8 More Quick and Easy Ways to Generate Content Ideas

Tweet
Buffer

Tweet
Buffer

This is part 2 of the generating content ideas series. To keep a steady flow of great content, you need to be constantly coming up with great content ideas. In part 1 I outlined 8 ways to generate new content ideas for your blog/site. Here is 8 more…

9. Trending Topics

Look to see what the hot topics are online at the moment. What are people writing about the subject? Can you write your own take on it?

This also assures that your content is up to date – showing your readers that you are on top of industry news. Plus, people love to share content that covers hot, up-to-the-moment topics.

So where do you find hot, trending topics?

Twitter. Use Twitter Search to see what people are saying in your industry, or check out Twitter trending topics to see what’s hot in general.
Facebook. Do you have friends in the same industry as you? Are you friends talking? Are they all talking about the same thing?
Google Trends. Check out hot searches on Google daily. Google Trends updates the stats pretty consistently, and you can go back in time to see what was trending yesterday, the day before, etc…
Digg. Filter Digg by top news, and then most recent to see what topics are trending right now.
Alexa. While I don’t think that the Alexa Rank is very accurate, they do offer a pretty nice “What’s Hot” section you can use.
Technorati. Check out the hottest blogosphere items right at the bottom of the Technorati homepage.

That should be more than enough to get yous tarted :).

10. Industry Groups

Join industry groups all over the internet. Focused groups are great because they will cover hot topics as well as issues people may be facing (everything from beginner to expert level).

Join groups on…

Facebook You already likely know that there are countless groups on Facebook for people that share a common interest. Fidn one that suits you, or create your own. Oh yeah…and make sure to join Content Strategy Hub on Facebook!
LinkedIn LinkedIn is another social network that has tons of groups. The membership here is usually comprised of professionals so you can gain a lot from these groups. Oh, and Content Strategy Hub has a LinkedIn group too!
Google
Yahoo
Meetup
Forums

There is probably at least one (more likely multiple) groups that already exist in your industry that you can join. If not, you have a huge opportunity on your hands to start your own (or you may need to change your industry :)).

11. Q/A Sites

Q and A sites (like Yahoo answers) offer a great resource for coming up with topics. These sites provide with you with an insight of actual answers that people are looking for.

Find questions relating to your subject matter, write up an explanation and drop a link in your answer to a question.

Remember, LinkedIn has an “Answers” section that is highly useful for this as well. Because of the caliber of members on the network, there is a higher chance that you can turn an inquiry into a relationship (and into a potential client).

12. Google Alerts

Set up Google Alerts for keywords relating to your subject matter.

For example, in relation to this site I can set up an update for the term “content strategy” and pick how often I want to get updates. This is a great tool to stay up to date about what others in you industry are talking about.

13. Curate

You don’t always have to create great content for your readers. You can provide just as much value by curating great content for them.

Aggregate data, infographics and/or resources and create a post listing what you have collected.

If someone else is creating information that your audience will find useful, there’s no reason not to share it. Yes, you may be sending visitors away for a short while, but they will appreciate the generosity.

14. Renew/Review/Summarize

If you’ve been at it for a while, you probably have multiple posts that cover (or relate to) the same topic.

You can create a separate piece of content as a standalone resource pointing readers at your previous work. This can be a new post, or a page.

Remember, not every reader that comes to your site has read everything you’ve ever created. By pointing creating an index page like this you are actually doing them a favor and pointing them in the direction of useful resources.

The resource links in the sidebar are a good example of this.

15. Interviews

Have you checked out my interview series with content strategy experts?

The series is chuck full of value if I do say so myself. Of course I can’t take credit for the value because it was created by the participants.

Of course, setting up an interview takes time and effort. But the beauty is that once you think of the question, the thinking and creating is passed on to someone else.

16. Google Analytics

Google Analytics isn’t just for measuring traffic (if you get creative with it).

Use the statistics the tool gives you to note what searches lead visitors to your website, and what content gets the most views.

You can create new content going into more depth on these topics, or even create a free product based on the topic in order to get people to opt in to your email list.

One More Thing…

If you found this post helpful, and you feel so inclined, I would really appreciate you sharing it on Twitter, Facebook or both. I even made it easy for you. there’s share buttons everywhere!

And if you haven’t done so yet, make sure to sign up for updates from Content Strategy Hub below!

Did you enjoy this article? Sign up for FREE updates and get instant access to The Marketing Toolbox: