the industries where my potential clients work.

And what about you? Where do you get your blogging inspiration from?

Photo by Death to The Stock Photo

This post was originally published on my blog at wordsboutique.com

 

 

Elena Tereshchenkova

About Elena Tereshchenkova

EN-RU translator. Make the world better one translation at a time & help companies connect with Russian speakers all around the world. Creator of I Love Mondays. Co-host of Blabbing Translators.

9 thoughts on “Blogging Inspiration

  1. Ideas are literally everywhere. You can share you personal experience, or you can read blogs and opinions of other people and then share your own view.
    Anything can generate a great idea for a blog post.
    A tweet, a comment or a story.
    In the world of social media it’s is impossible to run out of ideas. Networking is what helps me to keep creative juices flowing.

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  2. I tend to find that they come in threes like buses… I write about networking events a fair amount. People have commented on my use of museum visits for example. I often find that such visits trigger connections and memories. Sometimes a walk in the fresh air can inspire creative ideas.

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    1. A walk in the fresh air, jogging in the park, going kayaking – any kind of physical activity can boost my level of inspiration. It’s important to connect with nature from time to time. Helps you look at the life from a slightly different angle.

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    2. That’s true, going for a walk and enjoying art in one form or another are great ways to spur creativity. Have I got this right: do you use museum visits for networking? If so, I would love to read more about it. Could you point me to your posts on the topic?

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  3. I’m getting my inspiration everywhere. That’s why I have a bunch of notes and one giant list with articles I want to write about. But first things first: I always try to stick to actualities.

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    1. Thanks for your comment, Pieter!

      How do you determine what you should write about first? I also have a list of topics and a content calendar (well, sort of), but if I come across something interesting, I will probably write about it first. What about you?

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  4. I have a folder on my PC called ‘Blogging’. In my everyday life I hear, read and watch various information. Some things make me ask questions, or/urge me to share my opinion on. I open my folder and create there a file with an appropriate title. If I have the time to sit and write right away, I do so. If not, I just close the empty file until I return to it.
    Have a great weekend everyone! 🙂

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