Brainstorming for newsletter ideas can be strenuous. But take one key element of newsletters and make it simple. Consider your reader. What interests the group? What brings them together? And, what would they discuss in an open forum of commonality? If your answer is that the readers share a common hobby: gardening. Then write the newsletter about gardening. Focus a section of soil testing, and a section on flowers and vegetable gardens. Have a garden of the week section, and interview its owner. If the commonality is that they all work for the same industry or for the same employer, than write about those things, both in the latter case.

Make a newsletter ideas list to start the process. There is a daunting monster out there for writers: writers block. But this beast attacks when ideas are needed too. So sit on it, think about the various topics that you can include as content or incorporate as the theme of the newsletter. Each issue can surely be different, but there should be a common thread to maintain readers' interest in the publication. One helpful tip for brainstorming is the brainchild of the internet company Goggle. You can utilize their tools to identify keywords and phrases that your readers may be searching. Hone in on those keywords as your next set of topics. Refresh and repeat.

Newsletters are intended to be informative, but they can be fun as well. Highlight personal achievements from the group. This will not only keep the primary readers interested, but might generate secondary readers who know the individual whose achievements are being highlighted. The publication can be pieced together from any element of your newsletter ideas list. Asking your readers what they want to see is another mechanism for generating ideas. Some will be bad, but some might prove extremely helpful—who knows, perhaps you find a writer or a brainstorming partner in the process.

Are there already newsletters for your audience? If so, peruse the columns. Find out what others are writing about, and compound upon their ideas. Be careful not to plagiarize. Consider browsing user groups, or broadly conducting an internet search on topics to link up with directories full of helpful articles that you can spin your newsletter ideas from. Try testing your reader base with a sample article that you’ve considered publishing. Email them with a topic line, or a few lines from the article to gauge interest in the topic. Or, bring it up at the water cooler if you are in an office setting. The best thing to remember is that there is no wrong way to conceive a newsletter. It takes an open-mind and an honest effort.