SEO’s and online marketers go on and on about how ‘content is King’ and that it’s a pivotal part of skyrocketing your online success. But when there are approximately 4.54 billion pages on the internet, how do you create content people will want to read?
It’s not easy. Well, it is easy to create content and publish it. But it’s not easy to create content that people will want to read and content that can be found. And by ‘found’, I mean that people searching on Google can find your content. It first needs to be findable by making your blog post SEO friendly. And secondly, you need to make sure it continues to be the best piece of content out there on that topic so no other publisher steals your limelight. It’s no piece of cake.
I’ve drummed into my clients over the years the importance of adding fresh, unique and useful content to their websites on a regular basis. I’ve also had many questions about what they should be writing about and how to come up with blog topics. Because at the end of the day if you’re putting time, effort or money into a piece of content you want people to read it.
My clients are the lucky ones because as part of their ongoing SEO strategy I work with them closely to come up with the best topics. We typically put together a content plan for 3-6months. Once that 3-6months is over we then analyse how that content is doing and what we can do better.
Therefore, today I want to share with you some quick tips on how to come up with blog topics. But not just any old topics. Topics that’ll help drive more traffic to your website who’ll help your business goals.
Customer FAQ’s
Your customers/clients are the reason your business exists. So it makes sense to use them as a source of inspiration. I don’t know about you, but in my own business and for a lot of businesses I have had to pleasure to work for, there are always a ton of frequently asked questions by customers.
Whether they are asking these questions in person, over the phone, or via email, why not create a blog post around the topic? If it’s a question that can be answered in 300 words or more, then it’ll make a great blog topic!
Plus it’ll save you time. Because once that blog post is live, you can then send the link through to anyone who asks that same question or related questions.
Do you need an example? Well, I mentioned above that I regularly get asked about how to come up with blog topics, and voila – this post is it!
Google’s Search Predictions & Related Searches
Of course, I have to mention our good friend Google in this post. Afterall, you want to create content that both your audience and Google will love. So why not use Google as your inspiration!
Head to the search result pages and simply start typing relevant keywords associated with your business/industry.
Google shows predictions and related searches because they are things that people type in regularly.
Pro tip: With any blog topic you come up with, you’ll want to see what other content is on the topic already published online. Do some Googling, read other blog posts on the topic and then make your content better!
Keyword Tools
If you want to look for specific keywords and phrases people type into Google and how often they are searched for, then a keyword tool is for you. These tools can help inspire you with a phrase to craft a topic around.
You can read more about these SEO keyword research tools here.
Social Media
Social media is another great avenue for researching blog topic ideas. There are a number of ways you can use social media for inspiration such as:
- Ask your followers/community what they’d like to read about on your blog
- Use the search functions to see what people are posting about your industry and related topics
- You can even search for a couple of hashtags, such as ‘#howto & #seo’ or ‘#question and #seo’.
Read other blogs
Reading is so powerful. I literally spend at least an hour a day reading blogs. I read them to educate myself and to inspire.
Even if a blog is on a different topic to my blog, it can still inspire me. From how to format a post to a content type and even topics ideas.
Once I have the brainwave, I’ll then do some keyword research around the idea to further tweak the idea. I do this because I want to make sure people are actually looking for content on that topic.
In Conclusion
You shouldn’t create content ‘just because’. A lot of thought should go into each and every blog topic if you want to get the utmost from it. A blog post that continually drives traffic (evergreen content) is worth the time, money and all the trial & errors in the lead up to it.
And if all that still sounds like it needs to go in the too hard basket, then hire an SEO consultant. Your SEO should be able to help you with not only the technical aspects of making Google happy but the creative aspects too!
