Ideas & Research [Blog Writing Series #1]
Let me teach you how to do what I do a minimum of once a week!
This 8 part guide is a rather extensive look at the whole process of writing. Is it too in depth? Only you can say. But if you’ve been meaning to hop on the content creation bandwagon and have finally decided to do it, I believe this is going to help.
I also think this is the best how-to on blog writing on the internet, but that’s just my opinion.
You do you, but even if you’ve written a bunch of content before, I’d encourage you to read through the whole series. Over the years, having written (what has to be) millions of words into countless articles, blog entries, how-tos, scripts, social media posts, website copy, and so much more, I’ve learned a thing or two. I’ve attempted to impart as much of my wisdom as possible into each and every one of these articles so that they’re not fluffy and useless. It’s taken me considerable time. It would mean a lot to me if you’d honour that dedication (that you gain for free!) by taking the time to read it all the way through if you’re going to read at all.
The Big Question
The writing process starts with answering the following question:
Why am I writing?
And “Because my boss told me to” is not an acceptable answer.
In 99% of circumstances, the point of writing can be simplified into these two reasons:
To educate or entertain my audience, and
To build my business and, eventually, help me earn more money.
The second one is easy because the act of writing good content will naturally build your business in a number of ways. But I’m not here to convince you why you should be writing. I’ve already done that. This is to be read after you’ve made the decision to start writing. And that brings us back to number one.
Writing to educate your audience (unless you’re a comedian, most blogging is for education and not entertainment) is easily the most prominent form of blogging. And while it’s tempting to just think of something to write (or use the 20 strategies below to develop an idea), it’s important that we have some strategy to our writing first.
Strategy can be viewed at two distances: the individual article, and an overarching, entire content-calendar worth of content. The second one I’ll discuss more in part 8 (because it’s more important to start before having an overarching approach), but first we’ll begin with the individual-article approach to strategy.
You need to be trying to accomplish something with your blog.
This should be the approach you take in all of your writing. You shouldn’t just write for the sake of it. There are enough people on the internet that speak just to hear their own voice (your Facebook feed is full of them).
You should write because you have something to say.
Your blog should contribute to a conversation in some way, and not just regurgitating information that someone else has already written better than you might hope to.
Your strategy, on an individual article level, must be about addressing a problem or question your audience has, and attempting to answer it.
20 Ways to Develop Blog Ideas & Complete Research
With that in mind, we can begin the hunt for what that actual idea might be!
If you work for a big company and need to write some content for a newsletter or your company’s corporate blog, you’re going to have a little bit of an easier time because more of the options below allow you to draw on the talents of others to help you.
If you are independent, or work on a very small team, you might have to be a bit more creative in putting yourself in a different frame of mind for some of the suggestions below, but it will be worth the effort. Stick with me!
Before we begin: Write everything down
If you don’t already do this, start a new notepad document and write down every scrap of an idea that comes to mind. It might be a potential title, an interesting article you could write, or a unique way of saying something that you haven’t thought of before. You might have the first half of an idea now and not come up with the second half of it until 6 months have passed. No worries!
If you’re constantly jotting down stuff that pops into your head, not only will you build the creative muscle in your head, you’ll be able to draw on this list when you have a deadline to write but you’re blanking on what to say.
I can’t stress this enough: jot down every small idea.
Ok, now that you’ve done that, we can get on with the process.
Last chance if you ignored my previous advice - seriously stop reading right now and go start a notepad! You’re a writer, aren’t you? Write stuff down more often. “The faintest ink is more permanent than the most vivid memory.”
Alright, here we go. Aidan’s 20 different ways to come up with new article ideas and research those topics:
1. What do you wish people knew?
The answer to this question might be obvious, but you’d be surprised. Start here! What do you wish your (customers, readers, followers, friends, family) knew about your business? What do you wish they knew about your industry? Your newest product? Write about what you want to raise awareness for.
2. Talk to Your Readers
While it’s tempting to always write about what we want our audience to know, it’s important to ask them from time to time what they want to know from you. The more you become an expert in your field, the more you might forget how little your customers actually know about all the technicalities of what you do. Poll your audience (using social media, personal emails, phone calls, whatever) about what valuable knowledge you have they might want to glean.
No one likes someone who only talks about themselves.
3. Google Similar Ideas
Ok—I’m going to assume you at least have a rough idea of what it is you wanna write about. Is that fair? Google that question or idea! See what else people on the internet have written about that’s similar. It’s rare that you want to write an article that has the exact same title or angle, so make sure to put your own unique spin on any pieces of inspiration you come across. As always, do not plagiarize.
4. Keyword Trackers
There are various websites out there (just Google “keyword tracker” if you don’t know any) that will give you some of the top links for given keywords. They can also help you see related keywords that people might be searching for when they’re looking for your specific topic. Write these down like I told you!
5. Answerthepublic.com
One of the most interesting websites I’ve come across when it comes to developing blog ideas (and I have yet to find a competitor to this website) is answerthepublic.com. You search for a few keywords like in the last 2 suggestions, and it spits out a whole host of questions people from a given region search for in relation to that topic. A lot of this info will be repeated from the last 2 ideas, but once in a while you get a golden nugget that was worth the time.
6. Corporate Brainstorm
If you have coworkers, you’re in luck, because I’m giving you an excuse to stop working, sit down in a board room or wherever, and just talk through a million crazy and not-so-crazy ideas for blogs. This is where we start to get into the “two heads are better than one” philosophy where someone will spark an idea and someone else might finish it. This is a beautiful thing. Take advantage of it. (We’ll be doing more “talk to _______ people” later on.)
7. Analyze your Analytics
Check out the Google Analytics of your website to see what people are already using to get to it and what they’re searching for once they’re on it. What pages on your site are most popular? What do you wish got more page views? What pages do people linger on the longest? A lot of these stats can spark ideas about what to write about. Draw attention to anything you think is underrepresented. Add additional content to the stuff that’s already working well for you.
8. Talk to Customer Service Staff
“Think of how smart the average person is, and realize half of them are dumber than that.” Customer Service staff will sometimes get into a rut of answering the same question over and over for different people. Usually what this indicates is that there’s a gap in customer knowledge on the given topic. This is a perfect opportunity for you to write a blog that will answer that question (and make your customer service coworker your new best friend).
9. Companion Piece to a Product Launch
About to launch a brand new product? Write about it! Don’t assume a sales page is all you need. Write about any new technologies you’ve employed, the person who spearheaded the project, the journey from conception to launch; whatever. Why did you launch that product? Why is it worth your customers’ money? Write it out in an educational manner. Avoid bias for best results. Speak objectively.
10. Youtube Search Your Topic of Interest
Second biggest search engine on the internet is Youtube (if you didn’t know that before, now you do). Search for questions on your mind, keywords, related topics to what you wanna write about: whatever it takes. Chances are there’s a plethora of videos on your topic already, so this is like reading other blogs but instead seeing what people share about in video form. Jot down all the ideas you have that come to mind. Borrow a few ideas (in your own manner) if you see an opportunity.
11. Explore Entire Youtube Channels
Don’t just click on a whole bunch of individual videos (though definitely do that): also click on the channels that they belong to. Explore their library of content. Chances are there’s a lot of ideas in there as well. You already know to write them down.
12. Daily Life
What questions do you have about your industry / job / new product? What questions do you answer for friends and family when you’re telling them about it? Chances are that can be turned into a blog of some kind. This is also why it’s important to have your notepad stored somewhere in the cloud so you can access it on the go.
13. Talk to a Salesperson
Similar to a Customer Services rep, a salesperson will answer a lot of silly and rudimentary questions over and over. Ask what the most common objections are within the sales process, and see if they have any ideas about how you can make their lives easier. Could you write a blog they could send to a prospective customer who is on the fence? Brilliant! We all win when we work together.
14. Research Competitors
Every business has them. That’s totally ok! Explore their online presence like you were a customer. What are they doing? Do they blog? What have they written about? What videos have they published? Do you have something similar that answers the same questions? If you don’t you probably should.
15. Competitor’s Email Campaigns & Downloads
Don’t stop at exploring that competitor’s social media and blog. Get into their email lists (using an email that doesn’t link back to you) and download any eBooks or other resources they have. These are probably chock full of brilliant things you can write about as well. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Borrow what’s good and put it into your own voice.
16. Read Industry Magazines
Get subscribed to a few magazines in your industry. You’d be surprised how cheap a magazine subscription is for a year! If there’s not a physical publication in your niche or industry (which would be shocking, and maybe a sign you haven’t searched hard enough to find one), there’s probably a digital one.
17. Trade Shows & Corporate Events
In almost every industry, there’s trade shows and massive corporate events. These are businesses (or charities) like anything else, usually with their own social media content + website. Browse these sites to see what sort of stuff is being shared there. Are they talking about trends in your industry? This is another good way to keep your finger on the pulse.
18. Talk to Your R&D Department
If you aren’t about to launch a new product, and there’s nothing super exciting going on in your industry, chances are there’s a component of one of your existing products that you can highlight. Talk to one of your engineers about some specific design feature that is unique to what your company offers, and write a blog about that. Write about the entire process of creating that product or all the other thinking that went into it.
19. Re-read Old Content
If you’re starting with a library of content already and you need to find a way to add to it without repeating yourself, browse through your back catalogue and read some of the articles. Again, we’re looking for a sentence or idea that’ll spark another you can write about. Could anything be explained in further detail? If something was explained in detail, can we briefly cover the entire process?
20. Look for Gaps in Current Content
In addition to just re-reading through older individual blogs, look at your library as a whole as it pertains to your company and/or your product line. Is there any area in your industry, your company ethos, your customer service, your product, your niche that can be discussed? Does every single component of your company have a blog written about it yet?
In conclusion:
There are a plethora of ways to come up with new blog topic ideas and how to actually research them. These are 20 of my biggest ways to discover new ideas. If there isn’t a single idea here that helps you out, I’m going to argue the problem is you, and that you’re trying too hard.
Go for a walk. Pause this until tomorrow.
But. Come back to it.
In the words of the late, great Chuck Close: Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.
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