How to Never Run Out of Content Ideas

Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge, and no one can deny this statement. This insight may be most relevant in the blogging universe. Plenty of bloggers and writers have created exceptional pieces of content. Sadly, they treat the same subjects almost in the same manner, and only a very few of them bring a substantial personal contribution. Practically, the majority of bloggers and writers repeat the same ideas in different words.

It’s not bad at all, but it’s most likely that people who land on one of your web pages will have already read that content. As a result, they will only stay on your web page for a few seconds or will leave instantly. Google counts it as a negative vote, and it might negatively affect your organic traffic.

Pushing out more content isn’t a sustainable solution because you don’t have the time required to create compelling content. Writing blog posts on automatic results in running out of content ideas and time, frustration, and fatigue.

Never running out of content ideas is an illusion; everyone faces this problem. Your success resides in how you handle the lack of inspiration. Here is how we, the Newt Labs team, deal with running out of content ideas.

Don’t Put Pressure on Yourself

Here at Newt Labs, we are normal people—we procrastinate, chat with friends, lack sleep, have personal problems, and so on.

However, one of our positive aspects is that we firmly believe that it is better to prevent instead of dealing with unwanted situations.
For instance, we do our best not to stress one another. The lack of pressure results in better performances, including being always creative.

Tight deadlines can push you to your limits. It depends on each person’s potential, but it’s undeniable that too many tight deadlines will fatigue you and hurt your creativity. As a result, we agree to help clients who are desperately looking for help and want immediate action, but we don’t put pressure on ourselves to create content.

We didn’t reinvent the wheel, but we strictly apply our team’s core value: stress doesn’t make you inspired. Working under pressure makes you run out of content ideas, so share your ideas with your co-workers and act accordingly. It’s the first step to avoid staring at a blank document for minutes, waiting for inspiration. Check out our following suggestions to write more and better!

1. A Few Articles in Queue

This suggestion isn’t applicable to all bloggers and writers because it’s context sensitive. However, when applicable, it gives everyone peace of mind needed to focus on what you need to do. A few articles in a queue—let’s say that these cover the entire next month—eliminate the stress of not publishing content.

Sadly, when you produce content for a number of clients on an as-needed basis, you can’t apply this recommendation. Do the regular tasks and schedule time for unexpected jobs—that’s all you can do!

2. Read, Read, Read

I have written blog posts for five years, and I have run out of content ideas many times. Reading blogs in your niche is a remedy against lacking ideas that has worked the best for me. You have to read blogs in your niche even if you are inspired; it’s the best method of staying up-to-date on what’s new in your field.

Finding the best resources to read is time-consuming. Use an aggregator like Feedly or WP News Desk (an aggregator specifically for WordPress users) to read the latest pieces of content. Of course, you are invited to subscribe to our blog newsletter or check our list of the best WordPress-related blogs.

3. Study Your Competitors

Reading alone isn’t enough for never running out of ideas. You have probably visited competitors’ sites by reading blogs in your niche.

Study their best performing posts and start crafting even more in-depth content. As Neil Patel suggested, if your competitor’s best post is “20 Hacks for Your Blog,” then you have to come up with a “40 Hacks for Your Blog” article.

You don’t need inspiration—you already have the winning idea—so write a more elaborate post!

Finding your competitors’ best blog posts requires time and effort. The following algorithm will improve your efficiency:

• Determine your competitors. Check every blog in your niche and their traffic stats, and add the URLs of your competitors to a list.
• Use tools such as Semrush or Ahrefs to determine your competitors’ best performing posts. Buzzsumo is also an outstanding tool for verifying which posts are the most appreciated on social media.
• Create a new list of the best posts and estimate how your audience will react to them. Start writing a post if you believe that your audience is interested in that subject.

4. Set Up a Content Schedule

It’s not enough to have five or ten articles in a queue if you publish all of them within five days. A content schedule is beneficial for both site admins and readers.

Site administrators need a content schedule to organise posts better. For instance, you set the publishing frequency or decide how far in advance you schedule posts. All these details are vital for managing a serious site.

Readers appreciate consistency, and a content schedule helps significantly to publish posts regularly.

5. Present Unique Perspectives

Writing about an original topic is no longer possible. At least 70,000,000 blog posts were published each month last year. In this context, it’s impossible to blog about a subject that other bloggers haven’t already covered. The lack of originality makes any blog a part of that enormous amount of sites that don’t attract more than a few eyeballs a day.

If you want more traffic, then pushing out original content is a must.

Therefore, presenting your unique perspective has two advantages. First, you can’t run out of ideas as long as you write your own insights about services and products in your niche. Second, you will be able to publish unique content—it’s about your thoughts.

One of the most successful types of posts is personal case studies. ‘How I Lost 20 Kilograms in 30 Days’ or ‘How I Earned $1,000 in Ten Days from Writing” are titles that attract you because these are success stories from people like you. Inevitably, you read them with the goal of applying the tips to get the same good results.

6. Quora and Reddit Are Awesome

Quora and Reddit aren’t as appealing as Facebook and Twitter, but these sites are irreplaceable tools for anyone who creates content. The particularity of these two networks is that you can interact with users who are similar to your average reader. Once they are driven to your site, chances are that they will turn into loyal visitors and will subscribe to your newsletter.

Let’s suppose you blog about WordPress plugins. Visit the Quora and Reddit communities related to WordPress plugins, and you will be amazed by how many issues users encounter with plugins. Take into account that they have probably searched Google for answers and landed on Quora or Reddit. Why not write a complete blog post showing how you found solutions to their problems? By writing a top-notch blog post, people will land on your site instead of Quora or Reddit.

You’ll never run out of content ideas as long as you frequently visit Quora and Reddit. It’s not easy to find the proper discussions—you have to dig deep, and it takes a lot of time. But you will find a bunch of potential titles by spending some time on each network. You will find not only new content ideas but also be able to craft content for qualified traffic, which means improved conversions and more sales.

7. Facebook Groups

I have wasted a lot of time on Facebook, but I have also discovered a lot of useful things. Facebook groups are one of these advantages. These groups are partially similar to Quora and Reddit. It depends on each group’s policy, but in 99% of groups, you are allowed to post questions. Some of these questions have the potential of being the subject of a blog post. Check the comments and the group members’ engagement. The more people interested in that question, the more chances it has to be a heavily visited article.

8. Survey Your Readers

The above two tips were significantly related to people who most likely haven’t visited your blog. It’s not wrong to consider their opinions, but don’t ever disregard your loyal site visitors! Asking your readers for feedback should be a regular activity, not something to do when you are out of ideas.

Send a survey to your blog subscribers or add a poll on your site to ask the visitors about their preferred topics. There are many apps for sending surveys or creating polls, so you have no excuse if you ignore this step. The feedback from your readers will be golden—it will reveal what you should improve to keep them loyal.

Incentives for users who complete surveys and polls helps entice them to participate and offer honest feedback. The survey and poll participants provide ideas for new posts while they get a valuable reward in return.

Additionally, you nurture your relationship with the readers and offer them the required content. Everyone wins, so put this theory into practice.

9. Repurpose Your Best Content

Infographics aren’t as appreciated as they were a few years ago, but a well-done infographic generates traffic and backlinks. You could also create a video or discuss a topic with a guest and record a podcast.

Consider repurposing your content when you lack inspiration. It’s relatively simple: go to Google Search Console and check your best performing pieces of content. Next, make a list of these posts and look for ways to better repurpose the content.

The most accessible form of repurposing content is an infographic, but don’t limit yourself. Video content is eagerly consumed in any niche, so allocate time and resources, and this investment will pay off.

Repurposing your content is an effective way of getting the most from your past blog posts when you run out of ideas.

10. Accept Guest Posting

If you are a marketer or a blogger, then you may have heard many times that guest posting is dead. Many experts have considered guest posting useless, but it’s still an effective generator of backlinks. A plethora of important magazine news and blogs accept guest posts, so you should follow the same approach.

Publishing a guest post now and then is beneficial because you save the time and resources required to write an article. Of course, you can keep the guest posts and publish them when you run out of ideas!

On the other hand, guest writers don’t come with advantages only. Many guest proposals are of thin content—just fluffy words that bring no value to the readers. Some guest writers require four or five backlinks for a 500-word piece, which isn’t acceptable. Needless to say, some guest articles are poor replicas of other posts.

You need to create a clear, brief guest posting policy. Major publications have a ‘Write for Us’ page and a clear guide regarding the standards required. In this way, you ensure quality guest posts and avoid wasting time with below-standard pieces of content.

Zoom Out and Zoom In

‘Zoom out and zoom in’ is another working principle that should be applied by writing creators. In plain English, it means that a blog focused on a certain topic should provide at least two types of posts. ‘Zoom in’ content is the articles that go into full detail on a very particular aspect. ‘Zoom out’ content refers to the posts that provide a strategic overview of a topic.

For instance, the Newt Labs blog’s main topic is WordPress. We published many in-depth articles, such as how to use an API in WordPress, but we also wrote a strategic overview of responsive web design.

In this manner, you cover a niche entirely, so become an authority. The diversity of the posts won’t let you run out of content ideas. Zooming out or in is a striking solution for valuable posts.

12. Hypothesis, Execution, Feedback

All the above tips worked for both great and amateur bloggers. You may be tempted to believe that these ideas are universal, but they’re not!

Each blog is unique and has a unique audience. Even though these tips may work for you, it’s impossible to determine the results if you apply them randomly.

Test all the suggestions and determine which brings the best payoff. Begin with a clear hypothesis—for example, exploring Facebook groups will give me title ideas. The execution phase is when you do the leg work—join groups, seek relevant contributions, and formulate a list of potential titles. Write the posts and check the stats after you promote the articles.

Repeat the process a few times and draw the proper conclusions. Did you get some good ideas idea from Facebook groups? Were the posts appreciated and drove good traffic? Depending on your input, you may need to continue or quit checking Facebook groups. It’s that simple: hypothesis, execution, feedback!

Even the most prolific bloggers suffer from writer’s block. Dealing with it doesn’t hinge only on talent or skills; your attitude also matters a lot. Accept that you are uninspired, don’t blame yourself, and fully focus on solutions, not on complaints.