How can I create unique content, think up ideas for blog posts when I am not an 'expert' in the topic?

Writing a blog post in a list format doesn't necessarily mean that it is low-quality content. You can write a "10 best..." blog post and include your own angle, talk about disadvantages and advantages or whatever and include your own stance on the situation. That's what blogging is about - while trying to provide educational value and inform or entertain the reader, you get to express your point of view.

Depends on if you are looking for high or low quality content. If its low there are 'easy' tricks, like getting a topic and make a '10 best...' post out of it. The format can be the same for every topic. But that is lower quality content. Another option is to find the topic and ask expert in your field for their opinions. If you want higher quality content you can look at what others write about but always try to find your own angle. For example always try and figure out what "the reason why" is or what the angle of someone with the same job you have should want to read. Like 'what does it mean for a ...". Finally what you can do is ask others for guest posts if you want to have content.

The best idea is to write about something you are passionate about even though you are not an "expert" in, you'll write from the heart and your readers will come. By writing as often as possible, you're gonna find your writing style and become "the expert" :)

If you're not an expert yet about what you're talking about, the way to stand out will definitely by putting unique angles on the information you present. You can do that through spins like relating your topic to one of your hobbies or interests,  tying in current events, and answering reader questions. Brandon Weaver talks more about how to come up with topics like these here: http://blog.mention.com/niche-blog-post-topics/

If you have a reasonably unique way to present the information, then that actually is good enough to blog about. It's your view of the matter. It's your angle ('take') on the matter. Expertise is desirable, but not strictly essential in blogging. You just need to write about things that you know reasonably well enough, have a tellable 'story,' and be able to write in a reasonably readable way. That has always been the 'way' in blogging.

IMHO, blogs are about opinions - so if you can share your opinion about a particular subject, you have a chance to have a following. Of course, it's great if you can demonstrate expertise in the topic you blog about, but it's not a necessity. On a different note, you can always leverage other people's expertise - so, instead of running a one-person blog, you should turn it into multi-authored ones - and open the gate for guest post submissions.  Chances are, you will meet someone who is an expert in a topic, and you could work out a deal for regular posting on that topic.

See, you need to believe that you know more that them. A great man once said, 'It's not about the content. It's about presentation.' Why do 5 star hotels charge so much for a simple dish you could've gotten for a way lesser price on the street? P PRESENTATION. So read up the topic, plagiarize (if you want) but come up with a UNIQUE, MINDBLOWING presentation that people just stare at it with their mouths open.

There are a bunch of different tools you can use to work out what you can/should be blogging about, including: 1. BuzzSumo 2. Reddit 3. OpenSiteExplorer 4. Forums 5. Quora 6. LinkedIn 7. SEMRush 8. Adwords 9. Twitter 10. Google Autocomplete Tools 11. Google Suggested Search 12. “What, why, when, how” Questions 13. Blog Post Title Generators 14. Journalist Sources 15. Subject Matter Expert Brainstorming 16. Site Search & Webmaster Tools Keywords 17. Google Alerts 18. Google Keyword Planner Tool I've written a detailed post explaining how to use each of these tools in case it's of any use: http://digitalrhinos.com/guide-to-generating-hundreds-blog-post-ideas/

Try to learn long tail keyword research, and using some great long tail keyword research tools like Long Tail Pro >> see here http://34.gs/ltp  you can find many ideas those are easy to rank too.