Everyone gets stuck for ideas now and then. If you’re running a business, finding time to plot out the fresh content your site needs is difficult. It doesn’t help that occasionally there will be times when the ideas simply won’t flow.

Consulting your SEO firm can be a great way to source content for your site, and you can talk to us at SEO Consult on this issue. However, a smart business will still want some say in the direction its site’s content takes. This means being ready with ideas when it comes time to plan.

Writers have been suffering from intermittent writers’ block for centuries. This is not so lucky for them, but very lucky for any business that is stuck for ideas when it comes to interesting blog content. Why? This is because in dealing with writers’ block, professional writers have devised a series of ingenious methods of getting around the ideas problem and back into interesting content. As the need for good web content grows, more web-focussed idea prompters have been discovered. Here are a few avenues to pursue:

Brainstorm

This is the most basic of idea-generating techniques and has been used for decades. It is still one of the most effective ways to come up with ten or more ideas from a single concept. Jotting down every question or notion that hits you when you look at one of your keywords can keep you in content ideas for several weeks at least.

Headline Formats

Sometimes, an article springs from its headline. Having some headline formats on hand can be a valuable source of inspiration when sketching out article ideas. There are times when all it will take is a simple and common headline format and your keywords to generate an entire article. Some of the most common and most effective headlines include ‘Top ten ways to [subject]‘, ‘How to [subject]‘, ‘Don’t make mistakes with [subject].’

User feedback

User feedback is a rich and rather under-used resource for content. Most businesses will have users posting comments with questions, issues and ideas. All of these can and should be used when crafting content for your website. Not only does content created from these sources address relevant topics that your users will enjoy, it reaffirms for your users their importance to your business.

Tags and keywords

Your own tags and keywords may become more of a drag than an inspiration after the first article planning session. Tracking popular tags, however, can give you ideas for content and help you tap into the zeitgeist. Look at Google’s trends function and the popular tags sections for Twitter and other social media for timely inspiration.

Find the answers

Answer websites are another great source of ideas for content. The bonus with this source of ideas is that it can also net you inbound links if you post a link to your answering article. Yahoo! Answers, WikiAnswers and Answers.com are just three of the many answers sites popular at the moment. Industry forums also provide a good resource for more in-depth industry questions.

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