If you do have a blog, you know how important it is to post regularly. Posting regularly, with interesting or useful content that generates traffic and shares can improve your search ranking thereby driving even more traffic to your site.
The frequency of posts depends on your industry, the time you can dedicate to writing these posts, and what your audience is most interested in. Some marketers feel businesses should post daily, some will say multiple times a day, and some will say posting twice a week is good enough. Additionally, some marketers feel many short blogs is more effective and others favor posting long-form content but less often. It is your responsibility to research what works best in your particular industry and for your audience.
When it does come time to post it can be difficult to generate content ideas. If you are experiencing writer’s block, try the following free tools to spark inspiration. All of these tools are free to use (at least at the most basic level):
- Quora: This crowdsourced website is a question and answer forum where people all questions around a broad range of topics. Look for threads related to your industry and see what people are asking. The answers to these questions can make for very strong blog content.
- BuzzSumo: If you have an existing blog idea, this is the perfect place to flesh out that idea by getting more information on the topic. Enter a topic into the search box and the platform will spit out a wealth of information on this topic and which content works best for social sharing.
- Portent’s Content Idea Generator: As the name suggests, this tool helps you generate blog titles based off of the keywords you enter into the system. Sometimes, just generating titles can help you decide what to write about and how to frame it. You can refresh the system as many times as you need for new ideas!
- Google Trends: Google offers a free tool where you can view consumer search trends and explore popular topics of interest around the world. By connecting these interests to your community and/or your business, this can help you make content timely and relevant.
- Twitter Trends: Like Google Trends, Twitter’s trending topics provide you with ideas on what’s going on around the world and what’s in the news. This might spark blog ideas, especially if you have a “weekly news” piece or newsletter you need to fill. You can also tailor your topics to be about local news, or what’s happening specifically in your area, or even receive fully tailored tweets that consider your location and the people you follow. To access Twitter Trends, log into Twitter directly.
- LinkedIn Pulse: This platform operates similarly to Twitter Trends in that it allows you to look up what news is trending on LinkedIn. You can cater your search results according to the channels you follow and the people in your LinkedIn network. You can download LinkedIn Pulse as a mobile app.
- Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator: This tool is easy to use and operates in a similar fashion to the Portent Title Maker. You will enter a content idea into the portal and it will in return spit out five potential blog titles to get your gears spinning. You can refresh the results as many times as you need until you find a viable option.
- UberSuggest: This tool is simple to use. Enter keywords into your search and the tool will respond with dozens, sometimes hundreds, of phrases that use that keyword. This tool can’t provide you with info on search volume, competition, or anything like that, but it is great for just generating ideas.
What tools do you use to generate content ideas for your blog?
If you don’t have a blog and need help understanding the pros and cons of managing one, watch this webinar recording: Everything You Need to Know About Building a Business Blog.
