Ever sit in front of your laptop ready to write a blog post, and nothing comes out? Sure you have, we all have. It’s interesting that when we’re surfing, the ideas are at every turn, you can’t slow them down. But when you find yourself staring at that white computer screen, you can go blank. Nothing, zip, zilch.
What you may not realize, though, is that content ideas are at your fingertips. Here are a few things I do to get inspired:
Analytics
Take a look at Google Analytics or Webmaster Tools, or whatever analytics tool you’re comfortable with. Identify which keywords people are using to find your pages. For example, if you’re a flower shop in Manitoba, you may find that more people are searching for ‘white roses in Winnipeg’ than they are ‘cactus plants.’
Now take a look at your content to see if you have pages built around that keyword phrase. Do a little research to find variations of that keyword phrase to use as well. If you know how your prospects are searching online, you are in a better position to give them the content they seek.
Social Bookmarking
Visit popular social bookmarking sites to see what’s hot. Check out Digg, for example, and click on Trending.
If you’ve read anything online lately, you’ve see at least something about SOPA. Does it relate in any way to your business? Is there a unique spin that you could put on the information that your readers would find insightful?
Maybe you have an e-commerce site that sells baby stuff or tech gadgets. Now that you can see it’s a “hot topic” do some keyword research to find out how users are searching. Now that you know which topic people are buzzing about, and you know which keywords they’re using to find the information, you’re in the perfect position to deliver.
Remember, content is more than just text on a page. Content also comes in the form of videos, infographics, presentations, and more.
Read Blogs
Check out your favourite blogs, whether they’re from industry thought leaders or competitors. See what others are talking about and then put your own spin on the topics. Believe it or not, you do have an interesting perspective on these things. The way you view the world is different than anyone else – so go ahead, be yourself, share you thoughts! Now, don’t steal today’s ideas and post them tomorrow. Go back a bit, dig into the archives for ideas.
What you can do today is take a peek around LinkedIn, Quora and Yahoo Answers to uncover those burning questions just begging for a quick resolution. Fact is, people have questions and you have answers.
Remember to ask questions, too! You’re the expert in your field, but not every field. You probably have questions about project management tools, a local car service, or the latest smart phone. When you have questions, you can bet others have answers.
How do you find new ideas for your content? Share your thoughts with us here!
~Aimee
Open SEO Vault 