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Stop Being an Unknown Writer: Here’s How You Can

Come Up With Better Ideas
Written by Neil Patel on June 16, 2016

If you’re doing any content marketing at the moment, there’s a good chance that you’re
writing a lot of content.

For many, coming up with blog post ideas can be a real challenge – a challenge that stops
most people from writing blog posts in the first place.

If that’s the case for you – there’s no need for concern!

In this post, we’re going to take a look at how you can come up with ideas for your blog posts.
We’ll take a look at the tools and certain websites that you can use to come up with blog post
ideas.

Download this checklist of 5 tools to come up with better content ideas.

By the end of this post, you’ll have all of the knowledge that you need, in order to come up
with some brilliant blog post ideas of your own.

Let’s begin!

Google Keyword Tool

There are over 100 billion searches per month on Google – a number that is still on the rise.

The Google Keyword tool collects data on all of the searches made on Google and provides
you with access to this data for free!

The google keyword tool can be very useful, when trying to come up with blog post ideas.
Using it, you can work out what people within your niche are searching for.

Remember, your blog posts are designed to solve problems and to inform the people within
your niche how they can achieve a certain goal.

Using the Google Keyword tool, you can figure out what problems people within your niche
are looking to solve.

Once you uncover these topics, you can then go about creating some content that will cater
to their concerns.

By design, this content will be highly relevant to a large number of people within your niche –
because a lot of people are searching for details on how to solve this problem within Google
already.

So…Let’s take a look at how you can use this tool.

First, head over to https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner

Select the option called ‘Search for new keywords using a phrase,website or category,’ and
then type in a keyword related to your niche.

Keep your keyword or phrase broad for now.

For the sake of this post, let’s imagine that I want to come up with content ideas for a ‘Paleo’
blog.

Then, click on ‘Get Ideas.’

You’ll then be presented with a list of ‘Ad group ideas.’ For this post, you don’t need to really
worry about what Ad group ideas are.

But, what you do need to understand is that these ‘groups,’ represent broad topics that we can
use to inspire blog post ideas.

For example, for the topic of Paleo, I’m presented with the potential topics of ‘Paleo Snacks,’
and ‘Paleo Breakfast.’
Next to the Ad Group Ideas, you’ll also notice that there is some data about how many people,
per month, are searching keywords that are related to those Ad Groups.

If I click on these Ad Group Ideas, I’ll be presented with more precise information in the form
of keywords.
If you look above, you’ll see the different keywords that people are typing into Google, when
searching on the topic of ‘Paleo Breakfast Ideas.’

Looking at the groups can be a good idea, when you’re just looking for something that you
should be writing about.

Looking at ‘keywords,’ however, can be a good idea, when you need some inspiration, in terms
of what the actual post title should be and how you should be phrasing the title.

So, that’s how you can use the Google Keyword planner to come up with content ideas.
Now, let’s move on to the next method.

Google Suggestions

This is very similar to the section above, but it does deserve a mention of its own.

You’ve probably noticed that when you’re using Google, you’re provided with suggestions as
you’re typing.

These suggestions are based on what people have been typing already.

As a result, you know that the suggestions relate to what people want, and can therefore
inform you as to what you should be writing about.

All you then need to do is to type in a keyword related to your topic and keep selecting an
extra keyword until you have a topic that looks good.

Below, you’ll see the process that I went through to uncover what people are interested in
when searching around the topic of Paleo breakfasts.
Having gone through that sequence, I could then create a blog post on ‘paleo breakfast
muesli.’

You can also use this method for YouTube.

Now, let’s take a look at another way you can go about finding blog post ideas.

Take a look at Forums/Reddit/Quora

Browsing through sites where a lot of public discussion takes place can also uncover some
brilliant blog post ideas.

The main sites you’ll want to look at are ‘relevant forums,’ Reddit and Quora.

Finding relevant forums is not too hard.

All that you have to do is to search a broad keyword related to niche, paired with the word
‘forum.’

So, for Paleo, I’d search ‘Paleo forum.’

If I pick one of the sites above, I’ll be able to see some topics that people want to learn about.
You’ll want to browse through all of the relevant forums, so that you can collect a large list of
ideas.

The next location worth checking out is Reddit.

Reddit achieved 227,549,237 unique visits in March of 2016 alone– so there’s a good chance
you’ll find some relevant discussions on the site.

Once again, search a keyword related to your niche and see if there is a ‘Subreddit,’ related to
your topic.
That’s what happened when I searched
for a Paleo Subreddit.

You’ll also notice that there are some

Subreddits below that are dedicated to
Paleo recipes, too.
When you click through to a Subreddit, you might want to click on the ‘top,’ section.

This will let you see some of the top discussions that have been taking place within this
particular subreddit.
Note: You can change the time frame, when viewing the top discussions.

Another place that you can find blog post ideas is Quora.

Once on Quora, simply type in a broad keyword related to your niche.

You’ll then see some popular discussions, related to your topic of choice, that are taking place.

Sometimes, there will be a topic on Quora that’s dedicated to your niche.

If that is the case, click through to it.

In doing so, you’ll see even more popular discussions that are taking place.
You can use all of these discussions as inspiration, when trying to develop a blog post idea.

Ask your audience for ideas

You can also ask your audience for blog post ideas.

Now, the way you can do this will tend to vary, depending on how you have set things up.

For example, if you have an email list, then you can ask them what they’d like to see more of..
I have done this myself, in the past.
Alternatively, if you have a popular Facebook Fan Page or Facebook Group, you can just leave
a post, in which you ask people what they’d like to see more of.

If you have a Facebook Group, you might even want to put things up to a vote by posting a
poll.

You can do that by clicking on ‘Create poll,’ when you’re logged into your Facebook Group.
When you ask your audience for topic ideas, you can also ask them how you should phrase
the title, too.

This can be a good way to come up with a title that is going to last for a long time, making
your post appealing in the long term.

Look at the books selling in the kindle store

You can also take a look at what books are selling within your niche in the Kindle Store.

This is a good option, because it will show what information is so highly demanded that
people are willing to pay for it.

To find blog post ideas using the Kindle Store, first head over to
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks/.

Once there, search using a keyword related to your niche.

So, in this case, I’m going to search
‘Paleo.’

After doing so, I’m presented with a long

list of Kindle books that are related to the
Paleo topic.
In some cases, doing this is enough to come up with blog post ideas.

However, it’s often a good idea to click through to the sales pages of some of these books. In
doing so, you’ll be exposed to even more blog post ideas.

For example, if you take a look at the description for one of the Kindle books below, you’ll
notice that there are plenty of topics there that can be used to inspire a blog post.
If you decide that you’re going to write on a certain subtopic within your niche, using this
method can still be a good idea.

Say I was looking to write a blog post dedicated to ‘Paleo on a Budget.’

If I search the kindle store for ‘Paleo Budget,’ I’m presented with Kindle books that are
dedicated to this topic.
Once again I can read the book description to find out what I should be covering, when
writing about eating the paleo diet on a budget.

However, I can also check out the reviews, as this will also help me find out what it is that
people want from a piece of content related to this topic – and what was not covered by a
certain book.

Look at products/courses that your competitors are selling

There’s also the option of taking a look at some of the courses that are being sold, within your
niche, as a way to help inspire blog post ideas.

You can do that by visiting Udemy and typing in a Keyword related to your niche.

There are 40,000 plus courses on Udemy, so there’s a good chance you’ll find something
relevant.

This is what appears, when I type in ‘Paleo.’

There are many courses related to the topic of Paleo. What I need to do is to click on one of
them and then check out what the course covers.
Below is an example of one of the courses.

As you can see, there are many ideas here that can be used to help me write a comprehensive
blog post that covers an issue people would like to find out about.

Look at what is working for other people in your space

You can also take a look at what other people are doing within your space, to find out what’s
already working and what people want to learn about.
To do that, use Buzzsumo.

Using Buzzsumo, you can quickly find

popular pieces of content that have
worked well in the past.

Once you’ve found a piece of popular

content, all you need to do is take that
piece of content and make something
that’s ten times better.

To get started, head to Buzzsumo and

type in a keyword related to your niche in
the keyword box.

Buzzsumo will then return some relevant content that has been widely shared.

Here’s what came up when I typed in Paleo.

As you can see, a lot of this content is recipe related. The issue, however, is that I’m not always
going to be writing about recipes.

Therefore, when searching in relation to large, popular topic, it might be a good idea to be a
bit more specific when typing in a keyword.

This will help return more relevant results.

So, in this case, I might type in ‘Paleo on a budget.’

By doing this, I am presented with an improved list of results that I can use to develop a more
specific kind of blog post.

Though this takes a little bit of knowledge ahead of time, in terms of what I want to write
about, searching with specificity is important if you want to come up with content ideas that
you haven’t covered already.

Conclusion

If you want a popular blog, you need to figure out how you’re going to come up with
incredible blog post ideas.

Hopefully, as a result of reading this article, you now know what needs to be done, in order to
come up with winning blog post ideas.

Whether you use the Google Keyword tool or you look at some popular books in the Kindle
Store, coming up with ideas should no longer be a challenge for you.

Experiment with what you’ve learned in this post and see how well these ideas work out for
you.

Good luck!

What has worked out for you when trying to come up with better blog post ideas?

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Comments (23)

June 16, 2016 at 1:06 PM

Neil Patel
Hey Everyone,

I forgot to mention that I recently released a webinar that shares my7 best marketing tactics.

Would love to know what you think...it's filled with over 60 minutes of marketing tactics... all for free.

Click here to check it out. Let me know what you think. :)

And if you still need more help growing your business after you watch the webinar, contact me and I will
personally help you.

June 16, 2016 at 1:36 PM

BMW 3 Fan
This post gave me a TON of ideas about how to do blogging right or in other words EVEN BETTER.
Thank you Neil!

REPLY

June 18, 2016 at 1:13 PM

Neil Patel
That’s what I do these for

Keep me posted on you progress!

REPLY

June 16, 2016 at 2:08 PM

Leonardo "List Legend" LaVito @ LargerList.com

I doubt whether this comment is going to go through, but let’s give it a try…

Thanks…

Sincerely,
Leonardo “List Legend” LaVito
(The Last List Building Legend)

REPLY

June 16, 2016 at 2:15 PM

Leonardo "List Legend" LaVito @ LargerList.com

OH MY GOSH!

Sorry about that previous comment, Neil!

Akismet is having some issues with some comments, and they have some bug, that’s causing all my
comments to disappear.

They’ve been working with me over the last few days to fix the bug in their system, and they keep
asking me to test out and post comments everywhere. Lol.
Anyways, sorry for the previous comment. It’s the first one I’ve been able to post through after posting
tons, and I wasn’t expecting it to go through.

Anyways… back to the topic…

“What has worked out for you when trying to come up with better blog post ideas?”

I get blog post ideas naturally, in several ways. Here are 3:

1) People are always emailing me to ask me questions about how to improve their list building. Those
questions spark interesting insights and ideas for blog posts, and training materail.

2) Reading. A lot. Regardless of whether the material is related or unrelated. It helps me create cross-
relationary ideas in my mind.

3) Looking at what speakers are talking about at the latest conferences. Always some hot topics there.
Many of them being way ahead of the curve.

Sincerely,
Leonardo “List Legend” LaVito
(The Last List Building Legend)

REPLY

June 18, 2016 at 2:26 AM

Teremoana
Great insights I got from you. Cheers for sharing!

REPLY

June 18, 2016 at 1:34 PM

Neil Patel

REPLY

June 18, 2016 at 1:15 PM

 Neil Patel
These are fantastic suggestions Leo. Lots you can uncover from books as there are endless and
endless amounts.

What books are you reading now?

REPLY

June 18, 2016 at 1:14 PM

Neil Patel
It worked

REPLY

June 16, 2016 at 2:10 PM

Jawad Khan
Hey Neil,

Thanks for lots of great ideas in this relatively shorter post as compared to the others on your blog

REPLY

June 18, 2016 at 1:13 PM

Neil Patel
You’re welcome Jawad, glad this was helpful

REPLY

June 16, 2016 at 5:25 PM

Shawn
Thanks for the great content, Neil.
Usually I will just check out Google Keyword Planner and my competitors.
Probably I should try to ask my audience what they want from my blog too.

REPLY

June 18, 2016 at 1:16 PM

Neil Patel
It’s easy to host onsite surveys and such that will help you get the answers you’re looking for

REPLY

June 19, 2016 at 9:30 PM

JT Write
Amazing article. You have a real gift for making things sound simple. This is going to double my blog post
frequency at the very least. Thanks for all the great tips.

REPLY

June 20, 2016 at 11:46 AM

Neil Patel
Your welcome JT

REPLY

June 25, 2016 at 5:00 PM

Zada
in the mean time I am writing like this post , i wonder, you have a very good skill to make things simple. i
have mentioned some tools for getting ideas…

1) not a tool but this ,,,,We get better ideas when we do not actually think about it.i think i ‘ve learned it
from you.
2) buzzsumo
3) google trends with 5 ideas comparing process
4) google keyword planner…but not in the great way as you have wrote.
5) google scholar
6) quora, yahoo answers
7) google alert weakly

so my question here is am i doing right ..or just hammer on my head.

REPLY

June 26, 2016 at 8:34 AM

Neil Patel
I think you’re on the right track Zada. What kind of content marketing are you doing?

REPLY

June 26, 2016 at 12:05 PM

zada
I don’t have a big plan for content marketing. I have a small blog and I want to improve my writing
by writing what I have learned from all top bloggers and may be to give a try to affiliate marketing.
The funny thing here is I do not know for what type of audiences I am writing. ..here is a question
poping .should i create content first or build audeince..if i do not have any peice of content how it’s
possible to build audiences .it’s confusing. …do you have solid answer in human language not in
blogging. ..thanks neil i have learned a lot from your both blogs..thanks again.

REPLY

June 29, 2016 at 9:47 AM

Neil Patel
I suggest you get some books on writing too see if you can improve the quality of your posts.
Create content that attracts an audience

REPLY
June 26, 2016 at 4:02 PM

Kevin Urbina
Don’t think I’ve heard anyone suggest looking at the Kindle Store for ideas, but it definitely makes sense.
Goes sort of along with using the Google Trends tool and looking at keyword popularity over several past
years. If the trend’s dropping consistently and significantly, it’s probably not a good keyword to write a
post about.

REPLY

June 29, 2016 at 9:51 AM

Neil Patel
Totally, think about all those chunks of content you can easily get inspired from

REPLY

July 2, 2016 at 10:45 AM

Antoine
Thank you Neil! You’ve got this rare gift of making everything that seems really difficult, very accessible to
your audience, leading them through steps. Great practical tips here!

REPLY

July 2, 2016 at 11:57 AM

Neil Patel
You’re welcome Antoine, glad this was helpful

REPLY
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