I’ve been blogging daily for almost 200 days here on Medium.
And I have never run out of ideas to write on… something that I have seen so many bloggers and writers complain about — how to find blog content ideas.
Now, before jumping to the “ways” to find content ideas for your blog, let’s address this…
If you are often thinking “what should I blog on today or this week” — you’re in trouble. That question should instead be “what do my readers want to read today or this week”.
Effective blogging (aimed to make money and build brand) is about what the target audience wants — and NOT what you want them to want. If you’re thinking the other way around, you need to set your priorities correct.
Coming to the main topic…
Here are 13 ways how to get blog content ideas any day, every day :
1. Which are your most-read posts on the blog? Create the content on similar topics.
For instance, “Bounce Rate and SEO: Does It Affect Search Ranking” is one of the most-read pieces on Spell Out Marketing. So, at the moment, I am writing (update: I have written) ‘How to reduce bounce rate’.
2. Use your Google Search Console. Check out its ‘Performance’ tab.
I cover this in detail here: Here’s how to use Google Search Console to Find Content Ideas
3. Check out Quora. The Q/A platform is the best to find content ideas.
Go to the website, use its search bar to find topics per your niche. Go through the questions and pick ones that best fit your interest.
You can even enter and read each answer. Not only will you get more ideas, but you will also learn a lot.
“This is a good answer but it missed one very important thing”, you would think. And then you write about that ‘one important thing’ on your blog.
This is what I did when I wrote What are the best SEO strategies to market a book.
4. Just like Quora, Reddit is a treasure trove for content ideas.
Enter the website, search for the relevant topic/subreddit, and ta-da… You will see a pool of user-generated content to draw your ideas from.
5. Check out relevant YouTube videos with the most views and engagement.
Clearly, there’s a demand for this topic and type of content — provide the supply.
6. Twitter.
Search for the relevant Hashtags, go through the tweets. You will find plenty of content ideas.
7. Use social media analytics. There’s one in nearly every top platform.
Check out the metrics and find which post has the highest number of views or engagement.
These are the posts that your audience clearly likes.
So, when you create a blog post around them, you can easily drive traffic to the post from these platforms.
8. Head over to Google trends. Click on the ‘Hamburger’ menu and go to ‘Explore. And search for relevant topics…
Scroll down and check out the ‘Related Queries’ section.
Go through both the queries that are on ‘Top’ and those that are ‘Rising’. You will generate content ideas in your head automatically.
9. Ask your readers/visitors.
Whoever comes to your blog, ask them to answer a couple of questions survey-style. Consider their answers and create content accordingly.
10. Check out your competitors. Go to their individual websites and see the kind of content they are producing.
You can even use tools like Ubersuggest, SEMrush, and Buzzsumo for competitive analysis.
They will tell you about the most popular and shared content of your competitors. And you can use this data to gather the ideas.
11. Use KeywordTool.io.
Enter your key phrase or topic, and the tool will shell a long list of keywords.
Go through these keywords (suggestions, questions, prepositions). You will get a plethora of content ideas.
12. Try Blog Ideas Generator by HubSpot.
13. Follow the “news” in your industry.
Even the most boring industries have something new going on all the time. Pick those news — preferably the controversial ones, which usually have the most consumer interest. And create content around them.
These 13 ways have you covered. No more worrying about how to find content ideas.
Now note, once you have content ideas, use them to create an editorial calendar for at least 3 months.
Not only will it save your time (you don’t want to frantically look for ideas every day), but it will also bring consistency to your blogging strategy, which will transform into a content asset. And having a content asset is essential to be a profitable blogger.
