Content Marketing can be a tricky thing.
You have to create good quality pieces but at a high volume, making idea generation somewhat tricky. Hitting writer’s block can be a real problem, but if you’re feeling like you are about to run out of ideas, there are some online tools that can help you. Here are just a few to get you started:
Delicious
Signing up to Delicious is easy. Just log in with your Twitter or Facebook account, (a traditional email signup is also available), and look for the Discover button on the left. This will bring up what’s creating buzz on the web and can be used to tailor content to the top trends of the day. The smart search functionality of the platform ensures you don’t waste any time getting the information you want. It can also make sure you keep your content fresh, avoiding over-saturated topics and duplicating articles. You can even search on the go, as Delicious is available on both the App and Google Play Stores.
Google has three useful tools that can aid you in content creation. They are:
Google Keyword Planner – A great way to search for keywords and concepts that relate to your central idea. Keyword searching is a great way to come up with seed ideas which you can then expand into full pieces that truly relate to your core topic, resulting in meaningful pieces that will engage with your target audience. Keep an eye out for long-tail keyword terms as you may miss out if you don’t do a more detailed search for these terms.
Google Trends – Keeping a piece relevant can be difficult. Many marketers miss out connecting with their audience because their content is not relevant enough. Using Google Trends can help solve this with powerful tools that can track trending keywords and phrases during specific timeframes, or even in certain regions of the world. If you’re facing writer’s block, a quick search on trending news pieces can spur your imagination and end that nasty rut.
Google Webmaster Tools – Instead of checking what is trending on Google, have a look at which keywords are driving traffic to your own site. This is key in finding out what readers are looking for and a great way to expand your content offering.
Quora
Quora is a next level Q&A site, with millions of people writing the answers to topics posted for everyone to see. Having a quick search through the public feeds can give you insight into what your audience is curious about and can give you ideas on which topics need addressed. Writing some quick answers to the questions posed by users is a great way to spur ideas and get the creativity flowing. Being able to tailor your feed is also useful, as there are many niches are available to choose from, ranging from super broad to extremely specific. Ultimately, Quora can help you write what your audience is curious about, helping drive more readers to your content.
Trello
Many marketers have no problem coming up with content ideas, but getting these approved and developed can be a pain, taking up more time than is necessary. Trello can help alleviate this annoyance and really flesh out your content ideas. The software allows you to do a plethora of things that can help, negating back-and-forth email threads and streamlining your content calendar. You can organise your dashboard until your heart’s content, creating tabs for things that need to be done, things that are complete and current projects, alongside possible ideas and future topics. It is a great way to track your progress over time and see where parts of your process can be improved.
We can all struggle to come up with fresh content ideas, but hopefully these incredibly useful tools can stop writer’s block and lead to exciting and highly engaging pieces for your content marketing strategy.