You may not feel like it, but you are absolutely skillful enough to create high performing and impactful stuff. (We’re talking about blog posts, podcasts, infographics, products, etc.)
You’re capable of it, but if you’re like many of us indie entrepreneurs, you haven’t yet.
The ideas are in your head, you want them to come out, you want to click “publish” and watch them spread, but they won’t come out on their own. They also won’t come out by staring within your own brain. You’ve got to knock them loose.
In this episode you hear 27 ways to knock those ideas loose, get them down and evaluate which one’s to get started on.
We’ve all got the questions like these:
- What will be good?
- What can you write?
- What will your audience truly resonate with?
- What will they share and promote for you?
In this conversation you’ll learn how to discover fresh and unbeatable content ideas for your blog, podcast, social channels and website. Enjoy!
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“27 Ways to Stumble on Unbeatable Content Ideas”
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Don’t miss the ultimate tip
If you haven’t listened to it yet, be sure to take notes on this episode: How To Reverse Engineer Massively Shareable Content (FS086).
27 ways to find great content ideas
Note: I’ve made some quick notes below and added the time stamp of each bit because you’ll need to listen to them to get the whole picture of each.
- (18m) Collection tips! Drafts App, Evernote and Chase’s keyword/tag trick.
““Make the right thing the easy thing to do.””
Tweet This - (25m) Disciplined non writing get’s you chomping at the bit. (Chase mentions travel.)
- (26m) Create a trigger points list, a list of events that would cause someone to look for a solution to their problem. (Definitely listen to this one… great insights from Barrett.)
- (29m) Create a learning timeline. List the stages from novice to expert.
- (31m) Do. Learn. Go. — new things/places that you’ve never done/learned/visited before.
““A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” ~ John le Carre”
Tweet This - (37m) Express passion about a belief you have that the world should embrace.
- (38m) Look through the lens of emotions. Fear. Embarrassment. Passion. Rage. Envy. Lust. etc.
- (41m) Magazines: check out the table of contents, read only the articles that interest you.
- (43m) Write every day for xx number of days.
- (44m) Google auto complete!
- (45m) Answer reader/listener/visitor/subscriber questions.
- (47m) Ask everyone who signs up for your email: ‘what’s one thing you’re struggling with right now as [your niche here]?’
- (46m) Ask powerful questions. “What’s the worst thing that happened to you this week?”
- (49m) Create a structured series to leverage real-time-ness. (You’ll have to listen to this one.)
- (52m) Read every post on a single author blog. You’ll see how they grow and change over time.
- (53m) Get personal. 1). reveal things about yourself, get uncomfortably personal… embarrassing, touching, passionate stuff. 2). Talk to yourself publicly. Write posts to yourself. use your self talk publicly.
- (56m) Try different formats of posts. long. short. image. story. data. infographic. etc.
- (57m) Be a journalist instead of a teacher. Tell someone else’s story.
- (58m) Your story. what was hard. what was easy, what you wish you would have known.
- (59m) News in your industry.
- (60m) Curate and synthesize. read several books on a topic and summarize the bigger picture.
- (60m) Get as close to the actual thing that happened as possible. Most people operate at the level of hearsay.
- (61m) Amazon TOC of books. also 3 star reviews.
- (62m) Social media, find the leaders/influencers: what are they talking about? What seems to be popular?
- (63m) Subscribe to help a reporter out. Help a Reporter Out.
- (63m) Ask your spouse/partner/friend about the topic. Develop your empathy muscle.
- (64m) The Periodic Table of Content Marketing (source). Really helpful to slice and dice some ideas up.
“Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.”
Show Notes
A thief stole packages from my house and I caught it on video – Corbett Barr — “… I bought a Dropcam Pro to keep an eye on our front entryway.”
How to do Good Work That Gets Popular: an Introduction (FS087) — In the comments you’ll find the Jerry Macquire video.
How to Make a Living as a Writer (Jeff Goins Shares Exactly How) — “In this interview, Jeff shares the insider details every aspiring writer should know about what it really takes to earn a living in today’s environment.”
Learn how to set goals that actually stick!
The Top 10 Mistakes in Online Business
Every week we talk with entrepreneurs. We talk about what’s working and what isn’t. We talk about successes and failures. We spend time with complete newbies, seasoned veterans, and everything in between.
One topic that comes up over and over again with both groups is mistakes made in starting businesses. Newbies love to learn about mistakes so they can avoid them. Veterans love to talk about what they wish they had known when starting out.
These conversations have been fascinating, so we compiled a list of the 10 mistakes we hear most often into a nifty lil' guide. Get the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Starting an Online Business here »
I have been on your list for some time now…don’t think I even opened any of the emails before today’s headline intrigued me. But 16 minutes into your podcast and I’m hooked. So much ridiculousness and fun…but still giving the goods biz wise!I’m still giggling about the ideation nation…thought you guys were gonna do the Team Rocket rap from Pokemon!! LOL!!
Well, Tiffani, all I can say is welcome to so many giggles and insights.
Same here – I’m not sure what it was about this particular headline, but it lead me to subscribe to your podcast :). Thanks! BTW, something’s wacky with Disqus – I verified my email and it still wouldn’t let me comment without refreshing this page.
RUNAWAY it’s METROKNOW! Ah crap, how’d you find me!?
I think the better question is how did I NOT find you – you are everywhere! :)
around 30:38, thought I heard Chase say “Taco Bell’s Canon in D,” and now all I want in the world is to hear Chase write and perform that song.
there’s been a lot of comments, @disqus_0pS586ICbn:disqus, but this may take the cake… for now :) I want to hear that song as well :)
Gorgeous page. High production value. Good information. Most annoying intro ever, though. Barely made it through to all the great info underneath all the weird voices and attempt at jokes. Sorry guys, have to be honest. The info was good though!
Hey dudes! You mentioned Google auto-complete as an idea generator. There’s a great website, http://ubersuggest.org, that does this very thing for every letter of the alphabet.
I am catching up on podcasts and finally got a chance to listen to yours. Great content right when I needed it. I am so spread out and am consolidating and focusing on just a couple of blogs. I was reeling on how to find ideas for content. This does it! Thanks.
And I needed a pick me up, you guys are hilarious and gave me a good smile with some good information right at the right time.
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Yes! It’s call Drafts… but I’m not sure if it’s available for Android or not. It definitely is for iOS.
This episode is key! For someone who is new to blogging, curating ideas and coming up with topics this episode has just blown my mind with action I can take to just start doing! Thank you guys for endless amounts of amazing information.