10 Secret Weapons for Endless Content Ideas

Are you racking your brain trying to come up with exciting new content that will wow your audience? As a content creator myself, I totally get it.

Finding fresh blog post ideas and new angles on topics can be a struggle, even if you already have a solid content marketing strategy

But never fear! In this post, I’ll share my favorite go-to tactics for generating amazing content ideas anytime I’m feeling uninspired.

With a little effort and creativity, you can always discover new and engaging themes and formats to add to your content mix.

Read on to learn exactly how I conjure up content that converts visitors into loyal followers and customers!

How Well Do You Know Your Audience and Their Needs?

One of the best ways to generate content ideas is to intimately understand:

• Who you’re creating that content for.
• What questions are your readers asking?
• What problems do they need solved?
• What topics get them most fired up and passionate?

Any experienced content marketer knows that tuning into audience needs is content creation 101.

I always start by clearly defining my target customer personas and browsing forums or social media groups where they actively hang out.

Observing real conversations allows me to pinpoint pain points and identify ideas for helpful, relevant content.

Are folks debating the ideal workflow? Struggling with a particular tool? Venting about petty annoyances? There’s a blog post in there somewhere!

Of course, you can and should go deeper with formal topic research using keyword tools as well.

A good research session reveals high-volume search terms and the types of information people are seeking.

But I’ve found it equally useful to simply lurk where my readers chat naturally online.

Got Existing Content? Refresh and Repurpose

Here’s an easy way to develop new content without actually having to dream up something totally new: take inventory of the assets you already have and find ways to update or adapt them.

Simply scan your blog archives and choose older posts that still generate a steady stream of traffic. While evergreen content stays relevant for ages, even the best pieces can get stale after a few years.

Updating dated facts and stats, case studies, or references to new products gives you an updated version to promote. It also adds fresh keywords for search without tons of extra effort!

• I’m also huge fan of repurposing one strong piece of content into multiple formats. For example:
• Transform archived blog posts into a downloadable ebook.
• A visual social post, an email nurture stream, or even a video.

Repackaging trusty old blog articles in new containers lets me maximize their value.

Tools to Inspire and Guide Your Content Exploration

Alright, let’s dig into my absolute favorite content research tools — the ones I rely on when I’ve got a creative block but need to crank out topics.

Keyword research forms the basis of most content strategies, so tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, ahrefs, SEMrush, InstaKeywords, LowFruits and Soovle make it easy to discover high-performing terms and phrases.

Beyond keyword data, here are a few others worth checking out:

• Buzzsumo: Analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor website. Uncover popular formats and specific angles within a broader theme.
• Answer the Public: Find the actual questions real people are asking online around a given subject. Great for headline inspiration!
• Reddit: Hop onto relevant subreddits to explore what redditors discuss. Pay attention to recurring themes and passionate opinions.
• Google Trends: Identify rising searches and dying ones to know what’s hot or not. Catch trends before they peak!

Of course, tools should complement but not replace your own intuitive ideas as a subject matter expert. Use them to confirm and expand on topics you brainstorm, not strictly dictate what you create.

Try Brainstorming Sessions and Content Calendars

Sometimes good old-fashioned brainstorming and planning is the ticket to stirring up ideas. I block out time every single month to ponder what content I should tackle next. Often this involves a giant T chart with broad themes, formats, angles, and headlines filling up the paper.

Other brainstorming frameworks like content matrizes, cluster diagrams, or reader persona profiles also get my mental juices going.

I find when I formally dedicate time to plotting content, even more possibilities start flowing. You can make this process collaborative too by pulling in teammates or running ideation exercises with your audience.

An editorial calendar into which I map planned posts works hand in hand with inventive brain dumps. Having an organized schedule of publishing dates and deadlines helps me commit to turning blank documents into fleshed out pieces of content every week.

Keep Testing and Expanding Your Content Comfort Zone

At the end of the day, continuing to challenge yourself with new topics, styles, and mediums will keep your content fresh. It’s tempting to stick to formats you know and themes about which you’re an expert already.

But don’t be afraid to push boundaries once in a while with an explainer video, an emotionally vulnerable personal essay, an avant garde social campaign, or even guest posts on outside industry sites.

Pay attention to both trending formats gaining traction as well as evergreen ones already ranking well. Constantly assessing performance metrics will reveal new opportunities to insert your distinct perspective into the online conversation around your niche.

The Tricks Successful Content Creators Live By

There you have it — all my top secrets to sparking content ideas when you’re drawing a blank! Let’s do a quick review of the big takeaways:

• Get to know your target audience exceptionally well through research and engaging directly in their spaces. Identify questions and struggles to inform helpful content.
• Mine the value out of existing content by refreshing old blog posts and repurposing evergreens into new formats.
• Leverage content research tools to reveal popular search terms, high-performing competitors, emerging trends and more unique angles worth covering.
• Make time for unstructured and strategic brainstorming alike using thought frameworks which produce lots of ideas to develop later.
• Continually test new topic areas, content types and distribution channels readers respond well to keep things diverse.

I hope these tips help you move from content creator’s block to nonstop idea generation! Let me know in the comments if you have any other go-to methods for dreaming up compelling new articles, videos, podcasts and more. Now…go get brainstorming!