Secrets to Finding Great Ideas for Content
February 07, 2014
Guest post by Alicia Lawrence
You’ve undoubtedly heard how great content will attract readers, help you rank more highly in search engines and establish credibility. But creating so much content will leave your “brilliant idea” cup quite empty. Here are a few ways to find great topics for your website’s content.
Lean On Your Knowledge
As a content creator, you have a great opportunity to teach others about what you know. Even if your field of expertise is fairly broad, there’s still an advantage in a perspective that’s not quite exactly the same as anyone else’s. Think carefully about suggestions you have that others would appreciate. For example, CJ Pony Parts does a great job creating interactive graphics with knowledge about Mustangs. Never underestimate your ability to make an impact with compelling content by digging into your personal knowledge base.
Reddit Datasets
Reddit is one of the busiest hubs on the Web, probably because it neatly bridges the gap between social media and news. Reddit Datasets is a portion of the expansive site that gives you a glimpse of buzzworthy topics. It also allows you to enter specific keywords to see how they’re performing in terms of popularity.
StoryCrawler
Recent Facebook algorithm updates have focused on giving users easier access to news stories. If you don’t have time to scroll through your news feed to see what friends are talking about, let the StoryCrawler make things easier. StoryCrawler highlights the top trending stories across specialties like social media, business, marketing and SEO. Use these hot topics to spark your inspiration and create similar pieces that compel readers.
The Wisdom App
Tech-savvy content creators rejoice. The appropriately titled Wisdom app is available for iPad and iPhone as well as a web-based interface. It tracks consumer usage activities on Facebook and elsewhere, which could help you get hints about businesses and topics that are gaining momentum in the mainstream. A sub-app called WisdomPlaces could also be helpful for narrowing down options prior to a night out, as it lists the most popular spots in a community and who goes there.
Sonar Solo
Perfect for people who tend to find inspiration through visual cues, this site diagrams the relevancy of trending topics with help from scattered dots. Larger ones represent more popular conversations, and there’s even color coding so you can see whether sentiment about a particular subject is positive or negative.
Topsy
Want to get a glimps of what’s being talk about. Try Topsy. This tool will search the social web regarding the specific query your use. For example, if you want to know what is currently being said about music therapy all you have to do is type it into Topsy and it will bring up the most current tweets and results.
As 2014 kicks off, high-quality content is likely to still dominate the print and Internet landscapes. The ideas listed here could help you keep pace with what’s captured attention around the world.
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