Content has become the backbone of digital marketing, a critical element for anyone doing business online. With such a high demand for unique, engaging content, it’s natural to reach the point where you struggle for new ideas.

How to Generate New Content Ideas for Your Website

Whether you create blog posts on the fly, or plan out a large list for the months ahead, here are some tried and true methods for generating new content ideas for your website:

  1. Research Competitor Sites

Your competitors are dealing with the same issue as you, i.e. generating content relevant to your shared niche. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, as the saying goes, so there’s no shame in researching these sites to come up with your own content ideas.

All kinds of SEO services involve researching competitors to exploit gaps in the market and thus increase your website visibility. The best practice is to gather information from various sources to create comprehensive articles that feature the best of them all, complemented by your personal knowledge and perspective.

While you could simply reword this competitor content and pass any plagiarism checker, it’s far more effective (and honourable) for you to actually improve on what you’re reading. How can you say the same thing, better? It’s not just within your interest to generate something truly unique for SEO reasons, but also to ensure that your audience can recognize the distinct voice behind your brand personality.

  1. Take Recent Events as Inspiration

Creating content that’s inspired by recent events is a fantastic way of appearing relevant. You absolutely don’t need to create formal news articles, but rather showcase pertinent stories to your brand. Worry about whether it’s interesting first, as there are many ways to lean the content towards your business.

Of course, it’s even better if you can create content based on your own events, whether that’s a customer story, community project, or a new development otherwise. If you host events, Q&A sections, interview transcripts and guest speakers can all be leveraged to generate new content ideas.

Consistently creating content surrounding recent events makes your company appear authoritative and actively engaged in your field. You might assume that this kind of content becomes outdated quick, but remember that you’re not writing news stories. Take the facts and extrapolate larger ideas to create more evergreen content.

  1. Ask your Followers

Sometimes in life, the answer is right under your nose. If you’re having difficult generating new content ideas, asking your followers is an ideal first step to take. Reviewing social media comments and canvassing directly from your audience will almost certainly expose a treasure trove of content ideas.

Not every comment will lead to actionable ideas, but as you’re probably scanning through and responding to comments to some extent already, you can integrate this idea generation process. You could also arrange interviews to get valuable insight from those who use your product or service, or anyone simply interested in your topic(s).

  1. Content Idea Generators

Sometimes all you need is a catchy title to get creative juices flowing, and a lot of content marketers spend considerable time stuck on them. Thankfully, there are a number of platforms offering idea generation services for your content, such as Portent and HubSpot. Some are free to use whilst others rely on subscription, though if you’re using an agency, this kind of work comes under the general SEO services price.

These content idea generators are a little rough around the edges, so you may need to refine the results given to you. For instance, we entered ‘SEO in Sydney’ on Portent and our first response was “How SEO in Sydney Could Make Anyone a Better Parent.” While we appreciate the effort, it’s not the most natural subject for an SEO agency to write on.

Blog idea generators will save you precious time when generating new content ideas. Just note that these tools are typically designed for nouns, so things might get a little weird if you use other kinds of word. Spend a little while flicking through the responses and you’ll surely get something you’re happy with.

  1. Get Personal with Stories

An increasing proportion of businesses are recognizing the power of storytelling as not just a sales device but a vehicle to carve out brand personality. Rely on your own experiences or seek out stories from members of your team, allowing them to create their own content when possible.

Storytelling is an efficient means of sharing information, one which wears many hats. It can educate or entertain an audience, persuade people to take action, or establish credibility for your company. Stories are inherently more engaging and you’ve got a thousand of them, so don’t be afraid to get personal.

Sharing a personal story with others builds substantial trust, allowing people to empathise with you. Personal storytelling on a company blog transforms a faceless entity into a collection of very real individuals, each with their own thoughts and feelings. Opening up to customers in this way facilitates a much stronger connection, which will encourage your audience to move towards your desired outcome.

Still out of Content Ideas?

Although content is a huge part of internet marketing, writing articles and filming videos isn’t for everyone. If you’d rather be getting on with something else, think about using professional SEO services. Shtudio is based in Sydney but we’ll help anyone , anywhere!