I feel like I am stuck on stupid, can anyone help unstick me?

[CmdrStidd]

Someone hired me to write 100 articles for them-25 in each of 4 topics. Well, I have scanned his articles that he wrote himself and I have his writing style down with no problems but when I research the 4 topics I find 100,000 articles out there and they all say the same thing just in a different way. I been online all day reading these things and for the life of me, I cannot find a way to get a new edge to these things.

Can someone please help me brainstorm something here since I hate just rehashing old crap.

[JamesFraze]

Here is how I brainstorm into an article:

Google Book Search (search the topic)
Review their TOC and organize your own thoughts in outline form to drill down to specifics.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
See what words come up when you type just the root words.

Organize several of these into a heirarchy, or an outline of sorts.

Break down any final target phrase you get into 3-5 points you want to cover, Bullet them, introduce the problem, and explain the solution, repeat.

Provide links, pictures, supporting data, why you can be trusted, etc.

Summarize it up with a call to action that is in your benefit.

Voila!

[CmdrStidd]

Thank you. I just hope that this will give me new stuff rather than the same old grind.

I really appreciate your help.

[Jared Alberghini]

Here is a trick that works quite well...

Go to Amazon, search for the best sellers in your 4 topics, and here's the trick: Look at their table of contents.

Works like a charm

Jared

[Voasi]

If everyone is talking one way, try contradicting what everyone else says. Might be a good way to get some viral appeal from it.

[CmdrStidd]

Jared and Voasi:

Those are some good ideas and I will definitely try them. I am one that I hate to just rehash the same things over and over but rather I like having new info to share or maybe even a new way to combine what others have said but with all this parroting I can't even do that so I was totally stuck.

I really appreciate the help.

Dana

[JonathanBoettcher]

Here's another brainstorming idea:

Write down the 7 universal questions: who, what, when, where, why, how, what-if.

Now go through your main topic idea and answer each of those. IE, who would / should want to use this - be very specific.

what do they do with it - again, specific.
when do they use it
where is it used
etc.

the more specific for each one the better. Then all you've got to do is start making combinations of those. Person Type A with How Type B, etc.

All you really need is a 300 word article, so you can write them incredibly specific if you want, especially if you're going for volume. For example, don't write an article on giving watches as gifts - you can write one for giving one to a husband as a birthday gift, giving one to a wife for valentines, etc.

I really like Jared's Amazon idea too.

[ToTellAStory]

I like the Amazon and Google books idea... spot on...

[ToTellAStory]

Originally Posted by ToTellAStory

I like the Amazon and Google books idea... spot on...

I don't get it. I just received an infraction for 'insulting other member' for this post. What????

I just said I liked the idea about Amazon and Google Books... I'm always stuck for ideas on what to write on a topic. Just realized that this way will work wonders too...

Now what did I do wrong???? *confused*

[JonathanBoettcher]

LOL is that like getting a detention in elementary school?

[daisuke75248]

Try Google Blog Search.

[Steven Fullman]

I love posts like these...they throw up so many possibilities.

Thanks,
Steve

Originally Posted by Jared Alberghini

Here is a trick that works quite well...

Go to Amazon, search for the best sellers in your 4 topics, and here's the trick: Look at their table of contents.

Works like a charm

Jared

Originally Posted by JonathanBoettcher

Here's another brainstorming idea:

Write down the 7 universal questions: who, what, when, where, why, how, what-if.

Now go through your main topic idea and answer each of those. IE, who would / should want to use this - be very specific.

what do they do with it - again, specific.
when do they use it
where is it used
etc.

the more specific for each one the better. Then all you've got to do is start making combinations of those. Person Type A with How Type B, etc.

All you really need is a 300 word article, so you can write them incredibly specific if you want, especially if you're going for volume. For example, don't write an article on giving watches as gifts - you can write one for giving one to a husband as a birthday gift, giving one to a wife for valentines, etc.

I really like Jared's Amazon idea too.

[CmdrStidd]

I love all the ideas and the best part is, with an order this big, I can use all the ideas on here and see which ones I feel most comfortable with. This is so great! Again, thank you for all your suggestions. If you have any more ideas, feel free to fire them my way. I will try almost anything once, twice if I like it and three times if it feeeeeellls real gooood! LOL

[Megas]

I find that building on the points made by others is a great way to build on the topic.
Find some of the same points being made by others on the topic and build on those points.

[JamesFraze]

I found a great technique to get the "flow" besides what I already suggested above:

Get your list of keywords
Think of the pain you will solve for each one (write that next to it)
Pick up a digital voice recorder
Simply talk about how your solution solves the pain
or
Simply talk about how your solution creates emotional memories.

I suggested this to a client today who was doing a travel site. Specifically I wanted them to focus on the emotional memories that the various places might provide - and to vividly paint a picture how their reader could connect with that positive emotion to imagine their own created memory.

Later, they can either transcribe it themselves or send it off and then edit the transcriptions.

The real power of this technique is that you don't worry about edits - you just pour out your soul - and this truly shows in how the final article comes out. The articles are much more alive and connected to the reader.

I can't stress how powerful of a technique this is to knock out hundreds of articles - just set a little timer for 30 seconds and speak about the keyword and emotional connection. Easy!