Blogging Tips - Hundreds of Resources for Finding Content for Your Blog
Blogging is great fun. It’s exciting. You start out with great ideas, full of motivation and inspiration. After a while, though, you run out of steam. The muse isn’t so amused any more and you start hunting for content, things to write about.
There are two aspects of finding content for your blog. First, it is to find the inspiration that generates original content on your blog. This can come from a variety of sources. Basically, it can be a news story, fellow blogger’s post, an interesting web page you stumbled across, something a friend said, or anything that interests you enough to research and write about it.
The second aspect is to find links. A lot of bloggers seem to specialize in finding interesting content and providing a link and maybe a few words to recommend to their readers that they check out the original content on someone else’s blog or site. While this isn’t so much about finding original content for your blog, it is about finding information and resources that is helpful to your readers.
Either way, when the well runs dry, where do you go to find more content to keep the river of babble flowing on your blog?
I’ve put together a huge list of content resources for you to peruse and investigate for possible blog content. It certainly isn’t a list of all the content, resources, and information out there, but it is designed to get you thinking about all the content, resources, and information out there for you to blog about. And there is a lot out there. If I have missed a favorite resource of yours, please add it below in the comments. I love looking up new avenues of inspiration.
I’ve grouped the different resources for finding content for your blog into the following categories:
Top News Stories
Industry News and Resources
Tagging and Social Bookmarking
Most Popular/Highest Traffic
Top Search Results
Research: Reading What Other People Wrote
Facts, Figures and Statistics
Search Engines, Search Blogs, and Search Resources
Tracking Stories
Internet Traffic, Web Trends, and Page Rank

Top News Stories
The news is probably one of the most popular resources for stories. Many people monitor CNN or Yahoo News to keep up with what is going on around the world or in your backyard. While the “top 10 news stories” may be intriguing for some, there is a lot of news out there to digest and dig through, finding potential stories. I’ve collected a few interesting and more unusual places to find news, often news that doesn’t make the main headlines, to help you start thinking about where and how you find news to write about on your blog.
CNN - Most Popular Stories
Research Buzz - Kebberfegg
Topix News Headlines
Online Newspapers
180n (Top Sited News Stories)
Crayon - Most Popular News Sites
People’s Daily from China - Most Popular News Stories
New York Times - Most Emailed Stories
New York Times - World News
Meta Eureka - Top News Stories
Yahoo Top News Stories - Most Viewed
News is Free - Most Popular News Stories
1st Headlines - Top Breaking Headline News
Yahoo News - Full Coverage and Topical Roundup of World News Stories
Google Alerts
Google News
Today’s Front Pages from the Newseum
Newslink - Major Metro US Newspapers
News Link
Headline Spot - News Wires
Reuters Free Top News Stories
Rapid Tree - List of Worldwide Media Resources like Newspapers, Magazines, TV, and More
Meta Grid - Access and Search 8000 Newspapers and Magazines Online
News Directory
Online Newspapers
I Want Media - Links and Media Resources
News Place - News Resources
Ananova - Breaking News Portal
World News
News in Essence - Aggregator
I Have News Aggregator Top Stories
Wall Street Executive Library News Resources
News Trawler
WorldPress.org - Worldwide News
Lexis Nexis - Free News Headlines
News Ahead - News Forecast
Slate
News Wise - News Tracker and Search Engine Service
CNN Email News Alerts
Yahoo Email News Alerts
E-News Wire
Infomaniac - News Research Behind the Stories

Industry News and Resources
If you are blogging about a specific subject or industry, monitor the news stories coming out of that industry. There are many industries to choose from, and they are not always all encompassing. For example, if you are interested in the blogging industry, not all the information on blogging might be of interest to you. You might only be interested in bloggers blogging in Japan or China, not the whole world. So your need for news resources covers a very wide industry but narrows to a specific focus.
The following is a general example of some industry news and resources available online. For a specific industry, hit the search engines for your industry keywords. Whatever your blogging topic, the odds are that there are one or more industries which support it. So search far and wide to find good resources for your blog stories.
New Scientist (dinosaurs, evolution, being human, endangered species, technology, health and more)
BlogPulse
Blodex - Top Blogged Stories
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Magazines and Information Resources on Health, Science, and Medicine
Geography Network of Canada (maps, geography, and data)
Silicon.com - Most Popular White Papers from Silicon Valley
Above Top Secret - Top Conspiracy Theory News
Business Week - Technology Research Library Top 50 Resources
Business Week - Blogspotting
Netcraft - Web Server Survey
Webmaster World
Wired - Blogs
ZDNet Blogs on Technology
Inbox Robot - Most Popular Newsletters
Inbox Robot - Hot Newsletter Topics
All Bookstores - Most Popular Books
Spacetoday.org - Research Resources for Journalists
Writer Magazine
About.com’s Urban Legends Blog
Hill News - News About the US Congress
Business Wire
ZDNet - Technology News
The New England Journal of Medicine
US National Library of Medicine
Medline Plus - Medical News and Information
The Educator’s Reference Desk
Jane’s News On Defence, Airport, Transportation, Security And Risk Developments
Landings.com - Aviation History, Accident, and Archives
Newsforge - News about Linux and Open Source
Internet News
Editor and Publisher News Headlines
Bloomberg Financial News
OneWorld.net - Human Rights News
Book Wire - Book Publishing News
Idea List - News from the International Non-Profit World
ReferenceShelf - Docuticker - News from Librarians
Electronic Frontier Foundation - Freedom of Speech Resource Center
Internet News Bureau - Most Recent Stories
Research Buzz - Search Engine News and More
Biz Journals - Business News
The Smoking Gun
WebReference

Tag and Social Bookmarking Services
Tags and social bookmarking services are similar but different. Social bookmarking actually is the term that refers to users recommending which topics are most popular with them. This is done through votes and by tags.
A site or software tool that collects and stores your recommended or “bookmarked” sites is called a Social Bookmarking Manager. Some Social Bookmarking Managers are private, but the ones that will usually serve you better are the public ones, which show the world what you think is important information, and asks others to “vote” for your recommendations as you vote on theirs, and the winners rise to the top.
Tags are mini-categories for blog content, tagged by the blog owner or visitor. Used in combination with social bookmarking, you can search through tag services for the most popular posts within a specific tag category based upon traffic, voting, or other recommendations.
Tags and social bookmarking help Internet users talk to each other, sharing favorite posts and articles. They also help let you, the blogger, get a feel for what topics are popular at the moment. If it is popular enough, you may want to blog about it. By monitoring these “most popular” lists, whether by overall category or tags specific to your interests, you can keep a finger on the pulse of public opinion.
Technorati
IceRocket
Daypop
BlogPulse
Blodex - Top Blogged Stories
Blogsearch.com
Blogs of the Day
180n (Top Sited News Stories)
Gada - Graphic Meta Search Engine
Furl.net - Latest Headline Entries
CodeCubed - Tree Map (based on Del.icio.us)
Newzingo - Google Tag Map
Flickr
BlinkList
Connotea - Scientific Tags
De.lirio.us (Del.icio.us clone)
Digg
Furl
Blogmarks
KB Cafe Tag Search
Shadows - Social Bookmarking Service
Bloghop
Simpy
Oishii - Most Popular Bookmarks
Citeulike - Free Citation Service
Common Times - Reader Controlled News
Wists - Social Shopping
Spurl
Scuttle
LookMarks
Frassle
GiveALink - Donate Bookmarks
Netvous
Memeorandum
Ask Jeeves (now uses tags)
LinkFilter
Hyperlinkomatic
FeedMarker
BackFlip
Yummy.printfu - PDF Social Bookmarking
Diigo
Quimble - Poll on Favorite Social Bookmarking Manager
StumbleUpon
Filangy
Riffs - Social Recommender
RawSugar
Linkagogo
Gibeo.net
Linkroll
OpenBM - (Open Bookmarks)
SearchFox
Bloogz
Findory
Wink
Blog Top Sites
Indiza - Europe and International Social Bookmarking

Most Popular/High Traffic
There are many lists online that list the “most popular” websites, blogs, topics, news, products, services, and more. By monitoring these sites, you can stay on top of what is attracting the most attention.
Most popular lists are based upon a variety of criteria. For a few, it is just what is most popular to them, the individual or group, as they see it, often with their own criteria. For most “most popular lists”, though, popularity is solely based upon measurable data such as actual purchases or highest visitor traffic.
For high traffic sites or blogs, there is a lot to learn as well as be inspired by. What are they talking about? How are they talking about the subjects? Where are they getting their information and resources? Should you be following their lead? Use high traffic and most popular sites and blogs as resources for possible content and ideas.
If you don’t see a specific “most popular” topic of interest to you, in a search engine type in “most popular” with a keyword for your interest, like WordPress, and the search results will include the most popular WordPress Themes, plugins, tips, techniques, blogs, and other WordPress related most popular items. From here, you can find sites to monitor for the “most popular” topics for your blog.
Alexa - Top 500 websites
Alexa - Top 500 global websites
Technorati - Most Popular Posts and Tags
Fark
BlogPulse
Hot Links
Reddit
Truth Laid Bear’s website ecosystem
Technorati Top 100
Feedster Top 500
Memeorandum
Furl.net - Most Popular
Chuquet - Most Linked To Posts
Blo.gs - Most Watched Blogs
Bloogz - Most Popular Blogs
National Geographic - 15 Most Popular Stories
WayPath Most Popular Blogs, Topics, and Search
Topix News Headlines
Variety - Most Popular Entertainment Stories
Most Popular Sites
Village Voice - Most Popular Stories
Yahoo - Most Emailed Photos and Slideshows
CNN - Most Popular Stories
Flickr - Most Popular Photo Tags
Bloogz Most Popular Blog Ranking
Most Popular Historical Biographies
Bloglines - Top Links
Technorati - Most Popular Blogs
Bloglines - Top Blogs
Yahoo News - Most Popular Stories
Salon Radio Community Server - Statistics by Page Read Rankings
Topten.org - Most Popular Top Ten Nuggets
Blog Rankings - Most Popular Blogs
Right Wing News - The Most Popular Political Blogs On The Net
What is Making Blog News - Top 10 Posts List
Top Ten Sources - Popular Posts
Amazon Bestsellers
USA Today - Hot Sites and Hot Shows
Info Please - Top Tens List
Blog Top Sites
DayPop - Top 40 Stories
Blogmarks - Most Popular Posts
FeedMeLinks
Jots
LiveMarks
Most Popular Del.icious Posts of All Time
EarthCam Announces 25 Most Interesting Webcams
Tail Rank - Popular Blog Posts and Comments

Top Search Results
Another method of finding content is to find out what people are searching for. Search engines and other search engine monitoring resources are always keeping an eye on what topics are most popular by counting up the top search keywords and phrases.
There are several different types of reports for tracking top search results. Old style but useful lists include top search keywords and phrases from seardh engines. More modern style top search results show you live, as-it-happens search action, which may or may not reflect the most popular searches but shows you what people are searching for in the moment. Which ever method attracts you, there is a lot of information and inspiration that can be gleaned.
Webcrawler Search Spy - Live Viewing of Search Keywords (Adult and Filtered Views)
MetaSpy - Live Viewing of Search Keywords (Adult and Filtered Views)
LiveMarks - Live Del.icio.us Feed
Digg Spy - Live View of Diggs
LiveMarks - Top Ranking from Del.icio.us
Kanoodle Search Spy - Live Search Preview
Meta Eureka - Voyeur (Manual Refresh)
Joe Ant - Top Search Keywords Live
AOL Hot Searches
Dogpile - Search Spy Live Search Preview (Adult and Filtered Views)
Search Words
Search Hippo
Search King - Top 25 Search Words
Eurekster - Advertising and Keyword Search
Fravia - Web Searchlore (Keyword and Search Tips, Techniques, and Methods
Analogx - Top Search Keywords
MSN Insider - Top Searches
DWoz - Top Keywords and Search Phrases
Yahoo Buzz - Top Searches
Google Zeitgeist Global - Top Search Results Globally
Google Zeitgeist - Top Search Results
Google News Top Searches for 2005
Lycos Top Searches for 2005
Yahoo Top Searches for 2005
Search.com Top Searches for 2005
Ask (aka Ask Jeeves) Top Searches for 2005
AOL Top Searches for 2005
Dogpile.com (via Infospace - metasearch engine searches Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, and others for 2005
A9’s Top Search Words with 9 Letters for 2005
Search Engine Watch - Google and Yahoo Make Dogpile’s Top Searches Of 2005 List
Yahoo! Canada 2005 Year in Review Top Searches
London Free Press - Janet Jackson top pick for Google searches
The Manila Bulletin - Top IT Stories for 2005
BBC News - Google Taps Into Search Patterns
Search Engine Watch - 5th Annual Search Engine Awards (from earlier this year)
Year in Review: Year of Heroes and Weasels
CodeCubed - Tree Map (based on Del.icio.us)
Newzingo - Google News Tag Map

Research: Reading What Other People Wrote
There is so much being written on the web, it can be overwhelming. Yet, one of the most important ways of finding something to write about is to find out what other people are writing about. This goes beyond news or most popular stories. It is the monitoring and reading of what other people are writing about to help inspire you to write.
Inspiration comes in many ways from reading. It begins by reading about what people are writing about in your industry. If they wrote it wonderfully, then you can cite them on your blog with a comment or two to encourage your readers to visit their site and read the article. If you want to talk about what they wrote, you can cite their post and include a blockquote or two from the article, and then say what you want to say. If you like what they wrote, but you think you can write it better, use their article as inspiration to write your own. Reading what other people also write helps you to keep up with what is going on around you, the trends and the news.
You never know where a bit of inspiration will come from, so keep your mind open to all possiblities. The following includes a wide range of resources for finding articles and archived articles. I’ve also included a list of some aggregators, sites that display content from other sites to help you keep track of what is going on through blog feeds. Some of these you can personalize and customize, while others are just lists to read through.
Mag Portal for online magazines and research information
Comment Content - part of Creative Commons
LookSmart - Find Articles
Bloglines (Aggregator/Feeds)
FeedDemon (Aggregator/Feeds)
Feedreader (Aggregator/Feeds)
Findory (Aggregator/Feeds)
NetNewsWire (Aggregator/Feeds - MAC)
NewsGator (Aggregator/Feeds)
Radio UserLand (Aggregator/Feeds)
Crayon - Create Your Own Customizable Online Newspaper
PR Web (Press Releases)
US National Archives
About.com - About Everything
News Lab
US News Archives - Newspaper Archives
University of Toronto - Internet Resources and Metasites
Ask a Librarian
The Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database
Librarian’s Internet Index
The Gateway to 21st Century Skills in Education (US Gov)
High Beam Library Research for News, Images, and Statistics
H2O Playlist - Intellectual Content and Reading Lists
Poynter Online - Journalist Links and Resources
CyberJournalist Super Search Tools
Power Reporting - Free Research Tools for Journalists
PR News Wire
News Trove - Search News by Viewpoint
Yahoo Directory of RSS Formats and Aggregators
Time Magazine Archives
Bloghop - Connects Readers with Blogs
Assignment Editor - Newsroom Home Page
E-How - How Things Work
How Stuff Works
Journalism Net - Massive Research Resources and Links
Internet Public Library
National Press Club - Library and Research Links and Resources
The Refdesk
Bartleby References and Quotes
Journalist Express - One Stop Links and Resources for Journalists
Monitor This - Create Custom RSS Search Feeds
Voice of the Shuttle

Search Engines, Search Blogs and Search Feeds
There are times when the most popular, highest traffic, or top stories just don’t give you the material you need for creative composition, or you need more collaborating evidence and research for the topic you are working on. That’s when you turn to searching.
Sometimes just putting in a few words that sum up your industry or a topic that interests you can bring up interesting story angles and perspectives that you haven’t thought of before. Sometimes, just typing in a word and hitting the “Surprise Me” button that some search engines have will take you to new places you never thought to look before. Either way, search engines offer tremendous information, resources, and inspiration if you just start looking.
Everyone has their favorite search engines, but this list also includes a variety of search services that might get you more specialized results on your topic. Among these more specialized searches, you can also search just blogs, feeds, or specific topics.
Google Blog Search
Yahoo News & Blog Search
Feedster (Feed Search)
Blogdigger {Feed Search)
Bloogz - Blog Search
Dogpile - Searches 5 Major Search Engines
Hot Sheet - List of Top News and Information Sites and Search Engine
Mamma - The Mother of All Search Engines
Metacrawler
Search Engine Colossus - International Directory Of Search Engines
Lycos
Journalism Net - Find People
Oxide - Jump Search Engine
I Want Media - Facts, Statistics, Links and Media Resources
Teoma Direct Hit Search
Vivismo Clusty - Cluster Search Engine
Rocket News - Feed Search Engine
Snap - Virtual News and Search Engine
News Wise - News Tracker and Search Engine Service
Bloogz
Blogwise - Top Blogs Search
Vivisimo - Clusty Blog Search
Blog Search Engine
Blogarama Blog Directory
A9 Search Engine and Maps
KartOO - Graphic Search Engine
Click City - City Guides
Killer Info Cluster Search Engine
Info Please
DMOZ - Open Directory Project
DMOZ - Open Directory Project - Weblogs Resources
DMOZ - Open Directory Project - Blog Search Engines
Blog Top Sites
Search Engine Base
Search Engine Showdown
Jux2 - Search Engine evaluates Page Ranks
Blogdigger Local - Find Local Bloggers
FeedMap - Blog Map
Tag Cloud - Heat Map of Feed Keywords Tool
BrowseDelicious - Visual Browsing
Blog Universe Directory
All Your Words - Word Association Search
Vox Delicii - Graphic Search Engine
My Web 2.0 Yahoo Search - Custom Search Page
Wists - Social Shopping
StumbleUpon
Filangy
WayPath Blog Search

Tracking Stories
Sometimes you want to be the first blogger on your block to cover a particular story. Then there are times when everyone else has covered the story but you want to know what has happened to the story now, after the news has turned their headlights away. There are also times when the headline news doesn’t tell the whole story and you want to tell more. This is when it is time to start tracking the story beyond the headline news.
While there are a variety of sites that track stories and news, there are three methods for story tracking services and sites. First, there are sites whose goal is to simply to list blog or site content or press releases from subscribers or whatever resources they monitor. They are glorified information lists. Some showcase odds and ends, while others specialize in a specific industry. These work well for general interest subjects you are researching or investigating.
The second method is known as “website trackers”, software, online services, or utlities that will notify you if there has been a change in a specific website or blog. If a new post is published, you get an alert via your browser, email, or when you visit the website tracking page, showing you which blogs or sites have new content.
The third method is to use search engines and feed services as well as tagging and social bookmarking services to track stories. Search the story subject, title, or keywords to generate potential sources. Check these to see if they allow you to create a feed from your search results so you can track the story. See the lists above for those services.
Whatever reason you want to track stories, I’ve put together a list that includes both groups.
PubSub
PR News Wire - Feed Categories
Steven Bell’s Keeping Up Website - Web Page Change Detection Services
Watch That Page
Library Journal - Do I Detect a Change
Infominder Website Tracking
Change Detection - Website Administrator Tool
Website Watcher
Change Detect
Check and Get
Right Web Monitor
Track Engine
Site Up
Chikaboo
New York Times - News Alerts by Category
TV Eyes for Consumers - Free Email Alerts on TV Stories
Net News Tracker - Tracks News Groups
Google Alerts
Google Groups - What Are They Saying?
TalkDigger - Tracking Search Engines, Blogs, Tag Services and Social Bookmarking
Tail Rank - Popular Blog Posts and Comments on Posts
I-Tools Search
News Wise - News Tracker and Search Engine Service
TRAC.SYR.EDU - Transactional Record Access Clearing House - Tracking US Government News
Feedster Ego Builder Feed - Custom Feed Maker
Rocket News - Feed Search Engine and Custom Feed Maker
BBC News Feed Factory - Custom and Category Feeds
Associated Content - Custom Categorized Feeds
LifeHacker - Creating Custom Live Digg Feeds
Yahoo News Feeds and Custom Feeds
Netvibes - Custom News Page
Topix - Advanced Search Custom Feed (scan for feed on search results)
Inform - Custom News and Feeds

Facts and Statistics
There comes a time when you just need the facts. Or, you stumble upon some facts that so amaze you, you want to check them out so you can write about them. There are so many facts and statistics out there, I couldn’t possibly list them all, but here are some of the more popular resources for facts and figures for the US and World.
US FedStats - Statistics from the US Government
US Freedom of Information Act
US Department of Labor - Labor Statistics
Population Reference Bureau
US National Center for Education Statistics
US Energy Information Administration
US Center for Disease Control - Data Warehouse for National Center for Health Statistics
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
FBI Crime Report Statistics
US Bureau of Justice Statistics Data for Analysis
Crime.org - Crime Links and Statistics
World Health Organization - WHO Statistical Information System
US National Institutes of Health
City-Data - US Cities Data and Statistics
Cornell Law - Legal Information Institute
Library of Congress - Thomas Search the Laws
Louisiana State University - Libraries Federal Agencies Directory
USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System
USDA State Facts
Find Law
US FedWorld
The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education
US Department of Defense
National Conference of State Legislatures - State Legislatures Internet Links
Cornell - US Code
CIA World Factbook
Defense Statistics
Pentagon Facts & Figures
CIA World Fact Book
Securities and Exchange Commission - EDGAR - Research Companies
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
US National Traffic Safety Board (NTSB)
I Want Media - Facts, Statistics, Links and Media Resources
Statistics Every Writer Should Know
Jonathan Oatis - How to Get Public Records Online
WWW Virtual Library - International Affairs Resources
Nation Master - Compare Nations
Hyperstat Online Textbook - Statistics
Stats.org
Statistics.com
United Nations Statistics Division
US Government Documents - Statistics on the Web by University of Michigan
Acronym Finder
US Census Bureau
Info Please
US State Department
World Wide Web Virtual Library - Demography and Population Studies
Electronic Frontier Foundation - Freedom of Speech Resource Center
TRAC.SYR.EDU - Transactional Record Access Clearing House - Tracking US Government News
Google Scholar Search - Search for Scholarly Resources
United Nations Population Information Network
National Statistics for the UK
Statistical Resources on the Web Environment

Internet Traffic, Web Trends, and Page Rank
Whether you blog about the Internet, the web, or blogging, you are still working within the Internet industry by being a blogger. No matter what your blog topic is, it helps to understand your Internet audience, where they are coming from, how they blog, and how they search. If you have advertising on your blog, then it is important to understand what is going on in the blog business in order to help you blog better and make more money. It also helps to keep an eye on the top web hosts and traffic in general so you know what is going on around you in the Internet world.
By watching which blogs or websites are top of the charts for traffic, you can pretty much guage which topics are popular with most Internet users. Here are some resources for lists of the most popular websites and blogs online, as well as tracking web trends and traffic.
AWIS - Alexa Blog - Article on Watching Net Trends
BlogPulse
Alexa (top websites/trends)
Alexa - Top 500 websites
Alexa - Top 500 global websites
Blo.gs - Most Watched Blogs
TalkDigger - Who is Blogging About You?
DMOZ - Open Directory Project - Weblogs Resources
Jux2 - Search Engine evaluates Page Ranks
Clickz - Trends and Statistics
43 Things - Keeping Up With Current Web Trends
Internet Traffic Report
Cyber Geography Research - Mapping the Internet
GVU Research and Technology Reports
Internet Systems Consortium Internet Domain Survey
Search Engine Watch
Netcraft - Server and Web Status and News
Nielsen and Net Ratings - News Releases
The Counter - Statistics
Global Research - Global Internet Statistics
Internet Pulse
Zooknic Internet Intelligence and Geography Project
Search Engine Optimization - Bandwidth Reports
EMarketer - Online Business and Marketing
Web Hosting Info - Global Stats for Web Hosts
ComScore - Internet Statistics News
Internet World Stats
Research Buzz - Search Engine News and More
Cybergeography and Web Statistics
CAIDA, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis
Webhosting.info - Hosting Statistics and Information
Browser News - Statistics
Browser News
Net Applications - Marketshare
International Telecommunications Union - Global Statistics
Complete Guide to Internet Statistics and Research
Internet Demographics Directory
Security Space Internet Research Studies
Sociosite - Internet Use(r)s Demographics
European Internet Statistics
CIO - Technology Articles, Forecasts, and News
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) - A National Online
US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
Forrester - Online Research, Surveys, and Polls
Pew Internet and American Life Project