Content Creation Strategies: Brainstorming Beyond Simple Observation
Observation is your best source for content creation strategies and delivering the type of content your audience really wants but we all run short on ideas now and then. If you find yourself getting stuck with this, here are some excellent ways to get the content creation idea ball rolling again.
- Read/watch the news and current events. Pay attention to what’s happening in the news and many times you’ll find something that ties in perfectly to your audience’s interests. For example, if your target market is parents of teens and stories of online dangers or even of inspiring kids is a potential subject to share and comment on.
- Keep a notebook with ideas. Always keep a little notebook or your mobile device handy when you come across ideas. Sometimes a little story about what happened to you at a restaurant or your kid’s soccer game can become a relevant lesson to your readers.
- Product reviews. People always appreciate detailed and honest product reviews. A good review will discuss a product’s features and potential benefits. It will also clearly show who the product is suitable for and perhaps who it is not. It will also talk about any potential drawbacks to be aware of.
- Conduct case studies with your clients and customers. Case studies are perfect because they can be highly-informative, but also provide amazing testimonials for your business.
- Interview other experts/celebrities in your market. Now I don’t mean get Angelina Jolie or some other big-time celebrity; instead, find people in your market that others turn to for information, guidance, and even entertainment.
- Have someone interview you. This is an super easy way to create content simply by answering questions. You can even have your own readers submit questions for the interview.
- Look at previous content and expand on it. If you previously created some popular content, see where you can expand it or possibly target a certain aspect of it in finer detail.
- Create a ‘Top 10’ list. If writing isn’t your thing, this is an easy way to come up with plenty of ideas in bullet point form. For example, ‘Top 10 Ways to Use SEO to Drive Traffic to Your Blog.
- Entertain. People use the Internet for information but also for entertainment. You don’t always have to come up with earth-shattering information to impress your audience. Have fun, inspire them or make them laugh.
I hope you found these ideas to be helpful ones. What are some of your ideas and suggestions for content creation strategies that have worked well for your online business?
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Mel Day says
That\’s a nifty list of ideas to quash a writing block. I use #7 frequently and really need to mix it up. Thanks for the tips. Bookmarking this one.
Cheers, Mel
Andrew J Titcombe says
Great list! Could I also add “Be prepared to help others who haven’t yet reached the stage you are at” That does seem to be YOUR own watchword as well
Connie Ragen Green says
Thanks so much for your comment, Andrew. I love your addition to the list.
Connie Ragen Green
Mike Darling says
Connie, great list! Worth printing out and posting next to my desk.
Another great source of ideas for generating relevant content, are the comments and questions posed by visitors to my website or blog.
For example, I have a blog/website in the gardening niche, and I get questions and comments from website visitors from submitting comments/questions in the comment section of the blog. And sometimes they take the time to fill out a contact form because they really want to know some particular detail and they are contact me personally.
If someone is taking the time to fill out a contact form on a website or submit a comment on a blog, then that is probably a pain point, and worth taking note of, and creating more content around!
As a result of this reader engagement, I now have a number of wonderful keywords and questions to write even more content about – and not keywords or suggestions posed by what Google thinks people want to know, but questions and concerns asked by actual live human beings.
Mike Darling
Connie Ragen Green says
Mike,
This is an excellent example of how one great thought or idea leads to another. Thanks so much for sharing.
Connie Ragen Green