Blogging can be a slog.
One exhausting aspect of maintaining a blog can be generating fresh
ideas—but it doesn’t have to be. If you’re willing to dig, here are nine
resources rich with fodder for your readers:
1. Use automated headline tools.
Several seasoned blogging pros have created tools for triggering a ton of
writing topics. Here are five of the best:
2. Pull topics from news aggregators.
Time spent reading is time spent collecting ideas.
Feedly
and Alltop are both
fast, efficient aggregators, great for research and organization. Search
for your topic, and scan the headlines with your next post in mind. Within
minutes, you should spot themes and memes you can repurpose. Alltop is
great for finding trending stories.
[RELATED: Is your communication stuck, stilted, or just not good enough? We can help.]
Feedly is great for finding (and then following) top sources, which you can
then punch into BuzzSumo to see what topics are performing well on the top
sites.
3. Check the calendar for upcoming dates or holidays.
Grab a copy of
Chase’s Calendar of Events, and scan it for dates and topics. This book features comprehensive listings
of events, holidays, anniversaries and birthdays.
Let’s say your post is scheduled for Feb. 12. What’s going on that day?
- The birthdays of Charles Darwin and Arsenio Hall
- Italy’s Feast of the Incappucciati
-
Miami’s International Boat Show
- The anniversary of the premiere of “Dracula” in 1931
Chase’s Calendar of Events is published every year, and new copies are a
bit expensive, but you can get a used copy of last year’s edition for less
than $10.
You might also search for “National [topic] day,” and plan your content
accordingly.
4. Write more about topics you’re already ranking for.
Check your “Queries” report in Google Analytics. It shows all your key
phrases and rankings. You can find it here: Acquisition > Search Console
> Queries. To access this report, you need to first connect Google
Search Console to your Google Analytics. If you haven’t done this yet,
here’s a short video with instructions.
You can filter out all the key phrases that include your brand name. This
will help you quickly find blog post ideas. Click on “advanced” next to the
filter box.
Set the filter to “exclude,” and enter your company name. Here’s what the
filter will look like:
Now you’re looking at phrases for which you already rank and which might
already be generating traffic.
If you write a new post on one of these topics, don’t forget to link to the
page that’s ranking. That’s how you build smart
internal linking.
5. Cover topics your audience is looking for on your site.
Does your website have a search function? If so, your site has a listening
tool.
Everything your visitors type into that little search box can be seen in
Google Analytics. Go to Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms to see
what your visitors are looking for on your website.
If your site terms report is empty, set one up.
Here’s a video with site search setup instructions.
This report can reveal problems with your website navigation, but it’s also
an excellent source of blog post ideas. Why not write about the topics your
visitors are already searching for?
6. Recycle topics your readers loved the first time.
Google Analytics can show you which topics your readers crave.
Start here: Behavior > Site Content > All Pages. This report shows
your most popular pages. To see blog posts, add a filter. This is easy if
your blog is in a directory or subdomain.
The data in this report are sorted by the number of page views, but
top-viewed pages aren’t necessarily the best-loved posts. To see what your
readers like, look closely at Average Time on Page. This number is more
likely to indicate a keen interest in the topic. It’s not a perfect metric
(content length, formatting and the use of video are mitigating factors),
but it’s still a great indicator of readers’ interest.
Here’s how to view your content’s Average Time on Page.
- First, go to the “All Pages” report and set the view to “Comparison
View.” Select “Average Time on Page.” This will compare the average time on
the page to that of the overall site. After sorting the report, you can see
which posts outperform the others.
-
Then remove any outlying factors. For example, that top post in this
screenshot has an average visit of 11 minutes, but that’s probably because
it contains a 14-minute video. Eliminate any posts that have elements that
might skew the data, and you’ll be left with a list of posts that your
audience connects with.
- Finally, scan the list and look for patterns. Your visitors are telling
you something. Are they more interested in certain topics? Could you write
more on these blog topics?
7. Write the ‘evil twin’ of your best how-to post.
If you’ve already written a well-received “how-to” or “best practices”
post, you can repurpose the topic by adopting a new perspective. Write the
“mistakes to avoid” article.
Here are a few examples of how the original topic becomes the evil twin:
Original: How to make muffins
Evil twin: 3 mistakes that make muffins miserable
Original: The top tips from 5 experts for beginner bakers
Evil twin: Experts agree this is the biggest mistake beginners make in the kitchen
Original: 10 beautiful cakes
Evil twin: That doesn’t look like the cookbook picture!
Wait before posting the evil twin of any post—unless it’s a guest post for
another website. Also, adapt and add to it. The idea isn’t to regurgitate
content, but to repurpose a strong performer.
8. Your outbox is filled with blog posts.
He emailed you a question; you wrote a considered reply.
This happens every day, but not many view email exchanges as a marketing
opportunity. Every answer you provide is potential content. Each of these
emails could be the seed of an article.
For three years, I saved every email that contained an answer or advice. At
the end of that time, I had 92 pages of content—some of which I repurposed
into high-ranking blog posts. We all create content every day in email; the
trick is to capture these topics to polish and publish later.
9. Listening is the ultimate source of topics.
Every meeting, phone call, conversation and online interaction is a chance
to uncover topics.
Ask your sales and customer service teams what people are asking about.
What are the top questions they field? What does every prospect need to
know before they hire you?
Let those common questions or concerns become blog fodder. Better yet, post
helpful answers on your website to anticipate objections or obstacles.
If you answer a question in a meeting, but you never publish it as a blog
topic, the value of your answer is short-lived. If you publish a robust
response to common concerns, you can send it to people repeatedly. Visitors
can find it. It could eventually rank in Google. People might share it.
Conversations are temporary; content is forever.
Andy Crestodina is Orbit Media’s chief marketing officer. A version of this post first
appeared on the
Orbit Media blog.