If you're anything like me, the biggest part of your time spent article writing is devoted to doing the research for your topic. Even if you're fortunate enough to be heavily involved or working in the field that you write about, you will still need to read original source material to keep your ideas and posts fresh, interesting, and relevant.
Since this can often be a heavy drain on your resources, doing the research for multiple articles on the same topic makes good sense. In this way, you'll do the research one time, and be able to spin your findings three or even four different ways. You can reach for as many variations as you want, just be sure to double-check your work for repetition. After all, you'll be wasting your time if it's duplicate content.
The first thing you want to do as you move into the research phase (besides having a good narrow topic), is decide how many articles you want to write. As you begin your research, you will get a better understanding of the facets of the issues around your topic and be able to formulate interesting article titles and concepts from what you're learning.
Every topic also has a counter-point that can be discussed and revealed through your research into the viewpoint you plan to take. For instance, if you want to do an article on Current Trends in Organic Farming, you are also going to come across a good deal of information about the effects of GMOs on organic farming. You see? This gives you another viewpoint for an entirely separate article. I like to stick with about three different articles from the same topic research so that I'm not bouncing around and taking too long with the reading part.
Make sure that you have at least three or four reputable sources for each viewpoint you're planning to expand into an article. You may get an idea from your research that isn't covered at all in your current topic and for which you'll need to do additional research. It's still a case of chopping up enough vegetables for lunch and dinner while you have the knife and cutting board out. If you're already in research mode, doing the extra research for another article in a similar topic now is much easier than having to go back in later and start fresh in the new direction.
Finally, don't be afraid to tackle a big topic with a few articles in a series. Series articles have the benefit of giving your readers a reason to come back to your website or blog, and can provide a lot of valuable information in a more precise manner than a mere summary of your topic may give. The additional time it takes you to work up a three part series will be more than worth it to your readers and new subscribers. You will be giving them real information that they can work with instead of a quick tease that leaves them looking (perhaps elsewhere) for more.
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