Any business that is regularly blogging will occasionally need help generating content ideas. You might feel like you’ve covered all bases, but it is essential to keep your online presence fresh. If you’re stuck for ideas, here are a few ways to find inspiration for blog content.
Alternatively, you can also view our copywriting services for help with your blog and website content.
Repurpose cornerstone content
Updating older blog posts that performed well is a good way to establish a message and also helps with your search engine optimisation (SEO). Google values content that provides relevant, up-to-date information and links that work properly.
Chances are, you have a blog post somewhere on your website that is now outdated and probably features some broken links, but the topic is still just as important today and vital to your website’s SEO. We call this “cornerstone content”.
For example, as a marketing agency we might publish a blog post about increasing your conversions through social media. Two years later and the topic is still relevant, but the social media channels and their algorithms have changed. Therefore, we might wish to repurpose this blog.
Look through your older content and give your best stories a revised edit (and lease of life) by:
Using content idea tools
Websites such as answerthepublic.com – and even your Google search bar – are brilliant sources of inspiration for blog content.
There are other tools, such as Semrush, that you can pay for. However, the above two options are easy to use and completely free, although you do get a limited number of searches per day on Answer the Public.
Type relevant keywords into Answer the Public’s search bar and it will gather any Google searches related to the that topic. For example, if you type ‘content marketing’, it tells you how many people have asked, “How does content marketing help SEO?” and “How to measure content marketing”. Based on the above, you might use these as a basis for two new blog posts, or even a series.
To use the Google search bar for generating new content ideas, type in a relevant key phrase like “social media marketing how…” and autofill will complete it with some of the most frequently asked questions. For example, “social media marketing, how often to post” or “social media marketing how can it help your business?”.
Check what your competitors are doing
While it’s not advised to directly copy what you competitors are doing, they can provide a great source of inspiration. Take a look at their social media and website activities, make a note of which posts are getting the most engagement or views, and learn from that.
Via Google you can also view who and what appears at the top when you search for a particular key term related to your industry. For example, if a blog ranks in position one and it includes a video as well as written content you should think about doing the same, as well as trying to improve on what currently ranks well.
These are just a few of the easy ways to come up with content ideas. The most important idea generation tool is always going to be your customers. Listen to what they have to say and consider their frequently asked questions.