We hear this kind of thing from new customers all the time.
There's no way you could write about anything interesting about our industry. It's too boring.
We've written everything that can be written about our product.
All the good ideas have been taken.
For anyone struggling to come up with ideas, it is helpful to remember there's a magazine called Cigar Aficionado, which for nearly 25 years has been covering nothing but cigars. Seriously, cigars.
Which leads to ridiculous photo shoots like this.
If Cigar Aficionado can fill an entire magazine with cigar-related content for 25 years, rest assured that you can come up with a few posts a week for your blog.
Your list of Golden Keywords should serve as the basis of your content ideas. The goal is not to stuff your keywords into every article topic, but to use these keywords as guidance for your ideas. Then:
- Talk to customers. Most customers have the same questions, objections, and problems. Write a definitive blog post around each of these topics (as we're doing here). If you can't talk to customers yourself, talk to your sales team.
- Do a search. See what comes up at the top of the search engines for your keywords. Research competitor blogs that show up, which will usually spark ideas for valuable new content.
- Use Google Autocomplete. Typing your keywords into the Google search box will show valuable suggestions for content ideas, since Google's suggestions are based on real-life searches.
- Research questions. Looking through industry forums or message boards will turn up lots of questions, or you can use Q&A sites like Quora to see what your customers are asking.
- Read books. Reading industry books is quite effective for planting new ideas into your smart-dirt. Plus, you'll learn more about your industry.
Einstein once said that he got his best ideas while shaving, and you may find the same thing. Be sure you have a place to capture ideas when you're away from the computer: a notepad app on your phone, or an actual notepad, which is more resistant to shaving cream.
Next: Writing great headlines!