Tools for searching blog ideas
Topic scarcity is a problem that catches up with all content marketers, without exception. No matter how extensive your subject matter, no matter how rich your imagination you have, there will definitely come a moment when you sit down, put your head in your hands and say: “I have nothing more to write about. I’ve already used all the possible themes and can’t think of anything else. ” In this chapter, I’ll share how to solve this problem and where you can find great ideas for creating quality and viral content.
How can you overcome the theme shortage?
Use ready-made lists of ideas.
Search for ideas on the Internet (from competitors, on forums, Q&A services, etc.).
Use your imagination to come up with an original idea.
The first method is well suited for those who are just starting out in content marketing and for the first time creating a content plan for their blog. Ready-made lists of ideas will help you stock up on topics for at least six months in advance. However, I want to warn you right away: you are unlikely to find ideas for viral content in them, since you need to use other tools to find viral ideas.
The second method is my favorite. It consists in the fact that you daily look through publications on your topic (in Russian or foreign language) and save yourself all the ideas that seemed original to you, so that you can then take them as the basis of your own content. This way, you don’t steal other people’s ideas, but get inspired by them to create your own content. And this, in my opinion, is the most effective tactic in internet marketing.
I personally like the third method the least, as I find that many people overestimate the power of their imaginations. They spend a lot of time and energy creating something new and original, but in the end they give out completely dull and dull content that no one needs. Therefore, it is better to abandon this tactic and start looking for ready-made ideas. Believe me, there is nothing shameful here! After all, you are not blindly copying someone else’s content, but only using its idea. And this is a completely different matter.
And now I present to you that very list of ready-made ideas. Even if you’ve been blogging for a long time, you might find this list useful.
Sources of content ideas:
- Use the tips of the search engines. Start typing a search term related to your business. You will receive several content ideas.
- Social media discussions. Surely there are discussions in your group that raise article-worthy topics.
- Presentations from the last workshop you attended. Most likely, you will find ideas for a couple of dozen articles in them.
- Research results. Google’s share has grown, while Yandex has fallen? Write about it. Explain current trends.
- Industry forums. Valuable ideas are often discussed here and exclusive experiences are described.
- Blogosphere. Pay attention to LJ, read offline blogs. Here you can find very valuable information that, by some miracle, does not fall into the field of view of the industry media.
- Subscribers in social networks. Ask your friends on Twitter or Facebook what your next story should be about.
- Employees. Collect them for 30 minutes and brainstorm. Write down any ideas. You will choose later.
- Customer support operators. Find out from them what customers are most likely to ask about.
- Your failures. This is one of the most valuable sources of content. Write down why the last PPC campaign failed, why you didn’t deliver the layout on time, how you managed to lose half of your customers.
- Google Trends Dig around on the site of this service, you will find many ideas.
- Content exchanges. Sign up on several sites and see what content is being ordered from freelancers.
- Books. They definitely have ideas that can be described and discussed with the audience.
- Recordings of seminars and webinars. Start looking at the place where the audience asks questions to the lecturer. The most interesting questions are your content ideas for today.
- Site search. See what users are looking for on your site.
- Related search terms.
Start your content plan by exploring these ideas. I am sure you will learn a lot for yourself.
If you are a content strategist (or serve as a content strategist), then you need to monitor what your competitors are posting on their blogs, as this is the richest source of ideas for creating quality and viral content. Sign up to Feedly or another RSS reader and start tracking your competitors’ content with it
There are large services where you can look for ready-made ideas. here is some of them.
Neilpatel (Ubersuggest)
It is convenient to search for content ideas here by browsing the top performing posts on your topic. The service shows the materials with the most social and backlinks. Copying themes, of course, is not worth it. But this is how you can find out what is most interesting to users:
BuzzSumo
Another English-language service similar to the previous one. When given a keyword, it searches for popular content in the media and blogs. If you enter a query in Russian, then the search goes on the Russian-speaking Internet
A useful feature of the tool is that you can filter the results by the number of backlinks and shares:
By using different services and different variations of keywords related to the desired topic, you can find thousands of new ideas for your blog. You no longer face a creative crisis. Experiment to add new themes to your content plan. Remember that the quality of your ideas directly affects your blog’s performance and your content marketing results in general.
It is appropriate to look for ideas for writing articles where various issues are discussed and there is an active exchange of information. From what people say, what interests them, what is asked the most questions, you can choose what suits you and find new topics for articles.
As “hints” for searching topics for articles, you can use:
Forums. Now there are not many forums where a topic is actively discussed, but they still exist. In the thematic sections, you can look at discussion topics and, possibly, choose some non-standard ideas for articles.
Social network. In groups, communities, etc. social networks, where the main exchange of information is now taking place, there is always a chance of finding a topic for an article. Choose which posts on the topic you are interested in are the most popular, which questions are asked most often, and you will find an idea for an article that will really interest your readers.
YouTube. There are tons of videos on YouTube on a wide variety of topics. Among the videos filmed by others, you can choose the most viewed ones, and on their basis find an original idea for the article.
Choosing a topic for an article is a painstaking, responsible, but at the same time, exciting task. After all, trying to find an idea for writing, you along the way will learn a lot of new and interesting things. The main thing is to take notes and make a content plan, writing down everything that interests you. And yet – never try to simply retell other people’s articles in your own words. Use them only as ideas for writing your own, supplementing them with interesting information on the topic taken from other sources.
