Stop struggling to find great content ideas. Tap into these 7 sources.
Content marketing isn’t what it used to be.
You used to be able to publish short posts on random ideas—almost like a journal. And that not only got you a huge following, it got you traffic and customers too.
Not today. If your content doesn’t stand out, if it isn’t original and valuable, you’re going to get crickets, and nothing else.
But coming up with ideas week in and week out is hard, right? So let’s talk about how you can generate all the ideas you need, no matter what you’re trying to achieve with your content.
Ready? Let’s start with the obvious.
1. SEO
If you want to use SEO to develop great content ideas, you need to approach it in one of two ways:
- Start with keywords.
- Start with a viral piece of content you want to beat.
No matter which way you start, though, you need to look at the top-performing content for your keyword. Study them to figure out why search engines put them at the top of your query. Then one-up them.
The goal is to write the best piece of content on the web for your topic or keyword.
2. Trends
Using trends as your guide guarantees that people are interested in the topic, but it doesn’t guarantee staying power, so use this judiciously. You want to look at Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites to see what’s trending.
Then study the topic. Read everything you can that’s being produced on it. Look for stats, quotes, and facts to tear down or support your favorites—or better yet, to support a unique viewpoint of your own.
Then shape your presentation and get it out quickly, while the topic is still hot.
3. Irritations
A great source of content ideas is nagging irritations. You know, the things you see people doing wrong or the ideas that are a little off base. Interestingly, if your irritation shows, all the better. That little bit of emotion can actually help engagement.
So don’t get mad. Get writing. Explain the problem and tell people the right way to do it. You’ll get to say your piece, and your readers will learn something new.
4. Customer Questions
If you’re getting direct questions from your customers, this is a great approach.
But even if you’re not, you can find the questions people have.
- Do a hashtag search in social media.
- Search Q&A sites like Quora or Answers.com.
- Find a forum dedicated to your topic. LinkedIn and Facebook are full of them.
This approach ensures your content will be useful because people are asking for this information. Be sure to use the same wording people are using when they ask the questions. They’re probably the same words people use in search, which could help you rank in search engines too.
NOTE: If you struggle to find time to search forums, try this tool: bloomberry.com. It searches, aggregates, and analyzes over 300 million questions being asked on online forums, Reddit, and even Amazon’s Q&A section (a goldmine of insights). Just type in your keyword, and you’ll see thousands of questions related to your topic. So cool!
5. Topics Related to Your Business
For this tip, use a product like BuzzSumo. My favorite is Ahrefs’ Content Explorer.
Just type in the broad topic you’re thinking about, and you’ll see the top articles that are being published now, along with their social shares and the number of backlinks they’ve generated. That’s going to help you refine your topic so it stands out and earns some shares and links.
But remember, you’ll need to click through and review each of the articles to figure out what makes them so engaging. Then you’ll need to do your best to one-up them and do even better.
6. Curiosity
Don’t just rely on your customers’ questions. Your own questions are a great source of content ideas. Truth be told, if you’re curious about something, someone else probably is too.
So next time you have a question about how to do something… why something is like it is… whether there’s a better, more efficient approach… or you just want to explore a topic more deeply…
Ask how, what, and why until you get an idea that’s truly fascinating.
Then go do your research to find the answers. Ask your peers. Poll your customers. Clarify your findings. And organize it into a logical presentation for a truly awesome piece of content.
7. Random Lists
James Altrucher uses this technique to stay creative, and it’s a great way to mine for content ideas too.
Choose a broad or general topic, and start listing your ideas. Aim for 10 or 20. At first, it will be easy, but soon you’ll be writing really bad ideas just to fill your quota.
Now pick any one of those items and create a separate list for it. Then keep listing your ideas until you’ve got an original, narrowly focused idea for an article.
OR simply create a list post with any one of your lists. Be sure to include research, stories, examples, and analysis to make it fun and interesting.
Oh, and by the way, this video started out as a list. It may sound simplistic, but it works!
And that’s it!
Successful content marketing depends on great ideas. And these 7 idea generators will ensure you’ve always got more than you need.
How do you develop ideas for your content? I’d love to hear what works for you.
