You probably already know how important it is to have great content for your website. However, if you're like most people, you probably get hit with a huge case of writer's block when it's time to decide what to write about in your next article or talk about on your next teleseminar. Here are a few ideas for coming up with great content ideas for all of your content.
1. Yahoo Answers - Check out the kinds of questions people are asking on Yahoo Answers. This site allows people to ask and answer questions in all sorts of topics. And even if the question has already been answered, it can give you insights into what types of problems people are having that you can provide your own unique solutions to in the form of articles, blog posts, or other content.
2. Google Alerts - Setup Google Alerts for keywords related to your market and see what people are talking about online related to your business. This can be an easy way to get new content ideas delivered right to you inbox.
3. Google Blog Search - Another spin on the idea of using Google Alerts is to use Google's blog search feature. Check out blogs that discuss issues related to your market to see what types of things other experts in your business are writing about. No, don't rip anyone off or copy their content. But you can certainly use their articles as inspiration for the types of content you should create.
4. Search Social Networks - Become part of social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. The first two offer "groups" where people of similar interests gather to talk about their topic. LinkedIn also offers a feature similar to Yahoo Answers, allowing you to provide answers to questions asked by other LinkedIn members. Twitter doesn't offer anything like that (yet), but they do have a search feature that allows you to find people who post messages containing specific keywords, brands or phrases. You can also have it only return messages that are questions, which can give you ideas about what people are asking and what you may want to write about.
5. Wordtracker Questions Tool - Google for the term "keyword questions" or "Wordtracker Labs" (without the quotes) and you'll find the Wordtracker Questions Tool. This tool allows you to enter a keyword related to your market, then returns a list of search terms asked over the last 140 days that are questions. Some will be basic questions that might not be worth creating content for, but some could give you valuable insights into what's on your market's mind.
6. Your Site's Log Files - It's also a good idea to know which keyword terms people searched for that brought them to your site. You can use your log files or an analytics package like Google Analytics to find this info. Since people will often find your site by using search terms you haven't intentionally optimized your site for, you can actually use this tip to also create content for your site that's specifically geared towards improving your rankings for those terms. You'll also be providing more in-depth information on topics people are looking for.
7. Other Forms of Content - Also be sure to check out other types of content. If you're trying to come up with article ideas, why not see what videos are available on YouTube for your market? Or what Podcasts are popular? What are these people talking about in those formats? Again, the idea is NOT to steal someone's ideas, but to use their content to help you come up with your own ideas for the types of content you should create.
1. Yahoo Answers - Check out the kinds of questions people are asking on Yahoo Answers. This site allows people to ask and answer questions in all sorts of topics. And even if the question has already been answered, it can give you insights into what types of problems people are having that you can provide your own unique solutions to in the form of articles, blog posts, or other content.
2. Google Alerts - Setup Google Alerts for keywords related to your market and see what people are talking about online related to your business. This can be an easy way to get new content ideas delivered right to you inbox.
3. Google Blog Search - Another spin on the idea of using Google Alerts is to use Google's blog search feature. Check out blogs that discuss issues related to your market to see what types of things other experts in your business are writing about. No, don't rip anyone off or copy their content. But you can certainly use their articles as inspiration for the types of content you should create.
4. Search Social Networks - Become part of social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. The first two offer "groups" where people of similar interests gather to talk about their topic. LinkedIn also offers a feature similar to Yahoo Answers, allowing you to provide answers to questions asked by other LinkedIn members. Twitter doesn't offer anything like that (yet), but they do have a search feature that allows you to find people who post messages containing specific keywords, brands or phrases. You can also have it only return messages that are questions, which can give you ideas about what people are asking and what you may want to write about.
5. Wordtracker Questions Tool - Google for the term "keyword questions" or "Wordtracker Labs" (without the quotes) and you'll find the Wordtracker Questions Tool. This tool allows you to enter a keyword related to your market, then returns a list of search terms asked over the last 140 days that are questions. Some will be basic questions that might not be worth creating content for, but some could give you valuable insights into what's on your market's mind.
6. Your Site's Log Files - It's also a good idea to know which keyword terms people searched for that brought them to your site. You can use your log files or an analytics package like Google Analytics to find this info. Since people will often find your site by using search terms you haven't intentionally optimized your site for, you can actually use this tip to also create content for your site that's specifically geared towards improving your rankings for those terms. You'll also be providing more in-depth information on topics people are looking for.
7. Other Forms of Content - Also be sure to check out other types of content. If you're trying to come up with article ideas, why not see what videos are available on YouTube for your market? Or what Podcasts are popular? What are these people talking about in those formats? Again, the idea is NOT to steal someone's ideas, but to use their content to help you come up with your own ideas for the types of content you should create.
No comments:
Post a Comment