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When you invest time into keeping a blog, you naturally want that blog to do well. But with all the competing websites and search results, how do you come up with blog topics that will cultivate a following and keep the audience that you already have engaged?
Luckily for you, there are all kinds of resources and strategies you can employ to find the outstanding topics you seek. Below are a few ideas to help you get started.
How to Find the Right Topics For Your Blog
A blog is only as good as the topics you write about, so a truly outstanding blog requires truly outstanding topics. For topics that will engage your audience and position your blog to do well on Google Search, consider giving the suggestions listed below a whirl.
After all, you have nothing to lose and an abundance of exciting ideas to gain!
1. Use Google Alerts
Select several key words with relevance to your industry, have an alert set based on those keywords and request that 20 to 25 stories be delivered to you each day. Skim headlines and consolidate links that grab your interest by putting them in a file where they can be accessed and used at a later date. Having a group of stories that are closely related means you’ll have great material on hand for a roundup post.
2. Read Publications Created for Your Trade or Industry
Almost every kind of industry has an associated publication, and reading these publications will give you insight into the hottest trends, cutting edge ideas and the latest news and developments pertaining to that field. There are an infinite number of blog topics that can be gleaned from trade publications, and using them gives you credibility and shows your expertise.
3. Be a Problem Solver
Everyone appreciates finding a solution for their problems, so think about the problems and challenges faced by your readers and offer innovative solutions that they may not have considered. For instance, a teacher could post classroom management strategies that have helped them out in the past, or a stay at home mom could post time-saving tips for busy moms looking to get more done faster.
4. Use Google Trends
In order to generate interest in your blog, you need to be aware of what topics are hot on a daily basis, because as we all know, what’s hot today may not necessarily be tomorrow. Use Google Trends to get an idea of the highest-ranking searches on Google, and let these topics provide inspiration for your own blog topics.
5. Try Topsy
Topsy is a social media analytic tool that keeps track of tweets relating to specific keywords on Twitter. It indexes and ranks the results, using the day-to-day conversations millions of people around the world are having on Twitter as a guide. Like Google Trends, Topsy also keeps you in the know regarding the most timely and interesting topics of the moment.
YOUR TURN
Let’s hear from you!
What are some strategies that have worked for you when it comes to finding great blog topics? Please share your tips and tricks in the comments!
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About the Author:
Alicia is a “Jill of all trades.” She writes about travel, fitness, and communication on her blog MarCom Land, works as a freelance writer, and is currently studying to be a real estate agent.
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These are really great tips–I have just set up Google Alerts for “dating” and “relationships;” topics I cover quite frequently on my blog. I really want to up my blog frequency (as one of my personal blog goals for the new year) so this article came at just the right time!
Thanks for this!
So glad to hear it Charlotte!! Good luck with your goal!
Good blog very useful information which i needed. Thanks for posting it
I would also mention google analytics, or any tool you use for statistics. Based on a queries your users type to get to your blong you ill find numerous interesting topics for sure 🙂
Regards
Good point, Magda!! I dont’ check my GA enough!! Guess that will be my homework for this weekend 🙂
And now I’m off to check out Google trends!
Thanks for this post. This is exactly what I need for my blog.
Mystylepad.com
Glad I could help, Tosin!!
I am happy when reading your blog with updated information! Thanks a lot and hope that you will post more site that are related to this site.
I’ve hear about Google alerts but never actually set it up. I guess now is the best time!
Helpful tips! I had completely forgotten about Google Trends!
Follow and participate in forums on a topic you are interested in.
Great idea, Elizabeth!!
Love these ideas, Kristi! My top one is to answer questions from my fans that they asked either on social media or on my blog in comments.
Another idea I may use from time to time is to check Quora and see what questions are people asking in the Blogging category. It’s great to know that you are writing to help someone and not just something you wanted to write 🙂
Good point, Delia! I use to be a big fan of Quora but I’ve fallen away from checking it and instead went to Topsy.
These are great tips and they are going to the top of my To-Do list. I especially love the Google alert as I am already checking so many websites daily, I don’t have the time to check one more.
Hi Karen,
It seems like you should get a Feedly (similar to the previous Google reader) It will allow you to add all the different websites you read to different categories and then view them whenever on your computer or mobile devices.
Thanks! I will take a look at it tonight!
Thanks for the tips : )
One thing that has helped me is adding google analytic to my blog and website. This gives me a list of what people search on google when they find me. It was a bit tricky to set up. It was only through buying an All in One SEO tool for WordPress that I was able to add the code needed for the analytics – I was never able to figure out how to add it till then.
It helps me find good topics to post on.
I’ll be checking out Topsy and Google Trends too. They look very useful.
Great idea, Aruna! I’ll have to set that up to try it out!
These are all great suggestions (Google Alerts, Google Trends, Topsy) but the problem with them is that they always leave you behind the trend instead of being a trendsetter or catching topics at the beginning. What good is Google Alerts when they are notifying you of things that were shared yesterday? You’re a day behind. You can receive Alerts as they happen but your e-mail box is flooded with messages. The same thing applies to Trends.
I use everything you mentioned and they do help to come up with topics. I just wish there was a way to be ahead of the trend. Anyone happen to have a crystal ball handy?
Hi Ashley! Depending on what topics you usually want to write on, you can usually follow the articles to an original source where you can sign up for email alerts. For example, I want the latest in PR so I follow the trail and found a great newsletter from Muck Rack that has kept me up to the minute in what’s going on with the industry. What you said about Google alerts is true but Topsy is up to the minute usually with information so you can get on a trend fast.
I second this advice; Twitter is THE go-to social network for discovering current trends
Thanks so much. These are great suggestions.
So excited about Google Alerts! I can’t believe I’ve never heard about it until now. Thank you!
Have fun using them!
I love these ideas!
Great suggestions!
Excellent article, as you can see by my post I’m looking for topics from my readers for 2014.
Hi Vicki! What an excellent idea! Do you get a lot of response from that?
Just set up three Google alerts! I was not sure what this was for – Google Trends is cool too – now I know!
Love this! These are great tips. You know, I’ve been blogging for a few years with a few different blogs and I never thought about setting up Google Alerts (talk about behind on times, right?). Going to be doing that today!
Good luck, Shay!
Thank you for this! I knew about Google alerts, but not Topsy or Google Trends.
You’ll love Topsy! I’m addicted.
I set up alerts hoping to catch announcements of free events in my town, since I blog on fun things to do with kids. My alert is “free + St. Louis.” Guess what I get? Tons of sports stories on free agents! Aaaaarrgh!
I also write for Examiner as their local journalist so I how frustrating it can be to find events in time. I’ve found Twitter works really well for this. Create a list on Twitter of local newspapers and other local based Twitter feeds.
I have heard about using ans setting up google alerts, but how do I set that up on my iphone?
You probably need to be logged into a computer to set it up. Once you have it set up, the notifications will go to your email.