5 Free and Handy Online Tools to Brainstorm Ideas

There will always be ideas to brainstorm and add to our list of things we learned. BUT.

There are moments that nothing comes up despite racking your brains for ideas.  It happens to every type of writer. It can happen to you even if you have the knack for writing.

It is a common denominator among writers to experience ‘zombie’ moments. Sometimes you are just tired you cannot think of anything, or cannot generate the needed ideas for your content.

These inescapable episodes happen while you are physically active. You even try different movements (even dancing!) to generate ideas. Nothing shows up.

Online tools come in handy during these moments.  There are a lot of these on the web.  Some are easy to navigate, and some are difficult to explore.  Some require a sign-up, and some can be used right away without signing in. But why torture the self?

Let’s visit these 5 online tools that will help you brainstorm ideas:

Hubspot Blog Ideas Generator

Years before, there is a sign-in button.  What you can see now is a share button at the right top corner.  You can use this tool anytime you want. Amazing!

With a looming deadline, this tool can help content writers/bloggers.  Just fill in up to five nouns.   You click the button ‘Give me blog ideas’ and voila, you get a week’s (5 days) blog titles/topics for a single noun. You can have more by clicking A Year of Blog Ideas.

Portent’s Content Idea Generator

This ingenious online tool will not require you to sign in. It’s that lone page that will give you those funny but witty titles.  Unlike the Hubspot Blog Topics Generator, it will provide light topics for a week.  You can write a single subject on the field and click the go button as many times as you like. The generator will give you different unique titles. 

Surprisingly, it makes the mind work. I tried ‘ideas’ (they prefer one word for each entry).  The result is:

7 Least Favorite Ideas

Where each word has a shout-out that explains:

7 – Numbers make the world feel organized and manageable.

Least – Negative words appeal to a reader’s gossipy side.  They want to know and to tell others.

Favorite – Pairing opposite words in your title gives it energy and interest.

Ideas – Pro Tip: Everything is exciting if you are excited while writing about it.

Clever.

Quora

The principle behind this search tool is to answer questions, This way, too, Quora builds connections and guides and informs people at the same time.

You have to create an account to enjoy all the features and be able to participate.  Just write your question in the search field and click Ask Question.  Interesting, isn’t it?

You can type a topic or a person’s name on the search field Quora provides.  If there aren’t stories yet for your query, you can type again and wait for an answer. Or you can click on a related topic at the right sidebar.

The available answers are not necessarily the ones you need, but they can help you with future content or blog materials. At Quora, suggestions may appear while you type your question or topic.

BuzzSumo

The tool supplies a list of key influencers for a specific topic. It’s a storage of content articles classified according to the number of shares.  Just like Quora, it is one of the best tools to brainstorm ideas for writing content or blog posts.

You do not need to sign in to search for ideas.  All you need to do is write a topic (or a domain) in the search field then click ‘go’.  You can customize your search by filtering it with the date, the language, the domain, or the content type.

Google

Last but not least is Google.  The simplest way to gather ideas is through Google.  You will be redirected to Google Search once you type the first letter.  It is not necessary to sign up/sign in to search.

As you go on typing, suggested topics will appear.  The page adjusts automatically to other related searches.  You now have ideas for your blog from the selection.

The goal is to get an instant selection of ideas or topics for content writing or blog posting. While developing that habit of reading to gain information, it pays to have amazing tools that are available when the recall button of the brain is not functioning as needed.