The cursor blinks on the blank document. You know you need to write a new post for your blog, but you lack inspiration. So you close the word processor, telling yourself you’ll write it another day when a good idea comes to mind.
Ideas are the fuel that runs a blog. Lack of inspiration is how your blog gets neglected. But where do you find those good ideas that bring traffic to your website?
That’s what we’re going to talk about today. Using these idea-finding tactics will give you endless content for years to come. I use many of them for this blog and the posts I write for clients, so I can vouch for how well they work.
How to Get Blog Content Ideas
Blogs
Your Blog
What? You read that right– if you've been blogging for a while, your own content can be a well of inspiration for future posts.
Start by looking at your most popular posts. Can you replicate them? Do they inspire any similar ideas that could do just as well? Are there any topics you briefly mentioned that could make good full-length posts?
Next, see if there are any major content gaps you could work on filling. What core topics related to your market haven't you covered yet? Any part of your target market you don't have posts for?
Finally, browse your comments sections. Are there any reader questions you can turn into a post? User-generated content (or UGC) can be an excellent tool for content creation.
Market Blogs
Blogs about your market, niche, or audience can be great sources of inspiration. If you don't follow any yet, just search “your market+blogs”, and you’ll find lists of websites to read.
Take time once a week to browse these blogs and read posts that catch your eye. Write down anything that interests you or your audience might like a post about. You may find even more ideas pop up as you add to your list.
Competitor Blogs
It’s always a good idea to browse any major competitor's content occasionally and see what they publish. Do they have any ideas your audience might like reading about?
With this strategy, you’re not stealing their ideas. You’re just trying to see what they’re ranking for so you can adjust your content strategy accordingly. You want to attract their customers but not be sleazy about it.
When doing this, look for missed areas or topics they're not covering. That's the kind of content you want to create so searchers come across your blog instead of theirs.
Other Blogs
Blogs related to your business are a great place to get most of your content ideas. But I often find inspiration in the most random places. So I suggest you read widely on anything that interests you. You never know what sort of ideas you'll spawn.
Market Newsletters
Like blogs, market-specific newsletters can be a great way to keep up with market changes and find new blog ideas. Plus, they come straight to your email, making them easy to read anytime.
You can find these the same way you found market blogs, by searching “your market+newsletter” and seeing what pops up. Just don't overwhelm your inbox with subscriptions. Maybe set up a filter so all your business newsletters go to one folder where you can read them away from the inbox.
YouTube Videos
If you’re more of a visual learner, videos are another great source of inspiration. You can subscribe to many great niche YouTubers or search the site to see what comes up. You may also discover unique ideas through unexpected videos, like with blog posts.
Reddit is an absolute goldmine of content ideas. If you don’t have an account there already, I suggest setting one up.
Start by finding and joining relevant subreddits. Take time to browse them each week, just like with a blog, and see what topics come up. The questions people ask can inspire all kinds of content.
You can also search those subreddits to see what kinds of common questions and problems people have. Things that show up repeatedly make for helpful, often evergreen content.
Quora
Quora is a similar site to Reddit, where people ask questions that other users answer. This makes it another great place to browse for content ideas your audience finds valuable.
Quora has “spaces”, but I find it easiest to search for questions related to my niche. When you click on a question, more come up in the sidebar, leading to a never-ending rabbit trail of content ideas.
Trend Reports
Pinterest Trends
Pinterest Trends is a slept-on resource I never see people talking about. Through it, you can view data about what real people are searching for on Pinterest right now. It also has a bunch of filters, such as monthly trends, interest, and age range.
I like to browse this each month when brainstorming new content ideas. The content is more useable for lifestyle, fashion, cooking, and topics like that, but shouldn't be overlooked.
Google Trends
I’ll be honest, I don’t really use Google Trends. But I know a lot of people like it for content ideas, so I wanted to include it on this list.
It’s fairly similar to Pinterest Trends, except it’s for all of Google. That means there’s more data related to more niches than Pinterest has. If you want to explore how to use it, I suggest checking out Google’s guides.
Google itself is a great way to find content ideas if you know how to do it. There are two easy methods you can use.
The first is using Google autocomplete. Simply start typing a relevant question for your business and see what results come up. Try adding different wording and letters and see what they suggest.
The second way is using the “People Also Search” box. See what kind of questions come in there. Clicking open any of those boxes makes more spawn and generates more ideas.
Social Media Questions
Social media is a great way to connect personally with your customers. This also lets you get questions straight from your potential or current customers.
Start by browsing your posts and DMs for any questions people have that could make good blog posts. If you have a large, active following, you can also ask your audience for their questions using your stories or posts to find out firsthand what people want to know.
Keyword Tools
Keyword tools help find and improve your target keywords, but they can also be used to find post ideas. Type in a keyword related to your business and see what results appear. Have you covered those topics yet?
I like to use WordStream and Keyword Sheeter for this. Both of them produce quick, helpful results. If you see any ideas you like, use them to generate more related keywords and clearer ideas.
ChatGPT
If you know me, you know I’m against anything AI. But some people use it for their business, so I thought I’d mention it quickly here.
ChatGPT isn't a good writer but is decent at creating ideas. It can quickly produce a list of blog post concepts, although they may not be very original. I find them more helpful to fire up a brainstorming session than for actual use.
Using these tools and tactics, you’ll never run out of blog post ideas again. You can keep your content calendar fresh and interesting by using them to brainstorm ideas once a month or quarter.
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