June 2, 2014 the core issue for many content marketers is this: how do i come up with article topics? without topics, you have no articles, no content, and therefore no content marketing. It rsquo s obvious that we need to figure out how to come up with topic ideas quickly and effectively. That rsquo s why i put together this brief guide on how to come up with 50 topic ideas in 30 minutes.

College Essentials Homework

My goal is for you to read this article, then be able to spend half an hour to come up with your own set of topics to write about on your company rsquo s website.

the idea behind this exercise is quantity, not necessarily quality.

you might come up with some junk ideas as you race to write them down, but at least you rsquo ll come up with ideas. Those ideas can be massaged and coaxed into an awesome title or topic for a winning article.

force yourself to write stuff down.

when you actually begin to type words, you begin to come up with more ideas and to think in clearer ways. There are three major sections i rsquo ve outlined in which you will be prompted not just to think of ideas but to write those ideas down.

this is idea generation only.

now is not the time to assign article topics, craft the perfect headline, or create the chapters for your ebook.

be as specific as possible.

the following is a process for coming up with tons of topic ideas, but the specifics are up to you.

For example, in a section below i ask, ldquo how did you get started in your industry? rdquo come up with two specific topics based on that question. If you write down something like ldquo why you should go to college, rdquo you rsquo re not getting it. So, maybe i could trace out an idea like this: ldquo why i didn rsquo t choose an illegal job, and how it shaped my life. Go to a place that is free from distractions and interruptions. this doesn rsquo t need to be anywhere magical or special. Open a document to capture your thoughts. since our goal at this point is speed and efficiency, it doesn rsquo t matter what note taking application you choose. Start your timer for 30 minutes. having a specific amount of time will force you to be productive.

Knowing that the timer is ticking down the seconds will either paralyze you or motivate you to action. It rsquo s what inspires me, and i rsquo m convinced it rsquo s the key to online marketing success. But i rsquo m not just going to write an article on ldquo why i rsquo m passionate about content marketing. Rdquo instead, i rsquo m going to channel that enthusiasm into a major work that i can get excited about. How did you get interested in your area? what training did you have? don rsquo t be afraid of getting personal here.

The best content is stuff that is personal, while still actionable and oriented to your audience. People love to hear about others rsquo experiences and to read things from a first person perspective. For example, if i started as an online marketing professional by facing a traffic challenge on a small time ecommerce site, i can tell that story, while providing a lot of great advice. Maybe it can be something like, ldquo five seo lessons i learned while working on a struggling ecommerce site. Rdquo why is your product the best? if you sell a product, you are hopefully convinced of its value.

Why does it rock? what are some mistakes that people make in your industry? every industry has its pitfalls. What are some in your industry? what makes people go out of business, experience a slump, or lose interest? what is the greatest challenge in your industry? if you tell people how to overcome common industry challenges, they will eat your content up. Jot down the biggest challenges, and just write ldquo solve it! rdquo beside them.

what does success look like in your industry? what does it mean to get to the top or to dominate? how do you get there? who is the most successful person in your industry? write down their names and the word ldquo interview. Rdquo later on, you can call them up to request an interview, or read other interviews that they rsquo ve participated in. From published interviews, you can pick up on a salient point and tease it out into an article or two what is the biggest news in your industry? one of the richest sources of articles is contemporary industry news. what is a success story from your business? biggest failure? stories of personal experience are perfect for article topics. Want to write an article that gets read and shared? discuss how and why you failed at first, or what factors led to some huge success. what personal skills help someone become successful in your industry? this is easily a top 10 list several of them, actually. From time management tips to email ninja advice, you can bust out a bunch of practical and tactical advice that will really appeal to your audience.

what tools do you use to get your job done? this is another list or top 10 article. What kind of things do you use a desk, a macbook, an iphone, a bluetooth device? what about mobile apps? web apps? data storage? coffee? write it down. where, when, and how do you do your best work? each industry is going to have its own take on getting stuff done the hows and whys.

Essay on Living In Harmony With Nature

why do you enjoy being in your industry? there may be some days when your work is a chore, but what about those bright moments? how do you stay motivated in your industry? how do specific challenges motivate you? how do the experiences intrigue you? what is changing in your industry? every industry has its developments, technological innovations, and major shakeups. Most of the time, you won rsquo t be able to posture yourself as a breaking news provider. Rather, you should take the position of providing opinion, commentary, response, or advice based on the developments. what are some processes or practices that you have perfected? if you rsquo ve achieved some level of expertise in a specific area, describe how you did it. I rsquo ve done this with seo and content marketing and seen some really strong returns from it. The search phase time: 12 minutes goal: 25 topics instructions: here, you rsquo ll enter the search phase actively seeking out ideas elsewhere on the web. Perform each of the following searches, and jot down at least five ideas from each source.

visit the blogs of industry leaders. what are other leaders saying? if they are all discussing similar things, there rsquo s a good chance you need to be part of the conversation. There rsquo s a good chance that the top post is an evergreen topic that continually drives traffic. Here rsquo s what rsquo s most popular on my blog: simply browsing around on an industry leader rsquo s blog for two minutes should give you plenty of fresh ideas for content. visit the major industry websites. beyond the blogs, there are other websites that provide industry information.

In my niche, for example, search engine journal and search engine land are great sources for news and authority discussions on topics. If you rsquo re in seo, you can invariably extract some topic ideas from a one minute survey of the homepage. Focus on twitter and google+. if you rsquo re following other leaders in your industry and you should be , track down their presence on twitter, and google+. Here, you rsquo ll find the thread of their conversations, topics that they rsquo re dealing with, and issues that are hot. Assuming you rsquo re aware of four or five leaders, you rsquo ll quickly gather fodder for dozens of ideas.

And here rsquo s a visit to danny sullivan on twitter: search twitter for trending topics in your industry. twitter is perfect for getting the buzz on current events related to your niche. Use twitter rsquo s search function to find out what rsquo s trending in your particular niche. To go a step further, twitter has a customizable trending section that you can tailor to match your exact interests.