No matter how much passion you have for the topic you blog about, there’s going to come a time when you just run out of ideas. After blogging day in and day out for several months or years, it can feel like you’ve said it all. What else is there to write about? You’ve hit a wall, and you officially have blogger’s block.

So how do you overcome it? How do you keep coming up with fresh blog ideas so you can continue to build your blog and reach your goals?

Here are 11 proven tips I use to generate ideas for my blogs.

1. Respond to the critics—If you’re a blogger, you’re going to have to deal with negative people from time to time. Of course, there’s a right way and a wrong way to respond to them. The wrong way is to get overly defensive and sensitive, because you’ll come off as unprofessional and petty. The right way is to turn that negativity into some really great content by addressing their points and clarifying your positions.
2. Tie a major current event into your topic—Being relevant is the key to running a fresh, popular blog. Is there a way to tie some current event into your topic? For example, when the BP oil spill disaster was happening earlier this year, many bloggers in the SEO field wisely noted that BP had launched a PPC campaign to buy certain keywords and do some damage control.
3. Search Twitter hash tags—See what other people are talking about by searching Twitter hash tags related to your niche. For example, if you write a blog about basketball, you could search for “#nba” and other hash tags.
4. Keep a journal of the things you hate—There’s something about a good rant that makes for compelling blog material. Whenever you talk about the things that annoy you, it really resonates with readers because many of them will feel the same way. More importantly, it shows a bit more of your personality, allowing readers to get to know you better.
5. Criticize someone more popular than you—Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this one, but there have been many bloggers who’ve made a name for themselves by “calling out” someone way more popular than they are. Some advice here: Only do this if you have a legitimate point to make, and never make a habit of trying to build your reputation by trashing others.
6. Create a glossary for industry jargon—The other day, I came across a post titled 92 Online Marketing Terms and Metrics You Should Know. It was a glossary for those in the online marketing industry. The terms are all pretty basic, but it’s a great idea for a post because it serves as a much-needed resource.
7. Go back to the basics—Fellow SEO Hosting blogger Tyler just started a new series called Back to the Basics, and I think it’s a brilliant idea. As a blogger, it can be easy to get so deep into a subject that you overlook the basics that not everyone might know. Sometimes, you have to focus on simplicity.
8. Make a list of posts you really like—Not only is this an easy way to come up with a blog post, but if done effectively, it can serve as a remarkable piece of linkbait. There’s a reason you see bloggers doing top 100 lists at the end of the year with links to their favorite posts from around the web. They know they’re creating a resource people will link to and talk about. Not to mention, when you link out to all these other posts, you’re getting the attention of the other bloggers, helping to spread your message.
9. Extend old posts—Take a look at the last 10 or so posts you’ve written. Is there something you can add to them? Is there a related topic you didn’t get to cover? Did a reader leave a comment that’s worth following up on in-depth?
10. Look at search terms that bring visitors to your blog—Hopefully, you have some sort of analytics installed on your blog, and if you do, you already know that people will arrive to your blog from some of the most random search queries. Take a look at these queries and see if any of them relate to topics you could cover in a post.
11. Track what readers enter into your search box—Do you have a search box on your blog? This can be a goldmine for blog ideas, because it lets you see exactly what your readers want. Take a look at their search queries so you can get a better idea of the topics they’re interested in.

What are some of your best tactics for coming up with blog ideas?

As a copywriter, I know how frustrating writer’s block can be. It kills your work flow, and it makes you think you’ve lost your touch. But you can work your way through it and surprise yourself if you stick with it.

Web designers face this same struggle. Designer’s block occurs when a designer falls into a rut of building the same uninspired design time and time again or just can’t find the motivation to get the project started.

Thankfully, I’ve come up with a short list of tips that will help you slay web designer’s block the next time it rears its ugly head.

1.    Bust out the pencil and paper—When web designer’s block hits, you could end up staring at a blank computer screen for hours waiting for inspiration to kick in. Or worse, you could easily lose focus and start mindlessly surfing the web. Neither of these is a good option. Instead, take a step back from the computer, and start sketching. Sketch the basics of a bunch of different layouts so you can see what works and what doesn’t. Sketching can be done very quickly, saving you time and getting you back on track to a quality design.

2.    Look at the work of your favorite web designers—If you’re a serious web designer, you probably have a few designers you look up to. When you’re stuck, go take a look at some of their work. What is it they do that you like so much? What things do you think they could do better? This isn’t to say you should just rip off someone else’s web design ideas, but it’s good to get outside of your own head to see what other designers are doing.

3.    Go offline for inspiration—Sometimes, looking at other websites for inspiration just won’t do it for you. That’s okay. You can get inspiration for your website design offline too. Open up a magazine and look at the print ads. Watch TV commercials. This will help you identify color schemes you like, new typography ideas, and other design inspiration that will help add a new flavor to your web design.

4.    Is procrastination the issue?—I hate to admit it, but on more than one occasion, the root of my writer’s block was procrastination. It happens. You might be having an off day where you’re just not feeling it. Or the project might seem a little overwhelming or just not that interesting to you. Suck it up. Don’t let procrastination kill your inspiration, and don’t wait until right before your deadline to get started on your design, forcing you to turn in uninspired, mediocre work.

5.    Take a break (if#4 doesn’t apply)—If you truly are stuck and procrastination isn’t the issue, take a short break. Get away from your computer for a while and take a short walk. Or hit the gym. I don’t know why, but I’ve always found that I’m flooded with ideas whenever I start exercising. Sometimes, you just have to let go of it all to open the doors for creative ideas to enter in.

What do you do to overcome web designer’s block? Share your tips in the replies.

As a blogger, often I find myself staring at a blank white screen, wondering what I should write about. My job as an author is to write content that I monetize towards earning money online. The tools I use are simple. I need a tool that enables me to discover which keywords are profitable. The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is a great example. The second tool is I need a platform to use to publish my writing on line. WordPress is a great example. Inside of that, of course, there are a few other tools needed in my business, but overall I just need to know what is keywords are hot and I need a an online word processor. But what happens when I have that terrible case of writers block?

From time to time though, I sit here staring at that blank white screen. I have writers block. And as a writer, that can be a very scary thing. Over time I have learned how to deal with what I call search engine marketer’s writers block, and I want to share with you one of the solutions I have created towards dealing with it. The solution is so simply, you will kick yourself for not thinking about it on your own.

So here is what I do to eliminate writers block. I ask people what advice do they need. How can I help you? What can I help you with? In short, I open up my email inbox, open up my instant messenger profiles, and open my social networking profiles to the public and I ask people, How Can I Help You? And I invite people to contact me with their questions.

The next thing that happens is a beautiful thing. In less than 24 hours, I have enough material to write about for almost an entire month! Granted I have a lot of contacts, but really, you don’t have to know a lot of people in order to get requests for help. For instance, if you have around 100 people following you on Twitter, you can simply write a tweet stating that you have experience with a certain skill, does anyone need help? If you do that, it is very likely that at least one person will reply with a request for help.

The next step is to take the material that you have received and write content based off these requests. The process is the same as you would apply for any article publication. Research your material, research your keywords and proceed to produce a very well written article and publish it on your blog. After you publish the article, send an email back to the person who requested your help and inform that person that you wrote an entire article for them and published it live on your blog. They will be so thrilled that you took so much time to help them.

I hope that you enjoyed reading this article. What are some other ways search engine marketers can do to avoid writers block? Share your feedback and opinions in the comments below.