As a blogger, your main goal is to write about topics that captivate your audience and deliver value to those who are reading. However, many bloggers find themselves struggling to find a topic with broad appeal. (Don’t worry we’ve all been there). What’s interesting to you might not be interesting to others. This is why you need to find topics that strike the balance between your passion and your reader’s interests. 

One thing you need to avoid is writing about a subject that has already been extensively covered within your industry. Adding to the growing pile of content that’s already been covered won’t do you any favours. You’ll spend time researching and writing a blog, only to find yourself on the 50th page of Google. A place I personally wouldn’t scroll to get my answers. Unless your post offers a fresh new perspective to the conversation, you end up creating repetitive content that your audience has read countless times from your competitors. 

If you find it hard to provide a unique take on a popular topic, try looking for topics that haven’t been covered as much. This will give you the opportunity to compete with other websites of your calibre, giving you the chance to create content that ranks on the first page of Google. 

In this blog I go over unique ways you can get ideas for your blog. No, I don’t mean the generic ‘Conduct keyword research’ and ‘Steal your competitors’ ideas’ that have been talked about countless times. While these tips are great, you’ve probably used them before and have had no luck with them or have overused them. Hence why you’re reading this blog. 

Quora:

Quora is a dynamic forum where questions meet answers. The platform allows users to ask questions, provide answers, and follow topics of discussion they’re interested in. It’s a goldmine of knowledge where you can gather rich insights and diverse opinions. 

On the platform, questions aren’t just simple inquiries. They’re an opportunity to learn more about your users. It gives you a sneak peek into the minds of your audience to better understand their challenges and pain points and create content that speaks directly to them. 

If you’re on the hunt for high-value topics that align with your niche, Quora is the perfect platform for you. Start with your blog’s niche and look for related questions that have the audience’s attention. Numbers speak volumes here. A good indicator of whether a topic resonates with the audience or not is the number of upvotes, comments, and reposts. Let the analytics be your guide. The higher the numbers, the more confident you can be that you’ve struck gold. 

The key here is to find questions that your competitors haven’t tackled yet. You’ll need to dive deep here, which may take a little bit of time but the payoff is worth it. 

Reddit:

Reddit is another forum platform dedicated to specific topics or interests, creating a space for users to ask questions and share their expertise. The forum is divided into subreddits which are essentially forums related to a specific niche. For example, if you’re as passionate about marketing as I am, I recommend the r/marketing subreddit. Finding the perfect subreddit is like finding a goldmine of blog post ideas.

Once you’ve found your chosen subreddit, sort the topics by ‘Top posts this month’ so you can find the hottest topics and the most exciting stories. This magical button shows you the posts that have stirred up the most conversation and gathered the most upvotes. It’s like tapping into the minds of your target audience and seeing what they’re eager to read. 

By staying tuned to the ‘Top posts this month,’ it’s not just about following trends; it’s about understanding what resonates with the community. The best thing is, that a lot of the topics you find on Reddit are unique. People turn to Reddit to find answers that haven’t been widely discussed before. This is your opportunity to create high-quality content that you know users are searching for and are willing to read. 

Industry News:

The latest industry news can be a powerful source of inspiration for your content. It’s all about turning those headlines into engaging blog posts that not only contribute to the ongoing conversation but also bring your own unique perspective to the table. You can share your insights, discuss potential impacts, and offer a fresh angle that others may have overlooked. This transforms your blog into a news source that people turn towards. 

There’s also the organic traffic potential that comes with it. When a topic is trending, people are actively searching for information about it. By creating content about the topic, you’re positioning your blog to be discovered by a broader audience. So, not only are you staying ahead of the curve, but you also increase the likelihood of your blog gaining traction. It’s a win-win. 

Personal Experience and Challenges:

People love personal experiences. I’m not talking about your morning routine or what you eat in a day. But the behind-the-scenes of your niche. They love the authenticity and relatability that a personal story brings and this can be a reason why many users stick around.

Draw inspiration from personal experiences and challenges to generate compelling blog ideas. Whether it’s overcoming a professional decision or how you achieved something others are trying to achieve, your unique story will offer a new perspective to the topic. Add in anecdotes and humour to entice your readers to scroll further and turn your blog into a storytelling machine. 

Interviews and Conversations With Industry Leaders

Imagine sitting down with the thought leaders, and innovators within your field. It’s like hitting the jackpot for your blog. You get to unlock fresh insights and expertise that has never been discussed before. Through these conversations, you generate a whole list of blog ideas and diversify your content. 

You get to collect success stories, lessons learned by others, and even predict what’s next within your industry.  You take these discussions, sprinkle a bit of your own magic touch, and there you go. You’ve got content that spills the tea on what’s really going on. 

It also helps to boost the authority and authenticity of your blog. People want to hear first-hand what experts have to say. And by conducting these interviews, you get to translate their thoughts and feelings into content that makes sense to your audience. 

Pull Ideas From Other Niches:

Inspiration can come from anywhere and getting inspired by content from other niches helps you create original content that hasn’t been touched on beforehand. Diving into diverse niches helps to widen your perspective about your own niche. It also helps you improve your creativity, which is an important aspect of blogging as well as marketing.

For example, you run a fitness blog and stumble upon a blog post about a new Virtual Reality (VR) system that’s soon to be released. You read the post out of interest and realise there are a ton of ways people can use VR to turn exercise into an immersive and enjoyable experience. This way you’re not exactly copying the content and instead weaving in certain concepts and ideologies that you learnt elsewhere. 

The more you read blogs from other niches, the more creative your content will be. Your mind will be constantly churning out unique content ideas that haven’t been written about before.  

TikTok:

TikTok is a search engine not just a social media app. Don’t believe me? Close to 40% of Gen-Z are now turning to TikTok as their go-to search engine, completely avoiding the traditional Google route. And that percentage is only growing. To generate blog ideas, just type your niche into the search bar and you’ll get a result of over 1,000 videos that discuss trending topics, challenges, pain points, and educational content within your field. Pay attention to the metrics and comments. See how others are reacting to the video to see whether the content idea will be a hit or a complete flop. 

Use Your Existing Posts:

Go through your Google Analytics and pinpoint popular blog posts that you know you can definitely write more on. If you’ve only grazed the surface of a topic in that popular post, expand and create a blog post surrounding it. This way you can create posts about topics you know your audience will love. It’s a no-fail way to generate blog ideas as what worked once might just work again.