3.5 Sources for Content Ideas

Hey everybody, I wanted to post some quick ideas I had for places to find quality content for your niche, no matter what it might be. It doesn't matter what what niche you're in, you're going to need to know what your customers and potential customers want to know about. So, without further ado, here are my favorite ways to find quality, first rate content for your sites.

1. Google news: News stories will often show you a trend in what people are interested in reading about. Say for example you're in the knitting niche. You go to Google news and type "knitting" into the search bar. I just did that, and one of the top headline results is "LolaRose helps the renewed interest in knitting". This is actually a thinly disguised ad for some classes being made available to the community. So I use a little lateral thinking and use a classic headline to write the article "7.5 ways to Identify a Great Knitting Class". Then post it on my blog, submit it as an article, or include it as an article pack. By the way, if you're in the knitting niche, let me know how it's working for you. Now I'm curious.

2. Technorati: Now let's try one of my favorite tools for IM. BLOGS! Go to technorati and type "knitting" into the search bar again. You get a good bunch of listings, and as I scroll down to one related to actual knitting, not "knitting together" or knitting mentioned as a side industry, I find one about a knitting project someone did. They mentioned using "Recycled cotton" yarn. So, abra-cadabra, I do a google search and write a new post called "Benefits and Drawbacks of Recycled Cotton Yarn". You've now got some good keywords used in a legitimate post on your blog, article, etc.

3. Take a client to lunch: This is one of my best secrets. I'm a salesman by day, and a trick I learned to improving my sales pitch was to take someone who actually bought the product already and let them talk. Keep the conversation mainly about your niche, and especially the things they hate about it. With knitting, I would probably take my Mom to lunch, because she likes doing it. Just get them to talk and whine a little. Make sure you pay, too, as it engenders good will. For a $20-$30 dollar lunch, you can get hundreds of ideas for posts and articles. Try this, it SERIOUSLY works.

3.5 Make a post for ideas: I usually use this as a desperation move, but it does work. After you've built a relationship with your audience, ask them for ideas. Do NOT put this as your first post. It won't work, unless you already have a following.

I'd love to hear your feedback on these. Thanks!