Are you a content creator struggling to generate content ideas? Creative block is nothing new to content creators. Sometimes, even the most brilliant minds need some help to create something wonderful.
A recent survey has shown that more than 30% of creative professionals face creative blocks. The main culprit is limited time available for creative thinking. [1]
However, a few remedies can help creative professionals overcome the creative block and continue their efforts.
In this blog post, we discuss some efficient ways to generate content ideas and how to write new content ethically.
So, let’s dig in!
How To Generate Content Ideas Effectively
There are many ways to create content ideas, but here’s one that works well for me:
Ask Your Audience
Identify your audience. What are they looking for? What kind of information do they need? Who do they know and trust?
Write everything you can think of about them. This includes their interests and hobbies. You’ll be able to use this data to build up a list of topics you could write about.
Follow Google Search Suggestions
Before writing about a content idea, type it in the search engine bar. The search engine suggestions can give you very specific content ideas based on user search intent. Use Google Analytics to see which keywords are being used in search results. If you’ve got an idea or two, it might not be too hard to find some examples of these phrases.
Discover New Trends
Look at the trends. What has been trending lately? What have people searched for recently? How long have those searches been going on? Is there anything new happening? Follow existing trends with a twist of your personal interpretation and view point. You can also introduce new trends or oppose existing trends with a better trend.
Suggested Read: Top 2022 Content Marketing Trends That Should be on Your To-Do List
Revisit Old Posts
Content ideation, creation and improvement is a continuous process. It means that revisiting your old posts will always give you new insights for content ideas that you can write on.
You can not only rewrite and share an old post with a new angle but also introduce new updates to your existing posts. Revisiting old posts helps you find a pattern in content ideation, which helps you build niche authority eventually.
Surf For Content Ideas
YouTube videos, podcasts, competitor blogs, user comments, social media discussion forums and online surveys offer great insights.
Explore online ecommerce stores, business platforms, popular business presentations, blogs and social discussion hubs to unearth the latest trends for your desired type of content creation.
Some useful platforms to survey for content ideas include:
- Amazon book and Product Listings
- iTunes Podcasts
- YouTube Videos
- Slideshare Presentations
- Quora Discussions
- Reddit Communities
Track Recent Events and New Launches
Just like online search forums, recent events and new product announcement platforms are a great source of new content ideas.
With the rapid development of new products and revolutionary events, there are plenty of content ideas for content creators from around the world.
Organize Your Thoughts
Take notes. Don’t just keep the lists, take notes on each topic.
Once you’ve written all the things you can think of, try to come up with a title and description for each post. Try to avoid titles that sound like “I’m creating content” or “I’m trying to publish something.” Instead, try to come up with something that makes sense to your readers.
Use AI To Generate Content Ideas
AI offers a deep understanding of user search intent and behaviors. This understanding can help content creators align their content ideation process with the right kind of data.
Moreover, AI saves time and effort while taking the guesswork out of the content ideation process.
Suggested Read: How Can AI Help With Content Marketing?
Additionally, you can use AI to generate content ideas and organize them into different clusters based on user search intent or context.
See How AI Can Generate Content Ideas For You
How to Start Writing Once You Generate Content Ideas?
When you’re ready, start writing. Start by writing a few sentences describing why you created the content. Then go back and add more details if needed.
Repeat until you have enough material to fill a couple pages. I don’t recommend going through every single thing you wrote because it will quickly become overwhelming. But when you’re done, check off any relevant links you found.
After you’ve finished writing, look at the stats. Did anyone click through to your site? Do you feel you were effective? Did you attract a lot of traffic?
Make adjustments based on the numbers. Maybe you didn’t hit the right keyword or link? Or maybe you posted too soon after someone else did.
Check off anything that needs attention. For example, if you made a mistake with your headline, change it. If you forgot to include a photo, re-write it.
Also Read: What are the Ingredients of a Successful Blog?
How to Generate Content Ideas Ethically?
It is the responsibility of every content creator to generate content ideas ethically. The need to generate content ideas ethically is now more than ever, given the rise in content idea stealing activities.
Top 10 Ethical Considerations for Content Creators
Here are some short but powerful ways to ensure that your content ideation process is ethically sound:
- Voice your opinion freely. You must protect your basic right of free speech in information, expression and publication of content ideas.
- View everything from a critical point of view – even your own work. Critical review ensures that the right to freedom of expression is exercised correctly.
- Use your power appropriately and essentially to protect the rights of others. Content creation is a powerful process, use it ethically to voice the concerns of those with limited power.
- Share truth and only truth at all times. Use your power as a content creator to tell the truth, be it words, images or any similar content element.
- Tell your version and your opinion only. Presenting your opinions and understanding of different situations is important but you must not impose your opinion on others.
- Share your allegiances to ensure your independence. It means that any type of biased opinion you share must have a proper, valid link to a specific allegiance who is relevant to your topic.
- Admit your mistakes and correct them in due time. Believe that you are a human being capable of making errors and allow others a chance to help you correct those errors.
- Let your opponent share their opinion/views on the topics you talk about as well. It creates an atmosphere of just power distribution.
- Reveal your sources if there is no problem in revealing them. Ensure transparency in every step of content ideation, creation and publication.
- Give the devil its due credit. It means that no matter what type of information you discuss, always give due credit to concerned parties.
Wrapping it Up
Content idea generation is tedious, especially when there’s a limit to human creative capabilities. With the tips shared above, you can improve your content idea generation process and also use AI to help you with content ideation. Whichever method you choose, always make sure that everything is done ethically.
References:
[1] How to Overcome Creative Block – Simplified.co
