Content is all around us and we so often get overwhelmed to find something to write about. No matter what your business, a web designer to a plumber there are experts in your field and they can be a source of inspiration.
I coined a phase I am sure is out there but I call it “Twitter food”. A perfect example of how your blog and website and social media come together. On Twitter I must admit I do not follow movie stars, politics, or clutter. I have enough clutter coming into my life (don’t we all), I follow the leaders in my industry and I see what the heck they write about every day. On Twitter I created a list that I call “My Morning Newspaper” if I only have a few minutes to look at Twitter I want to check these people out.
They inspire, they teach, they are leaders in the industry I want to stay on the cutting edge about. I retweet of course, but I also email myself stories for inspiration and I keep them in a pile, bring them on a plane to the gym and I write an article based on the topic. I saw a great article on redesigning your website… hello I talk to clients about that every day and I know exactly what I say to them. But this article stirred my brain to think closer to what I say daily. I will write a great story on my ideas on website redesign next. These leaders are all around you – look at your bookshelf who is your thought leaders? Find them on twitter – who are they following? Look at those peoples bio – a follow the ones that make sense. Soon you will have a must read list. Flag the stories with a favorite or email yourself the story – just gather that twitter food for your blog. Obviously Twitter is my favorite to get inspiration but thanks to my Front Range blogger group we came up with this list this week.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a very easy tool. You set up Set up alerts based on the keywords you are focusing on. You can select the frequency of updates. I generally set up daily updates and have Google send me an email with the links. It’s great to see what is trending as you are developing your content. Things change fast and you want to be writing about the cutting edge, not old news. Set up your Google alerts
RSS
Find your leaders and sign up to get an RSS feed of the stories they write so you can again see what is trending. Inspiration does not mean plagiarize but if you know your business these can provide you an idea of what is going on and help you find your “Blog Content Ideas” . To learn how to set up a RSS feed of your favorite leaders see our story – What is an RSS Feed?.
Google keyword research
Google has an amazing tool that is part of the Ad words world but it shows you what people are actually searching for. If they want to know how to install a toilet and you are a plumber write a story about it. being the helpful expert develops trust. To find out the words people actually search for use Googles Keyword tool.
Now get writing – the more you supply quality content the more your customers will come to you as the expert. Not to say that Google doesn’t like fresh quality content too!
