Creating fresh content that provides value for your readers can be challenging, but consistent blogging is one of the best and cheapest ways to increase web traffic, and ultimately sales, for your business. There are many ways to find great content generating ideas online. Here are five tips to find blog content:
1. Talk and Listen to Your Clients
Interacting with your clients can be a terrific source for good blogging material for your company. Your conversation with your clients will bring you questions relevant to your business that you can directly address, and that your audience just told you they needed answered.
2. Google Alerts
Google Alerts are email updates with the most relevant and up-to-date news and results for any topic you choose. To set them up, go to www.google.com/alerts and enter the search query keywords for the topic you want to write about. It’s easy to stay on top of news stories, competitors, industries, events, and it’s all delivered to your inbox.
3. Social Media and Bookmarking Sites
Since social media is all about conversation, it’s a natural resource to find out what people are talking about and what they want to know about. For instance, on Facebook, you can post status updates on your page (e.g., poll questions, fill in the blanks, etc.) or “like” other businesses and major public figures to spike creativity. On Twitter, follow clients to catch what’s on their minds via their tweets. Check out trending hashtags, which can also be a useful tool to help you find topics that are relevant to current conversations.
Another way of using social media is to check out communities or groups such as those on Google+ or LinkedIn. The natural conversation that flows from community settings will be a priceless idea generator. If you use LinkedIn, you can also check out the “Ask an Expert” pages for valuable sources of discussion.
Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Reddit can also be treasure troves of current, valuable topics.
4. Run Your Analytics.
Analytic reports are an invaluable resource because this is where you’ll find out how people are finding your website and what pages they visit the most. There’s a reason people have come to your blog; check out the keywords they used to get there and make sure you’re writing about them. Also, if you’re not getting the traffic you want, write blog articles that include your target keyword terms.
5. Read, Read, Read.
You should be reading voraciously, anything from small publications to your competitors’ blogs, from trade publications to the New York Times and the big name bloggers. Your latest post could be a reaction to a big-time blogger’s post. Linking to their page and perhaps leaving your link in their comments section will help drive traffic to your site.
Bonus Blog Content Tip: When choosing a topic, remember the question: “What’s in it for me?” This is exactly what the reader will be asking before they take the time to click on your article link and again before they read your blog.
Need more blog writing help? Contact Miss Ink about our Blog Writing Service.
Image: NarcosisLabs
