7 Inspirational Ways to Find Topics to Write About in Your Channels
All content marketers have one common enemy – writer’s block. It comes when you least expect it, and there you are – staring at the ceiling thinking about things to write about, but the page stays blank. Running out of things to write about can be frustrating. How can you make data-driven decisions about content and find inspiration when it seems to have left you forever? Ideas for relevant content are all around you, you just need to pay attention. You would be amazed at how many ideas for posts you can generate. If you have writer’s block right now and are looking for topics to write about, or you are just interested in how to stay creative in content marketing, the tips discussed in this article will help you get plenty of ideas. So, how to find topics to write about?
#1 Research what your competitors are writing about
The first way to find topics to write about is to research your competitors. You need to understand that if they are doing great – there’s a reason for it, and it is probably because of their awesome content. Your task here is to research what exactly is working for them. For example, find your competitor’s most popular posts to see what ideas and formats are resonating with your target audience.
Look for articles that drove traffic to their websites, got shared on social media, or received backlinks from other websites. For example, people often refer to unique statistics, infographics, interesting research, listings, etc. Backlinks are essentially votes for valuable content, so if your competitors have articles with lots of backlinks, it’s a sign that they’re providing valuable content. The Backlink Checker by SE Ranking is a powerful tool for deeply analyzing your or your competitor’s backlink profile from any possible angle, but let’s check out how to use it to find content writing topics.
SE Ranking’s reports show which pages have the most backlinks. Let’s take Brand Glow Up as an example. In most cases, the majority of links go to homepages, but then there are many blog posts other people refer to.
Source: SE Ranking
Alt: se-ranking-backlink-checker
After looking through these pages and analyzing their content, you’ll be able to create a list of topics. In our case, it looks like the following:
- X tips for creating quality social media content
- X tips to increase your sales on Etsy
- X ways to market your business online
- How to start a fashion/beauty blog
- Best examples of About Me pages
- …
However, you need to remember that your goal is to create unique content based on ideas that worked for your competitors – not to replicate what you see on their websites.
#2 Keep an Eye on Trends
The trends on the market can help you get an idea of what people are looking for and what to read about, so it’s crucial to keep up with these trends and tailor your content accordingly. Keeping an eye on current trends will always give you something to write about.
Social Media
Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can be a goldmine of information when it comes to identifying trending topics and popular hashtags within your niche. You can explore the top posts there based on engagement to gain insight into what types of content resonate with your target audience. For example, you could check what is trending on Instagram reels at the moment or check Twitter trends.
Then, you can use this data to create your own unique content ideas. YouTube can also be a valuable resource for finding trending topics within your niche, with the platform’s search function allowing you to discover popular videos and channels related to your industry.
Google Trends
Google Trends is a powerful tool that lets you see the number of Google searches for certain terms over a specific period and how they compare to each other. Content marketers can use this data to gain insights into what is currently trending and create relevant content that addresses those trends.
Source: Google Trends
Alt: google-trends-results-for-web-design-query
News Outlets
You can also use trustworthy news outlets such as CNN and the BBC for your blog ideas. By staying up to date with current events and top-of-mind issues, you can create timely and relevant content that resonates with your audience. You can provide your audience with valuable insights on various issues, positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
#3 Check the “People Also Ask” results
People Also Ask, or a PAA, is a Google SERP feature. It provides people with additional questions they might have related to their search intent, along with short answers to those questions. By checking these questions and answers, you can gain additional insights into what your target audience is searching for and what kind of data they are seeking.
For example, if you write about web design, these are the PAA results:
Source: Google Search
Alt: people-also-ask-results-as-a-source-of-topic-ideas
As a result, you can easily identify gaps in existing content, get more topics to write on, and create new content that meets people’s needs. If you address the questions in PAA, it also increases your chances of ranking higher in search results and within the PAA box, driving more traffic and increasing brand awareness.
#4 Customer Service Representatives
Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) are also a valuable source for generating new topics and ideas for your content. They often receive questions from customers regarding specific ideas, and you can collect those questions and quickly answer them and report back. You can even generate content based on those questions. If you have open and clear communication between your customer service and marketing teams, it will be much easier to generate new content ideas, address topics that your competitors can’t, and gain a better understanding of your client’s needs.
#5 Review your search performance
Another way to gather ideas for your content is to use the Google Search Console. By using its Performance report, you can see the number of search queries, clicks to your websites, and the number of times your page was shown in the results. Start by reviewing the search queries that are driving traffic to your website. Look for queries there that have high click-through rates and low bounce rates. Such queries indicate that the content you’re creating is relevant to your audience. Finally, by analyzing top pages and finding new keywords, you can see which keywords are ranking higher and generate new ideas based on that information.
Source: Google Search Console
Alt: queries-that-get-most-clicks
#6 Look for pain points in case studies
If you have been in the industry for some time, you probably have a number of existing case studies. A great idea would be to go through them to uncover customer pain points. Case studies are a valuable source of information because they provide real-life examples of how a product or service solved a problem for a customer. Once you identify pain points, you can provide solutions to them with your content. Pain points represent opportunities for content marketers to create content that fills a gap in the market. Moreover, they can help you identify keywords that you can use to optimize your content for search engines. Keywords related to pain points are often highly specific and targeted, making them easier to rank for and more likely to attract qualified traffic. Finally, pain points provide ideas for different types of content, such as videos, blog posts, infographics, etc.
Source: SE Ranking blog
alt: example-of-case-studies
#7 Look at current events
One last tip on how to generate content writing topics is to look at what is happening in the world. By keeping up with current events and a niche in particular, content marketers can create timely and relevant content that resonates with their audience. If you provide your audience with the latest news and information, you can position yourself as a reliable source of information that can be trusted.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Alt: news-related-to-digital-marketing
Moreover, if you follow trends and write about them while they are still hot, you can capitalize on the popularity of a topic and attract more visitors. If some topic is trending, it is more likely to be shared on social media. This way, you can increase your social media presence.
Summary
In conclusion, all content marketers encounter a lack of creative ideas at least once in their lives. Indeed, coming up with new and fresh ideas can be challenging sometimes, especially if you have been in the industry for a while and need to constantly come up with fresh new content ideas. The tips in this article provide some of the most effective ways to generate ideas for your future content. You can research your competitors, monitor current trends, utilize Google Search Console, leverage your customer service teams, and more. This is not a complete list of tips, but they will surely fuel your content creation process. By using them, you can stay relevant and create high-quality content that engages your audience and establishes your company as a leader in its industry.