3 Tools To Use for Content Creation Ideas
As I have mentioned in my previous posts, coming up with content ideas is not easy. However, there are three easy things you can use to consistently find ideas for content. I highly recommend that you read Content Creation Basics in addition to these three tools to use for content creation ideas:
1. Google Analytics
Digging through Google Analytics is a fantastic way to come up with content creation ideas. Obviously there is an issue with the “not provided” area of keywords, but you still have valuable information in the analytics to review.
Carefully look through the keywords section and create a record of what phrases people have used to find you in the search engines. Look at which page they landed on and the “visit duration” for each keyword/phrase. If they stayed on that page awhile they might have found the answer to their query. Expanding on the topic/subject could be a good idea; the only way to tell is to write and watch the numbers. Make sure you interlink related articles to help educate your readers, provide information that they need and to keep your visitors onsite longer (see first paragraph).
Subject Matter vs. Data
If a lot of visitors are in and out of a particular page perhaps the data isn’t what they were looking for, but the subject matter was. So write more about this particular subject, link to the new article (near the top of page that gets lots of traffic) and watch to see if there is interest or not.
Look at the “Nots”
When you are looking through keywords and pages visited look for they subjects/keywords that people are not finding you for. Always keep in mind the topics you want to show up for. If there are no results in analytics that indicate you are receiving traffic for those topics start creating valuable content related to the topics. Google Analytics should keep content ideas flowing, while also helping your company determine the success, or lack thereof, of different content strategies.
2. Website Searches
Track what people are searching for within your website. For instance, if users are searching for a subject or specific service on your website, it could be the topic to focus on. If you have many related searches for a particular subject it could indicate high interest and most likely should be written about. However, if you have already written about a topic often and people are searching for this topic frequently make sure your website is easy to navigate and relevant articles are easy to find.
I have seen many companies that pay writers and have tons of great information on their website, yet their navigation is terrible, and information is impossible to find. Without a website that allows users to find what they need you are wasting your time and money writing helpful content. Use your website search data to determine what people are looking for, what subjects you need to expand on and which topics you may have neglected. Website search data is invaluable.
3. Google Alerts
Google Alerts are free and provide valuable up-to-date information. You can go into Google Alerts and add phrases and keywords related to the services/products you provide and Google will email you when items related to your topics appear in their search engine.
This type of data will give you unlimited ideas and resources you can use for content creation because you can see what has been done well, what has been done badly and what topics are being neglected. You can create your own unique content from the data you receive, and you can also use items created by others that will be helpful to your audience. Using free items such as videos, infographics and slide shares will help your content marketing strategies be more diverse and also provide more helpful information to your audience.
You can, and should, create alerts on your competitors and keep an eye on what content they are producing. Watching your competitors can help you determine what marketing areas you may have neglected, while also giving your content team ideas. Lastly, Google Alerts are a great way for you to monitor how often your competitors are producing content. Keep track month to month and compare your strategies to theirs.
You company should be looking at Google Analytics, website searches and Google Alerts for content ideas and to clearly see what subject areas your company has failed to address. Use Google Alerts as a tool to help you monitor the web and fill your team with a broad range of ideas for content marketing strategies.
Melissa Fach has been in the SEO industry since 2007. She created her own agency, was the Managing Editor at SEJ, worked as an editor for Moz with their community team, she worked at Pubcon as the Community Manager for 5 years, and is an editor for SEMrush US Blog.
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