The toughest thing for most people, when it comes to content marketing, is having ideas for content! The number one ranking factor for Google is the content of your site. That’s so basic and elementary that it goes without saying most of the time.
But it’s the truth. Despite all of your other hacks, the thing that actually ranks on Google is the content on your site.
So how do you keep feeding the endless content marketing monster? You have to have a lot of ideas!
Not really.
You just need about one idea a week. That’s where the endless content tool comes in.
How to have almost endless content marketing ideas
Whatever your field, you can probably find about 5 different topics for content on your website. Write each one of them down on your list. And seriously, write it down on a piece of paper. You’re going to hang this up in your office, so make it look good.
Five general topics are the sweet spot. With 4.3 weeks to every month, nobody will ever notice that you always publish posts about the environment the first week of the month, political events the second week of the month, etc. Five categories keep the variety going.
Example topics for Blog posts
Marketing
- Social media
- Email marketing
- SEO
- YouTube Videos
- Content marketing
Fitness
- Indoor machines
- Eating habits and supplements
- Group classes
- Machineless workouts
- Rest and recovery
Education
- Language Arts – Writing
- Math activities
- History
- Language Arts – Literature
- Science
See how vague those are?
Now you work through that list and then loop back to the top when you reach the end. That means I don’t have to come up with a blog post about DIGITAL MARKETING this week, I just have to think about SEO. Next week I’ll think about YouTube videos. It’s a system for content marketing that lets you eat the elephant one bite at a time. (I have never eaten elephant, but I have eaten cows, and they are big enough that you need to eat them one bite at a time too.)
Listen to hear what your customers want
In the course of a week, I talk to a lot of people. After every conversation or meeting, I ask myself, “What blog post came out of that meeting?”
Most of the time, there is something from the meeting that falls into one of my 5 topics. If enough weeks go by and I answer that question with a new general topic, then I just got a new category! Even better, I have a chance to refine and focus my business. I’m not an IT company, I’m a digital marketing company, but if I get or fix too many IT issues, maybe that needs to shape how I represent myself.
Also listen to what your customers’ pain points and relief points are. If every small business owner I talk to this week is complaining about their Google Business listing, maybe I need to write up an article on how to get your Google Business listing going without wasting your Tuesday.
If I talk to two different folks that bought a domain at Godaddy and thought they were getting a whole website because Airo said it would build a website for them, then maybe I need to write a post! (Godaddy Airo or even Airo Plus are fun but they will not represent you well to your customers or help you show up on Google Search.)
What blog post just came out of that meeting?
What I ask myself after every meeting
Take your article topic and run with it
What was the problem your client had? What did you do to solve that problem? Did you get some surprise insight as you helped that client? What benefit came from your work? From your work with them? From their insights that they brought to you?
You can ask these questions in every blog post you write, and only answer the questions that stand out. With a little keyboard work and some thoughtfulness about how to serve your audience, this formula won’t get old.
So start it right now. Jot down 5 topics and carry the list with you al day. You’ll come up with more ideas for blog posts than you’ll have time to write!
