As bloggers and website owners we often find it difficult to find new ideas and topics to write about. Don’t worry, it’s normal for most content creators.
It’s important to keep publishing new content regularly. Readers (and Google) prefer sites that routinely publish fresh, new original content. Frequently publishing content means you will rank for a wider range of keywords giving you more traffic to your website.
So, let’s dive in to some techniques and tips to ensure you never run out of ideas again.
Table of Contents
Keep a running list of ideas
Use a note taking app (or an actual notebook) to keep a list of blog ideas. The best app I have found for this is Notion. It’s a free website and app you can use for note taking and much more. I use it as a content calendar, listing all the blog ideas with notes on keyword research I have done for each idea.
Give each idea a status such as Drafted, Idea, In Review and Published. For each blog idea I include the main focus keyphrase and a table of related keywords for the topic.
You don’t have to use an app, if you prefer just use a notebook to keep a list of blogging ideas. Ensure you do keyword research before deciding to write an article.
Whenever you have an idea for a blog article write it down. Accumulating a list of blogging ideas will make it easier for you to decide your next blog article.
For keyword ideas you can use keyword research tools. SE Ranking has a free keyword tool you can use (5 keyword searches per day for free), try it out here by typing a keyword phrase or topic, e.g. “Keto Diet”:
Different types of lists
You are not limited to just blog idea lists, you can keep a list of:
- brainstorming ideas
- observations
- news related to your niche
These lists can indirectly give you some creative ideas for your next blog article.
Review your ideas list regularly
When I am ready to start on a new article I review the blog ideas I have. Sometimes I will pick one from the list and sometimes I will brainstorm for some new ideas.
I find batching tasks help. To clarify what I mean let’s look at the tasks required when writing a blog article:
- Generate a blog idea
- Do keyword research
- Outline the article
- Write first draft
- Proofread and edit article
- Find images to add
- Add internal and external links to content
- Final check and publish
- Promote on social media
You need to do these steps for every article you publish. Batching means doing one or more tasks for a large number of blog ideas in one sitting. For instance, I currently have eight blog ideas drafted with a nice title, content plan and keyword research completed.
The advantage of batching is you don’t need to context switch your focus from one task to another. This causes you to lose focus. Doing the same task over and over again for different ideas is more efficient and time effective.
Sometimes, when you sit down for work you are ready to write. If you don’t have any blog ideas drafted you could spend a lot of time trying to think of something, get discouraged and not do any work.
Try batching your tasks it may help you be more productive and focused
Use keyword research tools
Keyword research tools are great for finding blog ideas. You can type in a topic or phrase and get a list of similar keywords and related keywords.
Similar keywords
Keyword research reports will list the keyword you search for along with similar keywords. This is useful in finding the exact keyword phrase you want to focus on. Ideally you want high monthly search volume and low difficulty.
Related keywords
In the screenshot below you can see the search results for “rock garden decor”. In addition to that keyword you see related keywords you can target. The keyword “rock garden decor” is difficult to rank for (especially if your website is not established) and highly competitive, alternative keywords would be preferable even though they have much smaller monthly search volume.
You can also see that I have filtered the search to find more suitable keywords, the filters I use are:
- word count 3 or more
- competition 0.3 or less (measure of the competition for that keyword 0-1)
- difficulty 15 or less (measure of how difficult it is to rank for that keyword from 0-100)
You also get the monthly search volume and keyword difficultly with each keyword. There is no point targeting a keyword that is too difficult to rank for. Prefer low competition keywords when deciding on the focus keyword for your article.
Follow your passions and interests
Following your passions and interests has the benefit that you will be more motivated to write content for those topics than topics you don’t care about.
A big part of blogging is consistency. The successful bloggers aren’t better than other bloggers, they are just more consistent in creating content.
Most of your interests can be used to make money for you. Look at this article to get some ideas on how to monetize your interests: How to become an Internet Entrepreneur
Use your experience and knowledge of your passions, hobbies and interests to inform and guide readers. Many readers may not have the experience and knowledge you have so your content will be valuable to them.
Not sure what hobbies or interests you should use for blogging? Read this article on finding your niche: The Ultimate Guide to Finding the Perfect SEO Niches for Your Business or Blog
Your niche is a make or break decision – take your time deciding
Think about sub-topics in your blog
Niching down has many benefits. Let’s examine some of them:
- less competition
- higher conversion rates
- easier to rank
- more focused on your target audience
- less resources and money needed to succeed
Less competition – You are going after a smaller more niche audience. This means you will have less competition than generalist websites or websites focused on a different niche.
Higher conversion rates – Because you are focusing on a smaller more niche audience you are talking more directly to them. This can lead to higher conversion rates (the % of readers who buy from you).
Easier to rank – Smaller niche audiences are easier to rank your content for because there is less competition. Fewer competitors are targeting niche keywords or buying ads for those keywords meaning you can rank highly for them.
More focused on your target audience – It’s easier to write content since you have a smaller more focused target audience. This allows you to target all the important keywords in your niche. This would be impossible for larger more generalist websites.
Less resources and money needed to succeed – This is the key reason in my opinion. When you are starting out you have limited funds and resources. Targeting niche audiences is a strategy that can work on a small budget. You don’t need to buy ads if you can rank on the first page of Google and get organic search traffic.
Try different formats
You are not limited to just a standard blog post. Try some of the following:
- Question and Answer (FAQ style article)
- Interview article
- How to…
- Listicles (“7 tips on…”)
- Deep dive on a topic
- Curated content (“Top 10 twitter feeds to follow”, “7 essential books”) and so on
You can even try different media such as:
- Video article – create a blog post and embed a video into the article (YouTube video works fine)
- Podcast – create a blog post and embed a podcast (you will need to use a podcast widget)
- Infographic article – use a graphic app or website (e.g. Canva) to create an infographic
You can experiment with different formats for articles and different media. There is no reason you can’t mix and match as appropriate. See what works for you.
Stay current with trends and news in your niche
Whatever your chosen niche you want to stay current with the trends and latest information.
Find appropriate blogs or news sites that cover your niche. Use social media to find and follow creators who cover your niche.
Use niche competitive research to spy on your competitors. Find out what keywords they are ranking for, what ads they buy and for what keywords. What content are they writing and what engagement does that content generate?
You will need to invest in a SEO keyword research tool to find out what your competitors are up to. Don’t guess what works, check on your competition and use what works for them – also find gaps in their content you can exploit.
Use this free widget to see what your competitor websites are doing. Just type in the website of your competition to see a report:
With a large list of sites and social media accounts for your niche you will never run out of ideas to blog about.
For instance:
- controversies in your niche
- pros and cons articles
- “explainer” articles
- news from your niche
- questions you see on social media that you can answer
- “hot takes” on a topic
- controversial ideas or opinions
Information sources you can use:
- search for websites on your niche
- social media accounts (Facebook groups, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, PInterest)
- Reddit – find your niche sub-reddit (just Google for “<my niche> reddit”)
- podcasts
- YouTube
Be careful the news sources are accurate and reliable. Otherwise you could be basing your blog ideas on hearsay or wrong information.
News sources are a great way to find blogging ideas
Use AI tools to help you generate ideas
Although AI tools are not great for writing content (in my opinion) they are great for generating ideas, content plans and helping you with research content.
I’ve reviewed a number of AI tools previously, these articles will give you an idea of what an AI tool can do for your blog or website.
Articles on AI tools
Article Forge Review
Is Copy.ai the best AI copywriting software?
If you are comfortable typing in commands to AI tools then you can use ChatGPT to generate ideas for you. Check out this article on ChatGPT prompts for copywriters.
For instance, let’s ask ChatGPT for a mind map of the topic “Keto Diet”:
This screenshot is only a partial output, it goes on for a while on benefits, potential drawbacks and key takeaways. See how it is so easy to come up with blog ideas?
I advise you not to generate articles using AI tools. The content is mediocre at best and sometimes produces false information. In the case of ChatGPT the content is more than a year old so will not give good answers for new trends and topics in your niche.
Google considers AI content generation to be spamming and is against their Terms of Service
Ask your audience
Once your readership has grown you can view the comments to find what engages your audience. What questions are they asking? Do they agree or disagree with your content?
Use social media to promote your content and to ask what your audience is interested in. What topics should you write about and what problems your audience have.
Ask your readers directly for feedback and to comment on your content
Final Thoughts
To summarize how to find blogging ideas:
- Keep a running list of ideas
- Use keyword research tools
- Blog about your passions, interests and hobbies
- Think about sub-topics in your niche
- Experiment with different formats and media
- Stay current with news and trends from your niche
- Use AI to generate blog ideas and content outlines
- Ask your audience
Start implementing these tips today and see if it helps you with your content creation
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