Stuck for blog ideas? At Apollo Media, we have stressed the importance of better blog brainstorming before and following our strategies for developing consistent and valuable content for blogs of all stripes, we thought we would explore some important resources anyone can use to generate exciting new posts.

1. Netvibes
   Here on the Apollo Blog, we have featured several articles on the importance of social bookmarking and how user-ranked content is driving traffic across the web. Netvibes allows you to manage several RSS feeds from your favorite social bookmarking sites (as well as your favorite blogs and sites) in a convenient and customizable, multi-tab table. Netvibes can be used to display the latest Digg, ShoutWire and Reddit posts (among others) that are gaining traction from users worldwide, and are updated on a daily and even hourly basis. A quick scan of what is getting people’s attention everyday will help you craft viral titles or generate blog concepts. It’s also one of the quicker ways of scanning the updates on blogs in your respective industry.
   
2. Wikipedia
   Not only is Wikipedia an obvious tool for research, it can also be used to help you generate new post ideas, as each article usually features many links to related entries, broadening the scope of your subject matter so you can build on earlier writings. For example, if you are writing about politics on your blog but are stuck for an idea, why not browse Wikipedia’s Politics Portal and see where the links take you? An entry about a specific politician may spark an investigation into social movements surrounding that specific time period, leading to another post idea. While you many have done a post on Martin Luther King Day, some further investigation might lead to develop another blog idea, like “The Greatest Unsung Civil Rights Heroes” for example.There are also other wikis within the Wikipedia sphere, including Wikiquote, Wikisource and Wikinews, so you can flesh out your articles with different types of information. A quick glance at Wikipedia’s front page may get the gears turning as well, with the ‘Did you Know?’ and ‘On this Day’ sections always providing some daily food-for-thought.

3. Google/Yahoo/MSN News feeds
   The news, from whichever source you choose, is always a safe bet when it comes to generating blog ideas. Looking to current events, strange happenings or shocking discoveries is a key way of developing discussion worthy content while keeping your blog relevant and up-to-date. Google and Yahoo news rank among the best sources as they offer comprehensive search options so you can better delve into specific news stories relevant to your blog.

4. Your Previous Posts
   Look in your own blog’s archives and get a sense of what has worked best in the past. What has generated traffic? Comments? Links? Which articles were the most fun to write or offered the greatest challenge? Perhaps most importantly, which articles still need more work, expansion or updates? Going over your past work is essential to crafting new posts, as it will not only allow you to learn from past mistakes and successes, but will push you to expand on topics that you had previously touched on the surface. Always look to see if you can take your present articles further.

5. Technorati
   Technorati is one of the most popular blog directories on the Internet and for good reason. It allows you to search through the most popular blogs within your industry, what news stories are peaking interests across the Internet and ranks blog authority by measuring the number of links they have achieved. A valuable idea generating resource, Technorati keeps track of what stories and tags that are grabbing attention on an hourly basis and establishes the blogging authority in several industries.

At Apollo Media, we recommended that bloggers in all fields consider checking on these resources once or even several times a day to get a firm understanding of developments within their respective industries and to be continually receptive to new post ideas and concepts. What are your top blogging resources? Let us know what you think!