content creation

When you first start creating content, it’s easy to think of epic content ideas. The world is your oyster, and anything you can think of hasn’t been covered.

As you create more content, the ideas become more limited. Over 1,500 blog posts later, I have to make sure I don’t get too repetitive. I don’t see myself writing a “5 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers” type of article for a very long time, if ever again.

It’s easy to think of epic content ideas. It’s difficult to think of new ideas that you haven’t covered and that your audience wants. I can think of a blog post listing 100 blogging tips, but I already did that.

You can take a topic you’ve discussed before and discuss it in a new piece of content. If you chooses this route, you need to do so with a different flavor than before.

Regardless of your approach, these are 10 tactics you can use to think of epic content ideas.

#1: Read Blog Post Headlines

Blog post headlines allow you to discover what a blog post will discuss before reading it. You knew what you were getting from this blog post the moment you read the headline.

For some blog posts, it’s worth reading the entire thing to grab some key points. Hopefully, this is that type of blog post for you.

However, some blog post headlines serve better as idea igniters. If you run out of ideas, you can read blog post headlines in your niche to spark your mind.

I’ll read as many headlines as I need so I can come up with an epic content idea. However, to save time from this activity in the future, I often jot down 10-15 content ideas so I don’t have to perform this same activity every day.

#2: Read Email Subject Lines

This is a similar practice as reading blog post headlines. The main difference is that you read email subject lines continuously without igniting your mind. How many of us go through our inboxes and think, “Wow, there are so many potential content ideas lurking here”?

When I’m in the inbox, I want to respond to important emails and then get out. However, the inbox magic always seems to keep us in our inboxes a little longer than we anticipated.

Instead of completely wasting this time, have a mind that is open to new content ideas. Sometimes, blog post headlines make their way into your inboxes.

I’m subscribed to Medium, and they send amazing emails based on articles I’ve read in the past. One of the articles I received in my inbox was called 16 Things Your Successful Friends Have Given Up by Tim Denning.

Not only did I read the article, but I now have a content idea for the future. I can expand on this concept and write an article like “10 Things Your Unsuccessful Friends Haven’t Given Up” or “5 Things That Hold People Back From Success.”

Similarly to a blog post headline, an email subject line can give you several content ideas if you reword the subject line.

I wrote this blog post towards the end of 2017, so I had an email in my inbox with the subject line “The number one end-of-year practice that transforms my year.” I now have a few options:

“3 End-of-Year Practices That Work At Anytime Of The Year”

“The #1 Beginning-of-Year Practice That Can Transform Your Year”

“The Only Thing You Need To Accomplish Your Resolutions”

It took me a little less than a minute to write all of those ideas. I can follow-up with them at any time I desire, and I got them from my inbox.

You might find more success in your inbox because many marketers value their email subject lines more than they value their content headlines. The email subject line, similarly to a content headline, makes the difference between massive engagement and zero engagement.

#3: Listen To Podcasts

Unashamed plug to the Breakthrough Success Podcast 🙂

All joking aside, listening to podcasts (or audiobooks, but in this case, podcasts for your breakthrough), will provide you with a fountain of content ideas.

Audio content provides you with several unique opportunities for content consumption that videos and the written word can’t safely provide:

Walking in the grocery store

Walking your dog

Running (note: I briefly tried this, but it ruined my flow so I stopped)

Driving

When you want to rest and don’t want to look at a book or a computer screen

I write notes for each episode I listen to. As I write more notes, more content ideas flow out of me.

The amount of content ideas you’ll get from each episode depends on the type of podcast you listen to. The better the podcast, the more content ideas you’ll get out of the experience.

#4: Watch Videos

This tactic has a similar vibe as listening to podcast episodes. Many see YouTube as an on-demand platform to escape the hustle and bustle of work. Others use YouTube to learn new skills and implement what they learn.

You can watch your way to more knowledge by watching the right YouTube videos. I prefer to watch videos from a training course as I’m less tempted to drift off when watching a training course. All YouTube has to do is suggest one tempting video that’s off-track, and then I can fall into the wormhole of wasted time.

I recommend enrolling into several courses on Udemy. Several of them are free and won’t distract you from learning unlike YouTube (unless you only watch educational YouTube videos without room for entertainment).

#5: Write Down Ideas

One way to think of epic content ideas is…wait for it…write down ideas.

While this may seem like one of those no-brainer and not necessary to mention type of tactics, this one is important.

Just because you think of an epic content idea doesn’t mean you’ll remember it. With tens of thousands of thoughts going through our heads each day, even the greatest of ideas can get lost in the storm.

Writing down your ideas will prevent you from forgetting them. And when you look at those ideas, two things will happen. #1 is another no-brainer but #2 is where the magic happens.

You’ll remember the idea

Your mind will start to ignite more ideas based on the idea you just remembered

All you have to do is change, remove, or add 1-2 words to a content headline to come up with an entirely new idea.

#6: Consume Your Past Content

Similarly to how looking at past ideas will ignite new ideas, consuming your past content will help you come up with new content ideas.

To finish 2017 strong, I decided to listen to every episode I published on the Breakthrough Success Podcast (a little over 60 at the time). I listened to my podcast with iTunes until my podcast made it on Spotify. Then I got hyped and listened to many of the remaining episodes on Spotify.

Among the many tidbits I got from the episodes, one was that “all successful bloggers are full-time bloggers.”

With that one quote, I can think of several ideas:

How To Become A Full-Time Blogger

How To Work Like A Full-Time Blogger

How To Become A Successful Part-Time Blogger

What You Need To Do As A Part-Time Blogger

Note that I’m using headlines that include part-time and full-time. Including two important words within various headlines will give you more options as you think of epic content ideas.

#7: Read Books

Reading books has a similar theme as some of the previously mentioned tactics. Successful content creators often use books to gather new insights and present their findings in their content.

The best way to see planned out research in action is by…reading books. When you read a book, you’ll often see the author mention another book and a valuable insight from that book. This is planned out research, and while it’s presented in other forms of content, books seem to take this amount of research to the next level.

If you prefer audiobooks, then you’ll still get a lot of value from the experience. The important thing is that you read through as many high-value, niche-related books as possible. You’ll learn a lot and come across many content ideas.

#8: Watch Training Courses

This tactic is worth saying, but I won’t go deep into it. The idea is very similar to other tactics discussed. I recommend you use Udemy and SkillShare to find free courses to get the gist. While I prefer Udemy, others prefer SkillShare.

#9: Hire A Freelancer To Gather Ideas

Here’s where things get different. Most of these tactics have focused on you consuming content and headlines to come up with the ideas.

If you find yourself pressed for time, you can hire a team of freelancers to gather ideas for you. They can even do the outlines so you know where to take the content next. That way, you can spend less time thinking about epic content ideas and more time writing epic content.

Better yet, you can spend more time marketing your brand. Many people are great at creating content, but few of these same people are great marketers. Marketing your content allows your brand to get found and aids you on the way to becoming a full-time content creator.

You can hire freelancers to conduct a variety of tasks beyond idea generation. Just because something’s hard or time consuming doesn’t always mean you specifically have to do it.

#10: Create A Survey

Hiring a freelancer to gather ideas is one way to remove this task from your workload. While hiring a freelancer for this task serves its benefits, you can also ask your audience for ideas.

The best way to ask your audience for ideas is through a survey. If enough people in your audience take the survey, you can then make conclusions about what type of content they want more of.

While you’ll get some ideas right out of the gate, this feedback will let you know where to direct your idea igniting mind. If your audience wants Facebook advice, you know that you need to focus on thinking of Facebook ideas instead of thinking of Pinterest ideas.

You can create a survey through Survey Monkey or Google Forms.

In Conclusion

Thinking of epic content ideas is no small feat. The extra time you take to think of an incredible content idea will result in better content. That better content will attract more people to your brand and ensure your existing audience wants more of your content.

What were your thoughts on these tactics for generating more content ideas? Do you have any tactics for us? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

Have you ever wondered why people spend so much time creating and publishing free content? There are people like Neil Patel who manage to write 4,294 free blog posts. With each of those blog posts averaging 1,000 words (modest estimate for Neil), that’s over 4 million words of content.

That’s like reading through several copies of Tim Ferriss books.

And that doesn’t even include editing your content like a pro.

I myself have written over 2,000 blog posts, created hundreds of YouTube videos, and close to 100 episodes on the Breakthrough Success Podcast.

Why bother? Why not invest that time towards generating revenue?

Creating free content is a long-term game that will result in more revenue than most of the other strategies. Even with a coaching business, you are limited by the number of hours that you can take on clients in a given day.

In this free piece of content, you’ll learn how you can profit from the free content you create for your audience.

 

Send People To Your Email List

Free content does a magnificent job at sending people to your email list. At the end of all of my blog posts, I invite visitors to subscribe to receive a free offer.

Lately, I’ve included opt-in boxes in the middle of my content. With this strategy, I effectively turn all of my blog posts into landing pages. Small differences in site wide conversion (i.e. from 3% site wide conversion to 4% site wide conversion) will make a big difference in how much your email list grows in the weeks and months that follow.

I don’t only promote my opt-ins in my blog posts. On my blog’s sidebar, I give readers the option to click on my free offer and get it in exchange for joining my email list.

On my podcast, I mention a link at the beginning of the show where readers can go to buy one of my products or get a free offer.

With all of your content, you must be laser-focused on turning as many of your visitors into subscribers as possible. Boosting email subscribers is essential to profiting from your free content.

 

Optimize Your Autoresponder

The autoresponder contains all of the emails your new subscribers receive when they join your email list. Autoresponders can cover a few days or a few months depending on how deep you want to go.

This is different from the welcome email which would thank the person for subscribing and provide that person with the promised free offer.

Most email marketing solutions including ones like ConvertKit and iContact allow you to create an autoresponder for new subscribers.

Successful autoresponders strengthen the relationship between you and your new subscriber before making a pitch.

A common but effective tactic is to include a picture of yourself in the first email and describe the context. I use a picture of myself in a mountain trail where I sort of got lost but enjoyed all of the sights of that run.

Knowing more about you will make your new subscribers more interested in the products you’ll offer later on.

I prefer to write this email, offer three free pieces of content related to my product, and then send 3 emails about the product. If a new subscriber buys the product through your autoresponder, you can ascend them to a higher priced product.

If a new subscriber doesn’t buy the product, you can continue sending them free value and occasionally offer them other products.

 

Leverage Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of my top sources of income. You can find proven products in your niche and promote them knowing you’ll make the commission you deserve.

I tend to promote an affiliate product to my email list at least once per month. Daily emails gives me plenty of opportunities to promote affiliate products and share my free content.

You can also make money on your blog directly through affiliate marketing. You can promote an affiliate offer similarly to how you would promote a landing page.

To take things to the next level, anytime you mention a tool you use, make sure you use your affiliate link.

When I mention ViralTag, I use my affiliate link (just like I’m doing right now). This is a tool that I frequently recommend anyway. Adding an affiliate link into the mix allows me to make commissions based on the products and services I would have recommended anyway.

Ideally, you get visitors onto your email list and leverage affiliate marketing to your email list, but you can also leverage your free content to drive affiliate sales. The same principles apply to promoting your own product.

 

In Conclusion

Creating free content allows you to drive visibility to your brand. That visibility should result in more subscribers and sales. I use the word should because the way you optimize your website determine what results you’ll get.

As you optimize your site or quickly affirm to yourself that your site is optimized, remember this…

You are never finished with optimizing your site. To this day, I’m looking for ways to increase my conversion rates. Even when I hit my conversion rate goal, I’ll set a new goal for myself and boost conversions even more.

Plus, there are so many parts of the journey that you can optimize. You can optimize the landing page, the autoresponder messages to ensure more clicks, the sales page, and more.

Creating free content is the first step. Optimizing your website is the next step, but it should be taken immediately when you take your content brand seriously.

What are your thoughts on creating free content? Do you have any tips for us? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

So much content gets created every year, and we will never have enough time to read the content that gets published. This content shock phenomena establishes a stronger significance as the days continue.

Even if you start creating content now, you can still earn attention and visibility. The rules of the game constantly change, but one rule will continue to hold out through the tests of time.

The content creators who show their personalities win.

You can read a blog post like this one on other blogs. You can watch a YouTube video or listen to a podcast episode in which someone else covers the same points. You can even look for images that capture this concept.

People don’t come back to blogs, podcasts, and channels primarily because of the content. They come back because of the brand and the person behind the content.

Some people admire what I have accomplished at my age. This story attracts more people to my content, and the value of my content determines how long these visitors stick around.

When visitors do read your content, chances are they won’t remember it in a few days unless they are taking action based on your insights. However, they will remember you.

People don’t remember content. They remember people.

You get people to remember who you are by inserting your personality into your content.

 

Tell More Stories

The more stories I tell, the more I get to insert my personality. Most of my stories center around business struggles and successes. I relive these moments so people know how I respond to these types of situations.

We’ve communicated through stories for many millennia, and we won’t stop communicating in stories anytime soon.

Don’t elaborate too much when telling the story, but telling stories that are related to your content will provide a better experience for your visitors.

 

Treat The People In Your Audience Like Friends

Treating the people in your audience like friends seems like a basic principle. It seems like you only need that one sentence to get the gist of what you need to do. It’s a bit more detailed than that.

We often use vague terms like audience, subscribers, and followers to describe our communities. I don’t refer to my friends as followers and subscribers, and neither do you.

In many blog posts on this exact blog, you’ll see me make reference to words like audience, subscribers, and followers.

I use those words for general purposes since we all know what to expect from an article called “3 Ways To Get More Twitter Followers.”

When talking about my audience, I no longer use those words.

I used to see my email list as 10,000+ subscribers. Now I see it as 10,000+ content creators with big ambitions. This is a very different narrative that makes the people in your audience more relatable.

10,000+ subscribers represents a numbers game. If I get X number of subscribers every day, I can reach my goal of Y total subscribers within my deadline.

10,000+ content creators with big ambitions is more personal. Getting more personal with who your audience is allows you to show more of your personality when crafting your content. You’re no longer writing to a conglomerate of subscribers and followers. I create content for content creators with big ambitions. Who do you create content for?

 

Write Down What Makes Your Personality

For many people, living and acting like themselves feels 2nd nature. Some people can quickly integrate their personalities into their content. If you have a more difficult time doing this, write down some of the traits of your personality.

Better yet, write traits that you want to develop.

By writing down characteristics of your personality, you can then craft your content with the same gusto. I have a very energetic personality which is why I don’t bore people with fluff and excessive storytelling (I know storytelling is important, but I don’t go over the top).

I prefer to go right into the nitty gritty.

Other people prefer to elaborate on stories and do things differently. That’s not a problem at all. The only problem is to not show your personality in your content, or worse, fake who you are.

Writing down what makes your personality will allow you to keep those traits at the forefront of your mind as you create new content.

 

In Conclusion

Yes, this blog post is shorter than most of the other blog posts I’ve written. That’s part of my personality. If I can’t see a way to continue writing without providing excessive fluff, I stop writing. I’d rather get people off my site in less than a minute than keep them on my site for 5 minutes as they read a fluff-filled blog post that I am not proud of.

Be more open and honest about your personality and certain parts of your journey. People want someone who they can more easily relate to. Make yourself relatable to your customer avatar. I talk about my content brand struggles often because I know the content creators I attract to my content can relate to those struggles.

What are your thoughts on incorporating your personality into your content? Do you have any tips for us? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.