Content marketing is and will continue to be one of the most important factors in helping you make your business successful.
According to reports, 88% of B2B content marketers believe that they can appear more credible if they create great content for their audience. So they strategically use this trick to reach the top of the sales funnel.
But great content isn’t just limited to boosting your sales. It can also effectively contribute towards building brand consistency, increasing your subscribers, growing your email list, boosting your social media followers, or anything that your conversion goal may be.
But for that to happen, your content needs to be engaging and educational at the same time. If you can do that, reaching your conversion goals won’t be a challenge anymore. The problem, however, is that after creating some amazing content for your business, you start running out of ideas. This can hamper your content marketing strategy.
But we don’t want that to happen to you. So here are a few ways to find content ideas that can help you stay ahead of your competitors.
1. Scan Blog Comments
Blog comments are not just a way of interacting with your audience. If used well, they can be a great resource for content ideas for your blog.
People who leave comments are mostly your target audience. And sometimes, they can help you understand what they are willing to read in your blogs. So pay attention to these comments. This will help you identify what exactly your audience would love to read in your upcoming posts. Scan for common comments that frequently ask the same question.
Then instead of clearing the doubt by replying to it in the comment section, let your audience know that you will publish a blog post about it for a detailed answer. Now go ahead and keep your promise. That way, your readers will know that you’re listening to them, and they will also enjoy reading the post because it’s something that they wanted to read about.
2. Keep an Eye on your Competitors
Did you know that your competitors, too, can sometimes help you come up with content ideas for your blog? So keep an eye on what they are publishing. It doesn’t have to be just their website blogs. It can also be their Youtube channels and social media profiles.
YouTube lets you sort the videos by popularity, date, latest and oldest. Just use this feature and filter your search in terms of popularity. This will let you view your competitor’s most popular content. Now go through them and make a list of ideas. Repeat the same process by checking out the channels of two to three different competitors and keep building your list of ideas.
3. Google Related Search
Most marketers already know this trick and are using it to steal content ideas for their blogs. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s time to get started now. When you search for a term in Google, you’ll find eight different search terms appear at the bottom of your page.
These are terms generated based on Google’s algorithm to determine terms related to your search. Usually, these terms are something that other Google users are looking for and are closely related to the search you have made. These terms are super helpful in coming up with new content ideas for your blog and in planning out your overall content strategy.
4. Use Social Media Hashtags
We all know that social media hashtags can boost visibility and thus are super effective in attracting traffic and generating leads for businesses. But did you also know that it can be a very good resource for finding content ideas?
A random hashtag may not help you come up with topic ideas, but it can lead you to publications, articles, and other relevant forms of content ideas you can find inspiration from. So follow different industry-relevant hashtags closely.
5. Conversations and Interviews
Another amazing way to look for content ideas is to talk to people from your own industry. This can be a telephonic conversation, one over email, or a face-to-face discussion. You can even hold an interview if you want. Make a list of questions to ask your subject.
Not every person will have the same perspective about industry news, events, and trends. Talking to them will help you learn how they perceive things, and you can use them as a content idea for your blog post. But in doing so, don’t forget to let your subject know that you’re going to publish it on your blog.
6. Website Analytics
If you have been using your website analytics only to measure your traffic and understand user behavior on your site, here’s good news for you. Your web analytics can now also be your go-to resource for finding content ideas for your future blog posts. It’s a wonderful way of identifying user needs and what kind of content is valuable for your users.
So leverage its features to see what kind of posts are performing well. Then come up with ideas that are related to the popular content existing in your blog.
So these are some of the easy ways to find content ideas for your blog. As content creators and marketers, you might think that you have written about every possible topic in the industry. And after creating so much content, feeling that way is obvious. But there’s still a lot to cover. So don’t give in to such thoughts. Keep looking for ideas and continue creating great content for your blog.
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Syed Balkhi is an award-winning entrepreneur and online marketing expert. He is the co-founder of OptinMonster, WPBeginner, MonsterInsights, and WPForms.