For many bloggers and website owners, blogging or writing frequently can be quite thrilling at first. But after the first few blog posts, coming up with new ideas can be quite tasking.
This is even more so when you need to write on a daily basis. It’s often easy to churn out mediocre or even average content. What isn’t easy however, is consistently putting out great blog posts that will be well received, shared and spread around by your audience.
That bit can be tough as hell to do on a consistent basis. This is the purpose of this blog post: to show you exactly how to go about putting out killer content regardless of your niche or industry.
Do the Series
We are all busy individuals and may not have time to watch a lot of TV. However, there’s a lot to learn from watching TV series, particularly those with terrific plots.
For instance, the first time I watched Vikings back to back, I had a ton of blog ideas from watching Ragnar Lothbrok break new grounds, fight and defeat the Earl even though he was ill, his quest and convictions and his partnership with his wife.
Sure, the TV show is a bit bloody, but if you can endure that, there’s a lot to learn regarding leadership, partnership, consequences, responsibility, family and personal growth. I came up with at least 15 great blog ideas (that’s fantastic content ideas for approximately 8 weeks if I publish twice a week) from watching that.
The same can be said for watching TV shows like House of Cards, A Place to Call Home, Sea Patrol, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, and quite a few others.
Use Magazines and Newsletters
Nowadays, most people spend time glued to their PCs and mobile devices – not that there’s anything wrong with that. But, if you’re looking for fresh ideas, you may need to step away from the “screens” and look around you.
Try this today: go to the nearest magazine stand and just browse through the available titles and magazines. Look at the headlines, titles, articles and editorials. You’ll be amazed at just how inspired you could get with all those titles. And the good thing is that the magazines don’t have to be industry specific.
You could borrow a lot of ideas that you could apply to your industry. For instance, let’s assume you’re in the DIY solar panels industry and while browsing through those mags, found a weight loss article that says “15 Extremely Effective Ways to Lose Belly Fat for Beginners”. You could take a cue from that and write a blog post with the headline ”9 Incredibly Easy DIY Solar Panel Ideas for Beginners”.
Take Advantage of Trending News and Items
Thanks to the internet, you can actually set up and get alerts about the latest industry news and happenings. Use these to your advantage. The most comprehensive source of this is Google Alerts. It will notify you via email of new topics and news items as soon as they go live. With this, you can easily get in front of an emerging trend and create noteworthy content.
Ask Questions of Your Readers
This is not as quick or as fast as the aforementioned ideas, but it works and gives you an idea of exactly what your audience would like to read or know more of. It works by simply creating a poll or just asking them directly. If you have a big list, sorting through this might be difficult. That’s why we suggest polls. You generate the title ideas and ask them which ones they’d like you to write for the next week.
Check Your Site Data
This simply means taking a look at your analytics and seeing what content generated the most traffic and user engagement. Check for connecting trends and undertones. Most times, you will often find that the cluster of popular topics on your website have a few things in common. Use that to your advantage.
In fact, create a template based on the success of those pieces and use them frequently. In our experience, content that frequently generates incredible traffic and user interaction include case studies, hot button issues and solutions to lingering painful or annoying problems.
Finally, remember that there’s really no limit to how long your content should be. If what you want to say can be said in 400 words, by all means do that. And if it needs as much as 2,000 words, go for it. The most important thing is to appropriately and accurately inform, inspire and engage your audience with your content.
Make The Time To Write
Finally don’t forget to write a post from all your ideas.
This is the biggest hurdle of all since it is really easy to come up with dozens of ideas but not so easy to find the time to sit and actually write them.
Just make a concerted effort to post regularly which could be twice a day or once a month depending on your goals but make it happen.