by Michy Lynn

Created on: February 18, 2009

As a freelance writer, I often find paying writer's jobs on the internet, and then I read the submission guidelines, check out what the site or publication has published in the past, and then research

a bit and write a query or article and submit it on spec. It's relatively easy to decide what to write about when the publication you are writing for has a theme and you know what they expect. However, sometimes I write for sites that accept submissions on just about any theme, such as Associated Content, and that's when finding ideas for articles becomes a bit more difficult.

Many times, sites that accept content articles will let you write about just about anything they think can bring page views to their site. Because of that, you want to find topics that have a public interest, things you can show will bring readers and a readership to the site and your content.

Keeping content fresh and coming up with new ideas isn't easy when you write all day. Sometimes you simply run out of original ideas and worry you may be writing about the same things over and over. I've seen it asked in many writing forums, "How do you come up with ideas for new articles?"

So I decided to write an article or two about how to come up with freelance writing ideas that will help you get page views, a readership, provide information people are seeking, and with any luck, help you increase your writing income.

#1 Breaking News Sites

MSNBC, Fox News, Yahoo!, Google, and many other websites have a breaking news section where you can see news as it happens, or shortly after it happens. If you frequent these sites or sign up to receive email notifications of breaking news, you can find a wealth of article ideas from breaking news stories.

Generally speaking, when a story first breaks, there is not a lot that has been written about it, but people will start to look for more in depth information. If you are one of the first to write about and publish a breaking news story, you are almost guaranteed page views for your writing, because you won't be competing for keywords with other sites yet. Get something out there quickly, and then promise your readers a follow up when more information is available.

After you are able to do some more research on a breaking news story, read what other sites have been saying, and see if you can't find an angle to the story that other sites have not written about yet for your follow up. This way, when your readers are compelled by your promise of a follow up to return

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