We've all been there. You have thought of the best blog idea EVER! Unfortunately, you are nowhere near a computer. No worries, there is no way you will forget
this topic.
Nope, not this time.
Let's fast forward to the moment when you finally sit down to
write your epic blog post. What was it you were going to write about? Surely you remember? Right?
Don't Fool Yourself
If you are like me, chances are you won't remember the exact topic you were planning to write about. Sure, you might remember the general idea you originally came up with, but will you remember all the details?
This has happened to me more times than I can remember...so I looked for ways to make sure it doesn't happen again.
How Do I Remember Blog Topics to Write About?
As evident from most of my blog posts, I am definitely not a great writer. My strengths come from my knowledge on how to solve problems and do things more efficiently. For example,
how to efficiently manage Twitter lists,
hacking WordPress when I have an issue, or even
using IFTTT to be more productive with digital marketing tasks.
So naturally,
I knew there had to be an efficient way to remember future blog post topics.
In fact, I came up with two quick and easy ways to make sure I don't forget future blog topics. Chances are you can use one to make sure you remember your blog topic when the time comes to write.
Email Your Blog Topic
I'm sure you are probably looking at this post, thinking "really, just email it?" Sure it sounds simple and chances are some of you already do this. Just to be clear, I am talking about emailing it to yourself from your phone and not a computer. I'm willing to bet that you almost always have your cell phone within reach which makes it easy to email yourself a blog topic idea.
However, if your inbox is cluttered like most (myself included), chances are this email will drift into oblivion never to be found again.
Only if there was a way to easily track all these emails...
Sure enough, we can use
IFTTT to streamline the documentation. If you are not too familiar with IFTTT, I
recommend reading this. I'll be using an IFTTT recipe that will take all your emails about blog topics and syncing them into a Google Drive Spreadsheet.
Using IFTTT is rather easy and to get started, I have already provided you with the recipe to get started in just a few steps:
You will simply need to change any of the settings to your liking and save. Perhaps the most important setting is the subject line the recipe will search for. For me, I chose to use the subject line "#blogtopic". You can feel free to use this or change it to something else. Just remember what it is and be sure to use it in the subject line when you are email yourself a blog topic.
Using Gmail's search operators, you can get more specific if you would like. For me, I chose to keep it simple.
Once setup, simply create emails with your subject line. Then check your Google Drive for your document and all of the submitted emails will show in your spreadsheet. What is nice about using a spreadsheet is that you can also attach an image to your email if needed. This image will show up as a link in your spreadsheet on Google Drive. Additional info included in the spreadsheet are the date of the email, the from address, subject line, and most importantly the content of the email. Since it is in a spreadsheet, you can always filter the columns for specific data should your list get rather long.
Text Your Blog Topic
For those of you who like to keep it simple, you can just text your topic to your IFTTT SMS number. With your IFTTT account, once your phone number is verified, you can send texts to a unique SMS phone number provided by IFTTT. Therefore, to use this recipe you will need to setup your IFTTT SMS number first if you have not already. If you want to text your blog ideas to Google Drive, just click on the recipe below:
Similar to the previous recipe, you will need to tweak any settings you want changed. Again, with this recipe I chose to use the hashtag "#blogtopic" to designate the text message is about my blog topic. This is important in that you may later choose to use IFTTT's SMS for other purposes, and by using a unique hashtag you can keep things separate.
When you text using the hashtag "#blogtopic" to your IFTTT SMS number, it will automatically add the date, the number you texted from, and the content of the text to your Google Drive document.
Advantages of These Tactics
While these are both head-smacking simple tricks, they do hold some advantages of most note taking apps. For me, I like the fact that I will be able to house all of my topics in a single document that can be located from any device. It doesn't matter if I am on my phone, tablet, or computer - I can access Google Drive from any of these devices.
Another advantage is the simplicity of the approach. I like that I don't have to have special apps installed on any of my devices as they all have email clients by default. Therefore, it is as simple as opening up my email client and typing a few lines before sending.
How Do You Remember Future Blog Topics?
While there are definitely other ways to remember your blog topics, I have found that this approach works for me. Have you struggled remembering your blog topics while on the go? What methods did you try to use to remember? Did they work? And if you're just
getting started blogging, let me know if you plan on using these tips. Be sure to sound off in the comments below.
If you know of a blogger who could use this advice, send them a link to this post so they never forget another blog topic.
