I
realize that not everyone is a natural born writer or an "idea
machine". And for most of us, writing content is one of the
more difficult tasks on our lists. Writing GOOD and unique content
being even more difficult...
Its
not just about writing content pages for your website. Content
is everywhere: blog posts, reports, ebooks, forum posts, articles,
web pages, newsletters... you name it!
The
entire web revolves around content - and your aim is to "add
value to the web" by writing content that gets major exposure
in your niche. Everything that you write is (or should be) a "Lead
Generator" for your online business.
See my third article on this topic:
Where do you come up with ideas or 'topic starters'? What
do you write about? How do you turn a topic (one sentence) into
a whole page of content? How do you come up with something that
people will want to read, 'link to', comment on and recommend
to others?
Here are 7 Quick Ideas
for you:
________________________
1.
News / Current Trends
Look
at the news or current trends within your niche. A great source
to keep your eye on is http://news.yahoo.com/
On this page you will see headlines sorted by Top Stories, Most
Popular and broken down by topic: Politics, Business, Technology,
Health, Entertainment, Travel, Sports, etc.
________________________
2.
Keyword Research
You
dont have to be a rocket scientist or use hundreds of dollars
worth of software to do some keyword brainstorming for topics
to write about.
Simply
go to http://inventory.overture.com
and type in words related to your niche. For example, go to that
link and type in "dog grooming" (without quotes). Instantly
you see ideas for articles or content pages!
________________________
3.
Forum Threads
Do
a search for forums in your niche, and look specifically for threads
that have a large number of views and/or replies. Very active
discussion topics are good topics to write about!
________________________
4.
Who's Blogging What?
Find
out what people are talking about (ie blogging about) by searching
related keywords at Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/
.
You
can search 'tags' or just search within blog posts around the
web from this one site. For example, here is a link to current
blog posts that are 'tagged sports': http://www.technorati.com/posts/tag/sports
.
________________________
5.
Google It!
Have
a topic idea, but need more information? Google it! For example,
if you have an idea for an article titled "Do It Yourself
Dog Grooming", search:
http://www.google.com/search?&q=do+it+yourself+dog+grooming
Grab
a notepad (no copy & paste please!) and make notes on things
you might want to include in YOUR content based on what you find
(and dont find!) in the top 10 pages that Google shows on the
topic.
________________________
6.
Reference Sites
Dont
forget reference sites like Wikipedia! They are a wealth of information
and resources that you can draw from on just about any topic.
You can look here for the portals (ie topics):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:List_of_portals
...or
use the Search feature at the top of the page.
________________________
7.
Your Own Experiences
If
you are a pet owner and you own a pet-related website, look at
your own everyday 'pet experiences' for content ideas! If you
are a mechanic by trade and own a do-it-yourself type site, ideas
for content can be found in your own garage. etc.
I hope that helps to spark a few ideas for you as you work towards
writing quality content and adding value to your websites, and
to the web as a whole.
I'll give you even more ideas, and more depth on these
7 quick tips, next week. If you are not already subscribed,
be sure to sign up to get the SSWT Newsletter by email. You can
subscribe at the top left of this page or on
the main page.
Watch
for it! It will be titled "Content Development Ideas"
and I am going to share all of my resources and "secrets"
for coming up with high quality unique content... complete with
screen shots ;)
Until then, join us on the forum if you have any questions:
http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum/
