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How do you generate topics for writing the first 20 articles in a niche website?

by Ravikanth
25 replies
You have a chosen a niche and you find good products to promote. How do you generate topics of articles for your website?

Once you have a list built up one of the ways would be to ask the members in the list. What can we do to generate topics when we are starting out?
#articles #generate #niche #topics #website #writing
  • Profile picture of the author freedom25
    There are several things I do when I start a new niche site:

    1. I search for communities related to my niche and see what topics are being discussed. This could be forums or facebook groups. I see what questions people are asking and try to answer them in an article.

    2. Use a keyword tool to suggest SEO friendly ideas for articles

    3. Search the topic on Yahoo Answers and see what questions people are asking.

    4. Set up Google Alerts to keep track of news in your niche and write an article reacting to breaking news.

    5. Do a Twitter search using a related keyword and see what people are tweeting about.

    6. If I get really desperate I'll pop over to ezinearticles and see what other people have written and then write something similar in my own words. Sometimes I can change it up by writing it in a different format such as a numbered list.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by freedom25 View Post

      There are several things I do when I start a new niche site:

      1. I search for communities related to my niche and see what topics are being discussed. This could be forums or facebook groups. I see what questions people are asking and try to answer them in an article.
      If you're into longer articles (and you should have at least a few "flagship" articles), try grouping a handful of those questions together and address them as a group.

      Originally Posted by freedom25 View Post

      2. Use a keyword tool to suggest SEO friendly ideas for articles
      This takes some discretion and judgment. I've seen too many people try to create an article around some magic keyword phrase and end up sounding like an idiot.

      Often the best keywords for articles for distribution/syndication are not so-called "buying" keywords.

      Originally Posted by freedom25 View Post

      3. Search the topic on Yahoo Answers and see what questions people are asking.
      The key to remember here is, read the questions and ignore the answers. Most of them are about as useful as mammary glands on a bull.

      Originally Posted by freedom25 View Post

      4. Set up Google Alerts to keep track of news in your niche and write an article reacting to breaking news.
      This is a good one.

      Originally Posted by freedom25 View Post

      5. Do a Twitter search using a related keyword and see what people are tweeting about.
      Be careful to stick to business, rather than floating off on the latest speculation on royal baby names or something.

      Originally Posted by freedom25 View Post

      6. If I get really desperate I'll pop over to ezinearticles and see what other people have written and then write something similar in my own words. Sometimes I can change it up by writing it in a different format such as a numbered list.
      In many niches, I find the bulk of the articles are perfect for "X Commonly Accepted 'Facts' About [topic] That Just Ain't So" articles. EzineArticles is getting better, but there are still many topics with a lot of junk in them from the bad old days. Some of those so-called "Expert Authors" are so full of bovine digestive byproducts that you could grow flowers by sticking the seeds in their ears...

      Overall, though, a very useful list. Thanks for posting it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ravikanth
    Thanks for those ideas. I think I can also try doing the same with a demographic search instead of a niche
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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    Originally Posted by raviandkanth View Post

    You have a chosen a niche and you find good products to promote. How do you generate topics of articles for your website?
    I've already done that, before selecting the niche.

    I'm an article marketer, so my choice of niches is determined partly by my ability to write some articles and have them widely published.

    20 articles is a huge amount of content, for me. I start off a niche site with 3-4 articles, and each site gets 3 new articles per month. So 20 articles is around 6 months' content for me. (I wouldn't have all that much planned out when I started).

    Originally Posted by raviandkanth View Post

    Once you have a list built up one of the ways would be to ask the members in the list.
    Yes, very much so. Feedback's helpful for this and many other things.

    Originally Posted by raviandkanth View Post

    What can we do to generate topics when we are starting out?
    I always buy a recently published book or two covering the niche, to see what ideas are suggested. (There's not much point in giving people only information that they easily can find online, after all - anyone can do that).
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    • Profile picture of the author Ravikanth
      I am so glad to see so many suggestions

      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I've already done that, before selecting the niche.

      I'm an article marketer, so my choice of niches is determined partly by my ability to write some articles and have them widely published.

      20 articles is a huge amount of content, for me. I start off a niche site with 3-4 articles, and each site gets 3 new articles per month. So 20 articles is around 6 months' content for me. (I wouldn't have all that much planned out when I started).
      .
      I read in one of your other posts that it may take up to 15 emails(or more) before someone purchases your recommendation. So you have to write at least twenty before someone buys your recommendations. Am I missing something?
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        In some niches, you might be able to contact someone to interview.

        I got a lot of extra knowledge about FHA mortgage loans from talking about FHA mortgages with a mortgage broker.

        I got to learn a lot of nifty stuff about health insurance from talking to a couple of owner of insurance agencies.

        Yes, I said I would write an article about them and their companies and will publish it on an ezine (or give it to them to publish on their site), showed them samples of other articles I had online, showed them one on Vizio TVs that's getting a lot of views on one of the top ezines, with a screenshot of the views (thousands of views impressed them).

        You wouldn't believe the amount of articles ideas I got... and they got me looking into areas I had not thought of before and would not have thought of on my own.

        And, as Alexa says, it's easier to become king/queen of a small mountain than of a big one and, therefore, it's best to be king/queen of a small mountain.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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        Originally Posted by raviandkanth View Post

        I read in one of your other posts that it may take up to 15 emails(or more) before someone purchases your recommendation.
        I think I know what you're referring to, but you've actually misquoted me in a fairly significant way, there. I said that I have some lists from which I make more cumulative sales income after the 15th email than before. And that's perfectly true. But not quite what you've said, above.

        A lot of that income comes from people who had already bought something different at an earlier stage.

        I'm an affiliate marketer, and a big proportion of the money in affiliate marketing comes from making repeated sales to the same people.

        Even with those lists (and we're talking about a minority of my lists, here, anyway), the first promotion was within the first week ... I'm not sending endless emails before I try to promote anything. My subscribers know from the start that I'm an affiliate marketer, and I remind them at some length and in some detail in the "free report" they get for signing up, in the form of a discussion of what I do and don't promote, and when, and why, and so on. I have split-tested this approach a little (not in all my niches) and I find that being totally open about this, and discussing it with them as much as possible, greatly increases both my open-rates and my sales.

        Originally Posted by raviandkanth View Post

        So you have to write at least twenty before someone buys your recommendations. Am I missing something?
        Call me pedantic, but I think you're "finding something that isn't there", rather than "missing something"?

        If I'm being "mysterious" or "unhelpful" here, please excuse me, and whatever I said I think it will be clarified between these posts which - between them - more or less explain my "emailing policies" ...
        What are the essential things to know about list building?
        Lists: How Long to Presell - Averages
        Website or squeeze page
        Where to get reports to give away on opt in page?
        Autoresponders vs. Broadcasts
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    If you know so little about the topic that you can't come up with any article titles then I can't see how you've got any hope of building a successful niche site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Will Edwards
    My first thoughts are that 20 articles should be a doddle and that it's not the first 20 articles I would have trouble with; it's the articles I would be writing after the first year or so.

    But to try to help, I find that reading anything related to my niche will get the creative juices flowing and, if you are genuinely interested in your niche, you will be doing that regularly, hence you will get a steady stream of ideas for posts.

    Will
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  • Profile picture of the author Brannigans
    Go to imagazine and browse through the magazines in your niche. Pick some titles that jump out at you. there is a reason these people are writing professionally. they have learnt how to write good titles which attract people to click through and read the article.

    Now rewrite the title in your words.

    Now that's your title to work with. Make sure you've keyword optimized it for the exact keyword your targeting.

    Now write a logical article which goes logically with the title.

    It won't be hard to come up with 20 articles.

    Good luck man.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
    It's good to set yourself apart from the beginning. See your main competitor's websites and look for recurring topics, and compile a list. Great, now you have topics which you want to avoid.

    That doesn't have to mean you can't talk about them from time to time, but don't focus so much on them, and look for topics less discussed (let's not beat around the bush, you'll probably never find topics not discussed at all).

    What has been working great for me is buying books and searching for ideas this way. These books contain not only better advice (assuming you know who are the experts in your niche and getting their books, not the ones with the prettiest covers), but also, they cover topics less publicized.

    I also hear attacking a common view held by most people (and therefore your competitors), provided you've got your claims backed-up, can put you in the limelight, but I have no experience with it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Brannigans
      Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

      It's good to set yourself apart from the beginning. See your main competitor's websites and look for recurring topics, and compile a list. Great, now you have topics which you want to avoid.
      I couldn't disagree more with this. Your 'competitors' if you really think of them as being that, are writing about these topics because thats what people want to read about them.

      Their blogs got really popular by writing on these topics. You want to write on these same topics.

      You definitely should put your own twist on your articles but concentrate on these topics. The other blog owners are writing about these because this is where the money is!!

      Do you want to earn money or write articles that lie undiscovered in some dark and unseen corner of the internet?
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      • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        Your 'competitors' if you really think of them as being that
        They certainly aren't my friends, and as far as I'm concerned, we're competing for the attention and money of online visitors, so yes, they are my competitors.


        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        are writing about these topics because thats what people want to read about them.

        Or because they've seen others writing about it and assumed the same thing you do.

        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        Their blogs got really popular by writing on these topics. You want to write on these same topics.
        Do as you wish. Personally, I like to scour though books and find topics less discussed to set myself apart. Talking about the same thing almost feels like I'm cheating on my visitors. But hey, different strokes for different folks.

        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        The other blog owners are writing about these because this is where the money is!!
        Money is where people are. New or unexplored topics attract people like honey attracts bees. That's why people look at "new news" and don't go over the same news over and over again.

        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        Do you want to earn money or write articles that lie undiscovered in some dark and unseen corner of the internet?
        I have a pretty good flashlight to solve this problem: article syndication.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        Your 'competitors' if you really think of them as being that, are writing about these topics because thats what people want to read about them.
        LOL, I ought to be happy that people think this, in a sense, I suppose ... in spite of it being completely wrong.

        My competitors are writing about those topics not because that's what people want to read about but because they're lazy, because they know no better and do no better, because it's what they've been taught to do by other people whose income is derived from selling failing internet marketers e-books and coaching and know no better themselves, because it's comparatively effortless, because they think they can get away with it, and because they genuinely don't realize that the biggest and best market out there is typically the one that's fed up with "marketers" doing that and wants and needs and deserves something better and different - and becomes really easy to sell to, when you provide it.

        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        You want to write on these same topics.
        I'm happy for other marketers in my niches to think so.

        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        The other blog owners are writing about these because this is where the money is!!
        Er ... no: sorry - not even a "nice try", really. You really couldn't be much further wide of the mark.

        Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

        Do you want to earn money or write articles that lie undiscovered in some dark and unseen corner of the internet?
        Are you trying to be funny/ironic, or do you genuinely not appreciate that the way to get your articles widely published and/or to get your own site linked to in front of large volumes of the exact, highly targeted traffic it ought to be your aim to attract is to write something completely different?!
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        • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          because it's what they've been taught to do by other people whose income is derived from selling failing internet marketers e-books and coaching and know no better themselves
          That's true, sadly. One of my main competitors in the hobby/enthusiasm niche that I'm in, picked up the "what's your burning knitting* problem?" itch, and no matter how much I scratch it in my prayers, it won't go away.

          I mean, I doesn't get more hilarious than getting an email asking you "what's your most burning knitting problem?" or emails with the subject line "X people sent me their knitting frustrations".

          And then he keeps bolding his links and adorning his emails with lots of them, (presumably to make damn sure I don't miss his precious offer) and keeps ending his emails with stuff like "I have solutions to your problems".

          Wtf? These people do it because they've seen others doing it, and no matter how far away a subscriber is from internet marketing techniques, they smell them like they were right under their noses.

          But I don't complain - not one bit.

          *It's just an example.
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    • Profile picture of the author writeaway
      Look at what your competition is doing. What do they all have in common? Figure out their weak spots and improve on those. Always add personality to your materials. Remember: if your readers wanted to read stuff that reads like your competitors' stuff, they'd go to your competitors' site. It's one thing to cover the same subject areas (because that's what the market demands) but it's another to just mimic your competition. Stand out from the crowd. Be yourself!
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  • Profile picture of the author owais211
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    I would reffer you to what freedom25 wrote up there.It does work and its the easiest way to generating topics to writing.
    It dd worked for me.
    Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Brannigans
    Wow Alexa you've written 22,000 posts on here! That's amazing.

    You must be a millionaire by now right?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

      You must be a millionaire by now right?
      Unlike some members, I don't make any earnings/wealth claims here.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
      Originally Posted by Brannigans View Post

      Wow Alexa you've written 22,000 posts on here! That's amazing.

      You must be a millionaire by now right?
      This is obviously not aimed at Alexa, but you'd be surprised to see how many people with a high post-count here are broke or at least not doing well, and how many people lurk around here, posting rarely but making lots of money.

      As the saying goes ... all that glitters is not gold.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    It's very easy.

    You enter the more general search term in Google and look at the "searches related to" at the bottom. Those are usually other, very related topics which have high search volume and which Google sees as "relevant" to your main keyword.

    This is not only a good idea to write articles, this works also very well in designing a site and deciding what categories the sites should have.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Go to popular article sites and also sites like digg. Search your niche and find the most popular articles. use those to create your titles. If you are stuck, number headlines always seem to work quite well. eg: 6 Ways to...
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  • Profile picture of the author dml8131
    Just pencil out some questions about the product and then use these questions as post titles. It should not be difficult to come up with 20 questions about any particular product.

    Give this a try.
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    • Profile picture of the author James Clark
      To the OP. I don't know what niche you are in but it must have a forum just like the one you are in now. If you to want get good at writing articles just imagine you are answering a question that your friend asked you over a couple of coffee.

      I would go into a forum in your niche and see what questions are being asked. To me, if a person is asking a question in a forum, my guess is they didn't get an answer from the search engine. They probably typed in keywords and the need was not meet.

      And out of frustration they post the question in a forum. I hate writing articles and posting them Ezine Articles, but I use the same method in my blog posts.

      Don't fall into the trap of doing what everyone else is doing. If everyone is doing it doesn't make it right. Forget about the keywords and make your title "how to do XYZ"

      Example: "how to get a bird to ride on an elephant's back" (LOL)

      People ask for formulas for articles writing but I don't see that in successful articles writers. Having been in Sales and Marketing all my life, if the subscribers are asking for a formula then the marketers give them what they are asking for to make a sale.

      If you look closely at good Articles Marketers what they teach vs what they are doing is two different things.
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  • Profile picture of the author Geri Richmond
    Hi,
    My coach teaches you should blog everyday for at least 2 full months. It gets you recognition and Google loves new content. After the 2 months of blogging everyday, I now blog 4 days a week. Got to keep your subscribers interest and Google happy.
    Good luck with your business.
    Geri Richmond
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