Summary
The key is using various methods, not just one. Keep exploring, stay curious, and continuously learn about your field. With an open mind, you’ll have endless ideas to write about.
As an avid reader and creator, you’re always searching for new and fresh ideas to write about. Creating a constant stream of content ideas that inspire and engage your audience can be challenging.
However, with the right strategies and techniques, you’ll never run out of topics to cover. In this article, you’ll discover proven ways to uncover new content ideas to keep your audience returning for more.
1. Scour Social Media
Social networks are chock-full of inspiration if you know where to look. They are hubs of discussions, trends, and user-generated content that can spark creativity. Here’s how you can effectively use social media to discover new content ideas:
Follow Relevant Accounts
Start by following accounts that are relevant to your niche or industry. These could include influencers, brands, thought leaders, and even competitors. Their posts and discussions can provide insights into trending topics and popular conversations.
Keep an eye on trending hashtags related to your field. These hashtags can indicate current trends, challenges, and discussions your audience engages in.
Engage in Discussions
Engage with comments, replies, and discussions on social media. This helps you understand what your audience is interested in and allows you to participate in conversations and gather valuable insights.
Analyze Popular Posts
Take note of posts with high engagement rates, likes, shares, and comments. These posts indicate what resonates with your audience; you can create your unique take on those topics.
2. Check Out Competitor Sites
Studying competitors is one of the best ways to get inspiration and discover new content opportunities. Tools like SEMRush and Similarweb allow you to evaluate your competitors’ content and performance.
SEMRush
This widely used SEO tool offers competitor analysis features to help you understand competitors’ strategies and strengths. You can see what keywords they are targeting, the content they are creating, and how they are promoting their content.
Similarweb
Similarweb’s tools enable you to benchmark your competitors’ websites and digital performance against your own and identify the channels with the highest impact. See the most popular content formats (e.g., blogs, videos, ebooks) and topics.
With research and creativity, you can develop exciting new content that provides value to your audience.
3. Google Search Suggestions
Google Search provides helpful suggestions as you type in the search bar.
As you start typing in the Google search box, a dropdown menu will appear with suggested searches to complete your query. These are based on common searches by other users.
The autocomplete results can reveal questions people frequently ask or topics they are interested in related to your content.
For example, if you blog about gardening, start typing “how to go,” and you may see:
- How to grow tomatoes
- How to grow herbs
- How to grow orchids
Any of these could make an excellent blog post topic. The suggested searches indicate people are interested in learning how to cultivate those particular plants.
4. Use a Topic Generator Platform
Using a topic generator platform makes it easy to discover new content ideas. These tools deliver topic suggestions based on keywords, questions, and trends.
HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator and Portent’s Content Idea Generator are two popular options.
HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator
This provides blog post titles and topic ideas based on a keyword or phrase. You enter a keyword like “content marketing,” the tool instantly generates dozens of suggested blog post topics and titles.
It gives you ideas for lists, how-to, and opinion posts. The suggested topics include a post title and a short description to get you started.
Portent’s Content Idea Generator
This is another useful free tool. You enter a keyword or topic and specify the type of content you want to create (blog post, social media post, email newsletter, etc.).
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The tool provides a list of suggested content ideas related to your topic. It gives a suggested headline and a summary for each idea.
5. Visit Online Forums
Online forums are virtual communities where people discuss shared interests and passions. Visiting popular forums in your niche can uncover new content ideas and keep you on the pulse of trending topics.
Search for forums related to your content area. Look for high-traffic forums with recent activity. Some indicators of an active forum are:
- Lots of members (10,000+) and new posts daily
- Recent replies and discussions, not just old archived threads
- A variety of broad categories and more specific subforums
6. Try UberSuggest
UberSuggest is a free keyword research tool that can help generate content and keyword ideas. It offers a Content Ideas report that provides an overview of keyword research.
The Content Ideas report provides an overview of potential content ideas based on keyword research. To access the report:
- Enter a seed keyword or topic into the UberSuggest search bar. This will return suggested keywords and search volume data.
- Click the “Content Ideas” tab. This will show content ideas related to your seed keyword, including questions people are asking, comparisons, lists, how-tos, and more.
- Review the content ideas and choose the options you want to create content around. The report provides the search volume and keyword competitiveness to help determine the best options.
- Click on a specific content idea to see suggested titles, outlines, and keyword ideas to help get you started.
Aside from that, the FAQ content ideas can highlight your target audience’s questions about a topic. Creating content that answers these questions is a great way to provide value to your readers. Some tips for finding FAQ opportunities:
- Look for questions with high search volume, indicating many people are asking that question.
- Choose questions that you can provide a helpful, in-depth answer to. Basic questions may not warrant an entire blog post.
- Group related questions together into one comprehensive FAQ post. This provides more value to readers and is easier to rank than several short posts.
- Use the question as your post title and H1 header to signal you are answering that question. Then, provide a detailed answer in the post content.
Why Creating New Content Matters
Creating new content for your website has significant benefits. Here are a few reasons why generating original content matters:
1. Informs Your Audience
Publishing useful content, like blog posts, videos, and social media updates, educates your audience about your products, services, and industry. It establishes you as a helpful resource for information and solutions. The more you publish, the more opportunities you have to address common questions, share tips, and build trust.
2. Ranks in Google
Creating new, original content for your website is essential for ranking well in Google search results. When Google’s algorithm determines how to rank websites in search results, one of the top factors it considers is the freshness and uniqueness of the content.
To know more about it, here are some reasons:
Improves Keyword Ranking
Including important keywords related to your content topic naturally helps Google determine what your page is about. As you publish more content that includes these keywords over time, your ranking for those terms in Google will improve.
Builds Authority
Publishing high-quality, informative content consistently establishes you as an authority in your content area. When people search for information related to your content topic, your site will be among the first results.
The more in-depth, well-researched content you have, the more authoritative your site becomes. Readers will come to trust you as a reliable source of information.
Provides Value to Readers
Publishing new, informative content regularly shows Google that your site is actively providing value to readers. If you haven’t updated your content in months or years, Google assumes the information may be outdated or irrelevant.
New, well-researched content also gives readers a reason to return to your site repeatedly.
3. Earns Links From Other Sites
Link building takes time and effort, but here are some of the top ways to get high-quality links pointing to your content:
Guest Blogging
Pitching guest posts to industry blogs and websites is an effective way to earn do-follow links. Identify sites that publish content similar to yours and pitch them unique article ideas that would benefit their readers.
Roundups
Roundup posts curating the best resources or tools on a topic are popular. Pitch the editors of industry blogs and offer to create a roundup of the best content in your niche. These types of posts often gain a lot of traction and links.
Infographics
Share custom infographics on your topic with other sites. Editors often seek visual content to share so a high-quality infographic can easily get featured.
Resource Lists
Reach out to anyone on the list and inform them about the mention. They will likely link to it in appreciation of being featured. These posts rank well and bring in a lot of referral traffic.
Sharing your content on social media is one of the best ways to find new content ideas and reach more readers. Look for topics trending on the major social platforms to get inspiration. These platforms include:
Twitter’s trending hashtags and topics are a goldmine for discovering what’s popular and gaining audience traction. Search for industry-related hashtags or check out the Trending page. Some examples of evergreen content ideas from trending topics include:
- Explainers on news stories or events
- “What is…” guides on popular technologies, platforms, or concepts
- Roundups of the best tweet accounts to follow or threads on a trending topic
On Facebook, explore trending pages, groups, events, and stories. Monitor comments and shares on trending posts from industry influencers and media brands. Some shareable content ideas include:
- Listicles like “10 Ways to…” or “The Top 5…”
- Infographics presenting research, statistics, or “did you know” facts
- Behind-the-scenes photos, videos or stories
LinkedIn’s trending content section highlights your industry’s popular discussions and news stories. Engage with the comments and see what posts get the most shares and reactions. Possible content ideas include:
- Opinion or advice posts on trending work or career topics
- Curated lists of the most useful or insightful comments and discussions
- Video summaries or reactions to trending news, reports, or events
Monitoring social media is a habit that fuels a constant stream of new content ideas. Paying attention to trending topics and discussions helps ensure you create content that resonates and is widely shared.
Wrap It Up
Whether mining social media and online communities or surveying your audience, consistently applying techniques will yield a steady stream of inspiration. The key is not relying on any single method but diversifying your sources.
Keep exploring and stay curious about your industry and areas of expertise. Strong, valuable content comes from continually learning and expanding your knowledge.
With an open and curious mindset, you’ll have ideas or topics to write about. Keep digging, and you’ll keep discovering.
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