5 Tips To NEVER Run Out Of Content Ideas

If you want to get discovered online and bring leads to your business, you have to create content (i.e. blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos).

 

Content Marketing is proven to deliver a higher return on investment (ROI) than other forms of marketing. 

 

You get better quality leads from creating consistent, quality content that answers your target audience’s questions and solves their problems over a long period of time.

 

You can build systems in your business that sell your products and services automatically (and you should) but you also need to have leads flowing into those systems on a consistent basis. 

 

That’s where your content comes in.

 

Content is the work that never ends and, knowing that you’re going to find at some point you don’t know what to create content about anymore (i.e. writer’s block).

 

After talking about a subject for years, you will eventually feel like you’ve taught everything about the topic and that there is nothing more to teach because you’ve “done it all”.

 

So how do we keep coming up with fresh ideas for our blog, podcast, and youtube channel week after week for years and years to come?

 

Today, I’m going to walk you through 5 of the best tips I use in my business that will help you never run out of content ideas.

 

Let’s dive in!

 

The Purpose of Content Marketing

 

Before we dive into the 5 tips, I want you to understand the purpose of content marketing.

 

Put simply, content marketing is all about solving problems and answering the questions your target market is asking. 

 

For example, let’s say you had a YouTube channel or blog teaching people how to play tennis.

 

A common question your target market could have is “How do I grip my tennis racquet?“

 

Knowing this, you could create a piece of content titled “How The Best Tennis Pros Grip Their Racquets”.

 

Any aspiring tennis player would click on that topic because they want to learn the best way to play the game so why not learn from the pros?

 

When it comes to creating content, we need to get into a problem-solving state of mind.

 

Tip #1 - Create and Cycle Through Content Buckets

 

Now that you’re in a problem-solving state of mind, let’s set you up for success by creating some Content Buckets.

 

Think of Content Buckets like “Content Categories” where you break up your core topic into subtopics (these are your buckets).

 

For example, I teach about online business and these are my Content Buckets:

 

• Working Less
• Starting Your Business

• Growing Your Audience

• Building Your Products

• Selling Your Products

• Best Business Tools 

 

These are the main components that makeup running an efficient online business. Under each bucket (or category) I will come up with 5-10+ content topics for each.

 

Before we continue, what are 3-6 subtopics of your main topic?

 

If you’re a fitness coach, your Buckets could be nutrition, weight loss, muscle building, mobility, and mindset (just throwing noodles here).

 

Once you’ve come up with your buckets, now we need to find topic ideas. I’m going to show you a super easy way to do this that guarantees people actually care about the topics.

 

Open up Google and type in a phrase your audience would type in related to one of your Content Buckets.

 

Here’s an example for my ‘starting a business’ bucket:

Once you’ve done that, now go to the “People also ask:” section.

 

This is where google organizes for you common questions related to what you typed in so you can have a better search experience.

 

This is a goldmine because these are REAL questions from REAL people that actually care about your topic.

 

Each one of these questions is a content idea and the best part is when you click on one of the questions, Google auto-populates more related questions (this is how you get stuck in a rabbit hole).

Here, I can easily create a piece of content about the cheapest most profitable business to start.

 

This is how you easily fill up 10-20 topic ideas for each bucket.

 

Take some time now to go through each of your buckets and see what questions people are asking about them. Organize your buckets in a Google Doc and refer to them every time you create content.

 

Pro Tip: Cycle through your content buckets each week. For example, one week you talk about nutrition, the next week you talk about losing weight, the next week talk about building muscle, etc. This will give your content a nice balance.

 

Tip #2 - Remix Content

 

There’s a great book called ‘Steal Like An Artist' by Austin Kleon that I recommend every creative person reads.

 

Btw, if you’re creating content, you’re a creative person. 

 

There’s a quote inside the book from a French writer named André Gide. He said, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again”.

 

There’s this fallacy that all of your content needs to be completely original and that it’s “bad” to repurpose other people’s content.

 

But people do this all the time.

 

I’ve invested in books, courses, and coaches for creating content, and in one way or another, they all say to do this.

 

Here’s the thing, no one else in the world has your unique voice. There is no one like you! 

 

So, even if you’re creating something that other people are too, your voice and personality are going to resonate with different people.

 

Take a look at your industry or niche and find the people you would love to be like (these are your heroes). You could even find big creators that aren’t in your niche as well.

 

Notice their titles, content topics, ideas, and thumbnails, and consider what is so attractive about them.

 

How can you take ideas that are working for other people, tweak them, and make them your own?

 

Don’t completely rip off someone’s ideas and claim it’s your own, that’s plagiarism. 

 

As Austin Kleon says in his book, “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique.”

 

Tip #3 - Pull Ideas From Your Customer Research

 

The internet is littered with unanswered questions and truly personal stuff that most people would never share publicly.

 

This is gold. 

 

The best places to look are online forums (like Reddit or Quora) along with blog and YouTube comments.

 

Type a keyword or phrase your target audience would be asking online and add “Reddit”, “Quora”, or “Forums” after it.

 

Here’s an example:

Already, I’m getting questions that can be content ideas.

 

This may take some digging but it will be worth it. After all, if you only do one piece of content per week, you only need 52 questions to answer for the year.

 

Just remember, you’re just looking for REAL questions from REAL people about your topic.

 

Another great option if you’re having trouble finding topics in forums is to strike up some conversations with your target market. 

 

Connect and invite them onto a phone call where you discuss their biggest challenges, hopes, dreams, and what’s getting in the way of getting there.

 

Live calls are the best form of customer research because you can actively ask deeper questions to your target audience.

 

Pro Tip: Create a Google Doc and store any and all interesting information you find from your research in it. That way you can refer to this document when coming up with content ideas.

 

Tip #4 - Revisit Old Content With a Fresh Perspective

 

It’s perfectly ok to revisit an old piece of content from 6+ months ago.

 

You should constantly be honing your craft, growing, improving, and learning more about your core topic. The more you learn the more you can share.

 

Maybe you taught something a while back that was a successful post but now you have a different way of looking at that topic. Go back and re-create it with your new perspective.

 

For example, I’ve made multiple videos about Time Blocking. I use Time Blocking every day and it helps me keep my life organized.

 

Over the years, I’ve learned more about Time Blocking and adjusted the way I do it. Now, when I look at my old content, I think “Why did I do it that way?”

 

That content still brings in leads to my business and people respond well to it so I’m not going to take it down.

 

Instead, I’ll create a new piece of content with my new approach to Time Blocking.

 

So for you, find your most popular content that’s pulling in the majority views and engagement and recreate it in a new way. 

 

What fresh perspective(s) do you have about that content now?

 

Tip #5 - Keep a Notepad for Inspired Ideas

 

How often have you had a great content idea strike you when you least expect it (like in your sleep) and you say to yourself “I’m gonna write that down later!” then never do?

 

Happens all the time.

 

To cure this, I recommend creating a digital notepad of some sort (it could be physical too).

 

The idea is to make sure it’s easily accessible and that you always have it on you. That way, when inspiration strikes, you’re prepared.

 

My favorite tool for this is either the Google Docs app I keep on my phone or my Apple Notes.

 

Sometimes I’m driving when an idea strikes. In that case, I’ll say “Hey Siri, create a note for me.” Then I organize it later.

 

Or, if I’m not driving, I’ll just add the idea to my Content Buckets document in my Google Doc.

 

The point is that you never know when a great idea is going to come to you, so be prepared.

 

Conclusion

 

There are 5 tips for you to never run out of content ideas.

 

Remember that content marketing is simply about solving problems and answering the questions your target market is asking.

 

Now you know how to find those questions and problems with ease.

 

Here are the 5 tips again:

1. Create and Cycle Through Content Buckets
2. Remix Content
3. Pull Ideas From Your Customer Research
4. Revisit Old Content With a Fresh Perspective

5. Keep a Notepad for Inspired Ideas

 

These are the 5 tips I use every week to make sure I’m creating content that my audience cares about.

 

Now it’s about staying consistent and driving that traffic to your website so you can grow your business.