How to Find Content Ideas (It Doesn’t Have To Be Hard)

Coming up with great content ideas is one of the most important, and often most challenging, aspects of content creation.

Whether you’re a blogger, marketer, or business owner, your content is the lifeblood of your online presence.

Without a steady stream of engaging, high-quality content, it’s difficult to attract and retain an audience or drive business results.

That’s why finding promising content ideas needs to be an ongoing priority.

With so much competition and noise online, creating content that resonates with your target audience is key.

The right topic will capture attention, provide value, and help you build authority around your brand, products or services.

It will get shared and bring in traffic, leads and sales.

But how do you uncover those winning topics when inspiration runs dry?

While creativity plays a role, finding great content ideas doesn’t have to be left purely to chance.

With the right strategies and tools, you can tap into data, trends and resources to uncover an abundance of relevant topics that will connect with your readers.

This article will explore actionable tips and techniques to help find and develop powerful content ideas and themes.

Whether researching your target audience’s interests, analyzing top-performing content, or leveraging online tools, there are many ways to spark and refine ideas.

Let’s dive into the strategies that will take the guesswork out of content planning.

Quick Summary For Finding Content Ideas

• My absolute best route has been using SEM Rush and looking at my competitors then their keywords and filtering those out based on search intent and as well filtering by keyword difficulty.  One thing too it’s not the cheapest platform but the data is awesome. The worst is just to use the 7-day free trial and get the data.
• WordPress is going to be your best friend for a blog.  If you’re using Shopify or considering it I’ve had good success rankings on that too.
• Please give yourself time to grow your content and time for it to rank.  Use Google Search Console to track how you are doing.
• Optimizing and updating existing content can be your best friend.  Just because you fell from page 1 doesn’t mean you won’t be right back there once you do this.

Understand Your Audience

The first step in finding great content ideas is to have a clear understanding of who your target audience is.

Do in-depth research on your ideal reader – what are their demographics, interests, pain points, and goals?

The more you can understand what your audience cares about and wants to learn, the easier it will be to generate relevant content ideas.

Conduct surveys, interviews or focus groups to gather first-hand data on your audience’s needs and preferences.

Analyze existing reader comments and questions to identify topics they want to hear more about.

Develop reader personas that capture details like job titles, challenges, and motivations.

The more insight you have into your audience, the better you’ll be able to create content tailored specifically for them.

Make sure to continue researching your audience even after initial profiling.

Interests and needs change over time so stay on top of shifts and trends.

Pay attention to which existing content resonates best to get clues about what information your readers value most.

Let your audience’s wants and needs drive your ideation process.

Leverage Data and Trends

One of the most effective ways to find relevant content ideas is to look at search volume and trends.

Using keyword research tools like Google Trends, SEMrush, or Ahrefs can reveal topics and questions that are gaining popularity and search volume.

Start by brainstorming seed keywords related to your niche and industry.

Then input these into the keyword tools to see if any are rising or declining over time.

Spikes in search volume indicate people are increasingly interested in a topic. This presents an opportunity to create content while interest is high.

You can also research keyword difficulty to assess the competition.

If a term has high search volume but low competition, it may be a prime target for content creation.

Beyond search volume, leveraging trending news and events is another way to find timely content ideas.

Keep an eye on industry publications, blogs, and social media to spot rising stories.

Trending topics on sites like Reddit, Quora, and Twitter can provide inspiration as well.

Tying content to seasonal events, awareness months, or holidays is another angle.

For example, fitness sites may see value in content about getting in shape for summer or sticking to healthy habits in December.

In summary, monitoring search volume trends, industry chatter, and timely happenings can reveal many lucrative content opportunities.

Use data and analytics to make informed decisions about which topics to pursue.

Optimize Existing Content

One of the best ways to find new content ideas is to analyze the performance of your existing content.

Look at your top-performing pieces – what topics do they cover?

What formats do they use?

This data reveals what resonates with your audience and can point you toward related topics and formats to explore.

On the flip side, analyze your low-performing content.

Are there topics or formats that consistently underperform?

That’s a sign that those are not resonating and you may want to move away from them.

Dig into your analytics to see which pieces of content drive the most traffic, shares, and backlinks.

Talk to your audience and see what their favorite pieces are.

Uncover what makes your top content so successful so you can replicate it.

Also look for content gaps – are there topics you’ve covered shallowly that could benefit from a deeper dive?

Are there angles on popular topics you haven’t explored?

Optimizing and building on existing content is an easy way to develop new ideas that you know will hit the mark with your readers.

Monitor Forums and Communities

One great way to find content ideas is to join relevant online communities and monitor the discussions.

Look for popular forums, Facebook groups, Reddit subs, LinkedIn groups, and more that relate to your target audience and niche.

Spend time reading through current conversations and spotting trending topics that come up frequently.

You can also search forums and communities using keywords to uncover questions and problems people have that could inspire content topics.

The benefit of monitoring communities is that you gain direct insight into what your audience cares about right now.

Keep an eye out for discussions where people are looking for solutions, advice, explanations, or recommendations.

Think about how you can create content that provides helpful information to address those needs.

Active online communities are a valuable source of ideation because they provide real-time data on current interests and pain points.

Join the conversations when possible to show your expertise and also learn more about what content people want.

Look at Competitors (This Helped Me A Ton)

One great way to find fresh content ideas is to study what your competitors are covering and look for gaps or untapped angles.

Your competitors likely invest a lot of time and resources into understanding your shared audience and industry trends.

Rather than completely reinventing the wheel, you can leverage some of their research and insight.

Study the topics, formats, and angles they are pursuing.

Make a list of the content your top 3-5 competitors have recently published.

Then look for areas they are missing or underserving.

Are there any promising subjects they haven’t covered yet that your audience would find valuable?

What formats or styles are they not experimenting with that you could try out?

Checking out your competitors can reveal openings for you to provide content that stands out and better serves your readers.

Just make sure to put your own unique spin on any topics or approaches you borrow.

The goal is to cover overlooked ground, not simply rehash the same ideas.

Listen to Readers

One of the best ways to find content ideas is to simply ask your readers what topics they want covered.

Open a line of communication with your audience to understand what questions they have and what content would be most helpful to them.

You can ask readers for content ideas in several ways:

• Send out surveys and polls on social media or via email. Ask straightforward questions like “What content would you like to see more of?” or “What questions do you have about [topic]?” Tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms make it easy to create polls.
• Look at comments on your blog posts and social media. People will often leave suggestions for future articles. Pay attention to questions that get asked repeatedly.
• Enable comments on your website. Look for common questions and knowledge gaps that readers want to be filled.
• Interact with readers on social media. Ask if there are topics they want to be covered or pose questions to spur suggestions.
• Host live talks or Q&As. Let readers ask questions and take note of topics that generate interest.
• Check reviews and feedback. Look for complaints about content gaps or requests for specific types of articles.
• Talk to customers and clients. Ask what challenges they face and how your content could help.

Listen carefully to the responses and compile a list of content ideas.

Pay extra attention to topics that get mentioned frequently.

Turn these reader suggestions into blog posts, videos, and other content formats.

Actively listening to your audience allows you to create content tailored to their needs.

It ensures you produce material readers actually want, resulting in higher engagement.

Check-in with your community regularly to stay on top of their evolving interests.

Brainstorm and Mind Map

One effective way to generate content ideas is through brainstorming techniques like mind mapping. Mind mapping allows you to visualize connections between topics and themes.

To create a mind map for content ideas:

• Start with a central topic like your website, brand, or industry.
• Branch out from the center with related subtopics and ideas. Organize them into groupings or categories.
• Keep branching out as new ideas come to you. Don’t self-censor at this stage. Capture every idea.
• Use colors, symbols, and images to differentiate between topics and make connections.
• Circle or highlight promising content ideas that emerge from the map.

Mind mapping taps into your creativity and allows ideas to flow more freely. It provides a visual aid to see relationships between topics. This can spark new angles and approaches you may not have considered.

Set a timer for 10-15 minutes and rapid-fire mind map to generate a wealth of content possibilities.

Don’t judge the ideas at this point. You can refine and prioritize later.

Mind mapping is a powerful brainstorming technique for unlocking unique content ideas.

Curate Content

Curating content is a great way to create new content ideas by repurposing and improving existing content into new formats.

This involves finding high-quality content that already exists and giving it a new spin.

For example, you can take evergreen content from your blog and turn it into a video, infographic, or podcast episode.

Or you can find trending content from influencers and thought leaders in your industry and create commentary around their ideas.

Curating and repurposing content allows you to provide value to your audience without having to start from scratch.

And it enables you to give existing content new life across different formats and platforms.

Some tips for curating content ideas:

• Look through your own content archives and assess what performed well and could be updated or reimagined
• Follow influencers in your niche and see what content resonates with their audiences
• Search online publications and blogs for evergreen, non-time-sensitive content to repurpose
• Use tools like Buzzsumo to find trending content around relevant topics
• Ask your audience what types of content they want to see more of

The key is adding your own spin and perspective so the repurposed content feels fresh. With a bit of effort, curating content can become an efficient way to generate new ideas.

Conclusion

In summary, there are several effective methods for finding great content ideas:

• Understand who your target audience is and what topics and issues matter most to them. Research their interests, questions, and pain points.
• Look at existing data and trends to identify rising or highly searched topics that align with your expertise. Tools like Google Trends can help.
• Optimize and expand on your existing content by updating or repurposing into new formats. Turn old blog posts into videos or podcasts.
• Monitor relevant forums, communities, and social media conversations to discover questions and discussions happening. Identify potential content gaps.
• Research what your competitors are covering and look for good ideas to put your unique spin on. Don’t copy, but analyze what performs well.
• Listen to and engage with your readers and followers. Look at comments, emails, and social media interactions to find out what they want more information on.
• Brainstorm and mind map around your brand, products, services, and industry. Free associate ideas and make lists.
• Curate and aggregate useful content from other trusted sources as part of your research and topic discovery. Share these sources.

The key is continuously exploring your niche from multiple angles to uncover and produce content that provides real value for your audience.

With consistent research and ideation, you’ll never run out of relevant, engaging topic ideas.