Expert Feature: How to Create Content That Tells and Sells – Especially When You’re Out of Ideas!
You’ve probably been told as a business owner that you need to have a blog.
Why? Well, the search engines like Google want to see new, fresh content on your website (they consider blog posts website content as long as it’s in the same domain name).
Google will look for the fresh content, and push it relatively higher in the search engines than stale content that’s been hanging around for awhile.
Secondly, your readers want fresh stuff!
Who wants stale, day-old bread?
We want stuff straight out of the oven, metaphorically speaking of course. The more current you are with your content, the more likely people will engage with you and keep coming back for more.
Combining YouTube and Your Blog
OK, so let’s assume that you have a blog or a YouTube channel (they both count!). I actually like to combine YouTube with blog posts so you get a double dose of content:
- YouTube searchers will find your videos, and YouTube is the second most-used search engine behind Google
- Google searchers will find your blog posts – or they may even find both if you’ve done things correctly!
I like to create short, 2-3 minute videos that I search engine optimize, then embed that in a blog post that is also search engine optimized (here’s an example).
Sometimes I like to have a longer webinar that I record that gives away useful information.
Here’s an example from last year.
But I digress.
Did You Run Out of Ideas?
What happens if you just run out of ideas? How do you get your content creation mojo back in gear to inspire you to create fresh stuff?
In a sense, ask the searchers what they want.
Write the stuff that people are searching for, and you’ll write articles or produce videos of the things that people actually want to consume!
Google gives us all a free tool that you’ve probably used 1000 times without realizing it: Google Suggestions.
How to Use Google Suggestions to Come up with Blog Ideas
When you do a search in the Google search bar, they try to anticipate what you’re searching for, and make suggestions.
Think of these as being the audience’s “Top 10 Things” that they want to know about a particular subject.
Google is just giving this to you. As an online marketer, you can use this to generate new topics pretty much forever.
As an example, go to Google and type how to train a dog (*make sure you type a space after the word “dog”). Google will dutifully show you the top many topics people want to know about:
how to train a dog to sit
- how to train a dog to come
- how to train a dog not to bite
- how to train a dog not to bark
- how to train a dog to stay
Boom! Five new blog posts and videos just fell out of the sky.
Try to vary what you’re searching for, for example type in dog training tips (again with the space afterwards). These show up in Google Suggestions for you:
dog training tips for biting- dog training tips and tricks
- dog training tips for jumping
- dog training tips aggressive behavior
Boom! Four more topics that your adoring fans want to know about.
I did this recently for a client of mine who has a very active blog.
In 20 minutes I came up with 75 new topics that they can write about all day long, and attract new folks to their website.
What Do Your Customers Want?
Think about what your customers want to know. What do you deliver that they want to know about and are searching for answers about?
Start typing those into Google and see what suggestions come up that can help you create great new content for your blog or YouTube channel.
Don’t forget to share your blog post AND video on all your social media channels like Facebook and Google+.
Your fans will like it, comment on it, and share it.
That’s what makes the customers (and the search engines!) keep coming back for more!
It is hard to crack Facebook marketing. People are on Facebook to basically kill time and play. I target my local customer base with clever funny images. I keep my posts that I share fun/
Chris
Owner CEL Financial Services
Income Tax Preparation Santa Paula