Chances are, most of the time you have an unbelievable number of ideas for content topics.

Sure, some of them won’t work out once you start planning them out, but you’ve still a goldmine of good ideas just waiting to be tapped. Every now and then, though, you’ll wind up staring at a blank screen with no idea what you’re going to write about.

Help!

Before you panic, take a deep breath and get ready to write. There are a number of ways to generate new content ideas even when you can’t think of anything.

Here are a few suggestions that should get you back to writing in no time:

• What Do You Know? First thing’s first: Figure out what you’re going to write about in a very broad sense. Grab a pen and paper, then start writing down your niches and areas of expertise. Writing by hand is a great way to get those creative juices flowing, and once you can see in a very real sense what your possible topics are you might find inspiration starting to strike. If you still don’t have anything, go through each of your broad topics and break it up into two smaller topics to try and hone in on inspiration.

• Ask Questions: Think about questions you’d like to know the answer to, or things within your areas of expertise that you had to learn at some point. Chances are that if you had to ask about it, someone else out there is asking right now. Put your top questions into a search engine and see what answers others are giving, then start writing out your own answer for the masses.

• Check the Trends: There are a lot of places you can go to see what’s currently trending. Facebook, Twitter, news apps, Google alerts and more will keep you up to date on what people are currently talking about. If you can’t find inspiration on your own, see what topics are currently all the buzz and write about those that seem the most interesting.

• Keyword Suggestions: Sometimes you’ll find comedy gold in search engine suggestions, but there’s a lot of inspiration to be found there as well. Enter your primary keyword into a search engine and see what search suggestions pop up. One of them might be exactly what you need to write about.

• Look to the Past: If you can’t think of anything to write right now, look at your past body of work for inspiration. Are there any topics you always meant to revisit but never did? Do any of your past posts or articles need an update because the info in them is now obsolete? Is there a piece that you feel you could write better now because you’re more knowledgeable of the topic? Don’t be afraid to update your past work in your present writing.

• Ask for Ideas: Pose questions to your friends and followers on social media, asking them which topics are important to them right now. You’ll likely get a wide range of responses, and any of them could point you in the right direction for your next article. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, either, since that follower might be more knowledgeable about the topic than you are and could wind up expanding your horizons more than you expect.