In this series, we are bringing you tools that will help you work faster, write better and land more readers. Blogging isn’t always an easy thing to do. What you write about is a major part of the journey, but there are many other things to consider. How do you create amazing content? How can you put together blogposts strategically and efficiently? Also, how can you get your content out to as many people as possible? Throughout the next six posts, we will explore all of those questions and give you ideas on how to make your blog the best out there.
Brainstorming Ideas
Up first – brainstorming ideas. Maybe you already have an idea in mind and want to know how to develop that idea? Or maybe you don’t have an idea at all, but writing is your passion. What tools are there that will help you?
Quora
Quora is a crowdsourced website that can help you understand the questions that real people are asking. If you’re interested in starting a fitness blog, you can use Quora to give you an idea of what people are talking about. For example, someone on Quora may pose the question “what are the most common mistakes beginners make at the gym?” This is a pretty straightforward question, and it will give you an idea of a blog topic. You can select questions from a variety of topics. This will prove to be an extremely helpful tool if you’re new to blogging.
BuzzSumo
If you enter a topic or a URL into the BuzzSumo search box and you will find a wealth of information on the content that performs best for social media sharing. BuzzSumo can be extremely useful for sorting out an existing idea. This will help you find the perfect angle for the post. Maybe it’s broad, or perhaps narrow. BuzzSumo will help you look at your content in a way that will help you with your writing.
Quick Sprout
Simply enter a URL into Quick Sprout, and you will get an analysis of the site’s performance and content. The Social Media tab will show you which posts from the site have been home runs, and you can take inspiration from the highlights on the list.
Portent Title Maker
Portent is helpful when it comes to creating a title for your blog post. Enter a subject into the Portent tool, and you’ll get a sample blog post title. Not only that, but you will also get some witty breakdowns of why the title might make for a good read. You can refresh over and over again if you aren’t happy with the suggestions that they give you.
Blog Topics Generator
HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator works in a similar way to Portent’s. With the HubSpot tool, you can enter three keywords, and Hubspot will give you five titles to work with. That’s a week’s worth of content. How can you not love this tool?
Twitter Trending Topics
There are always topics trending on Twitter. You can look at what’s trending worldwide, but you can also narrow your search to something a little bit more local. Twitter’s trending topics are a great place to start when it comes to writing. Especially if you’re blogging about current events. This is also a place to start if you’re unsure what you want to blog about.
LinkedIn Pulse
LinkedIn Pulse works in a similar way to Twitter in terms of trending topics. These topics will be more business/job oriented. It also allows you to follow business leaders. But like with Twitter, you will also be able to find things to write about. Like I said before, this can be helpful for beginners. Or if you’re stuck and may be experiencing writer’s block. Either way, this is a great place to go in order to brainstorm your ideas.