Millions of content creators, just like you, struggle with the same thing.
In fact, most of the ‘great content ideas’ they come up with, nobody ends up reading it.
Tough to build a successful business that way.
What if I told you there’s a better way to find proven content ideas? What if I told you that there are certain content creation shortcuts you can use to grow your business and attract readers?
Well consider yourself very lucky because today I’m going to share those shortcuts with you.
And no, you’re NOT going to find anything about searching for hash tags, endless brainstorming or using content topic generators here.
Strictly advanced techniques.
Ready?
Is it just me, or is the idea of attending live conferences cool? Yes, you learn new strategies, techniques and forward-thinking ideas that can drastically improve your business — and your life. And yes, you get to network with online peers you’ve Skyped (or Google Chat) with for what seems like decades. But to me, that’s no where close to the best part. If you want to publish great content consistently, conferences are the perfect place to mine for ideas.
Here’s how you can use conference agendas and schedules to uncover golden nuggets of topics that’ll make your content unstoppable:
First, do a routine search for conferences related to your niche.
[keyword] + “conferences”
Next, visit the first 5 pages in the search results to find suitable conferences.
When you find a conference that looks promising, look for the word “agenda” or “schedule” on their site:
If that particular conference doesn’t have it, move on to the next one. But, if it does, this will be the main place where you’ll get a run-down of the what’s being covered. At this point, sift through the topics discussed until you find one that interests you.
If that particular conference doesn’t have it, move on to the next one. But, if it does, this will be the main place where you’ll get a run-down of the what’s being covered.
Once you found a topic that interests you, what’s next?
Do a simple search in Google Keyword Planner to see if the topic is worth focusing on.
In this case, based on the description of this particular presentation, I did a search for the keyword “edible weeds”:
2,900 results!
Make no mistake, you can unearth some absolute gems with this content creation strategy alone. All you have to do is try it.
Now for the next content creation shortcut ...
Newsflash:
Coming up with proven ideas and topics isn’t that tough.
Some people do intense keyword research. Others have a proven system to help them come up with multiple topics on a weekly basis.
But did you know that one of the best, and little-known, places to formulate ideas for a blog post is Udemy?
Here’s how to use this site to search for your next big topic:
First, enter your keyword into the search bar of the site.
For example, let’s say you were in the meditation space. You would search for “meditation”:
Next, sort the results by the “most relevant” and choose one of the courses for that keyword:
(Start off with the most reviewed courses first — these would ensure that a fair amount of people bought the course and liked it) For the sake of this example, let’s choose Meditation For Beginners. The first thing you’re going to look at is how many people actually enrolled in the course:
Over 8,000 enrolled students is awesome. This just confirms that people are interested in the content that’s shared in this course. And that works tremendously to your advantage.
Then, while looking through the course, create a spreadsheet with Google Drive or Excel full of topics you can modify.
When you’ve completely exhausted one course, rinse and repeat with other courses.
You see the potential, right?
Ever notice that certain content always seem to go viral?
Why is that?
What separates you from them? Their content from yours?
Fact is, there’s certain topics that will always generate a buzz from readers. Doesn’t matter if the topic is about real estate or dog training.
They write about it because it’s proven. Bottom line?
If you want to create great content, you NEED to do the same.
How? BuzzSumo.
For example, say you operate a parenting blog.
Clearly you can come up with a number of ideas based on your own experiences as a parent. But unless you write targeted content other parents want to read, no one will care what you have to say.
That’s why you need to be strategic if you want to create content people want to read and share.
And using BuzzSumo to draw inspiration can give you unlimited, proven ideas at your disposal. However, remember to keep your writing integrity in check, since according to most plagiarism checker reviews such things can be caught very easily.
List posts.
They’re everywhere.
And despite many objections to them, readers love to read and share them.
The same is probably true for your posts. If you’ve ever written a list post, it’s probably one of the most popular posts on your site, right?
That’s no coincidence.
In fact, list posts are the ‘secret stash’ to unlocking new content ideas.
Here’s how:
Let’s say you don’t have any list posts on your site.
The best thing to do is find a list post from a site in your niche. For example, bodybuilding niche.
Search through each point on the list to find something you could turn into a stand-alone topic readers would be interested in.
You can justify if it’s a topic worth writing by looking at how many searches it gets a month …
Bottom line:
List posts are still something to pay attention to — even if you don’t like it. That said, make sure that you make it a part of your content creation process one way or another.
You can agree that subheadings makes content MUCH easier to read, right?
For example, these are two screenshots of completely different posts:
Which one would you most likely read?
Probably the one on the left, correct?
After all it’s formatted better, has more white space AND has subheadings to make the content more readable.
And that’s what subheadings do best. Helps divide content into readable chunks.
That is, unless you look past that and see it for the ‘idea-producing’ goldmine it actually is.
Here’s how to take advantage of irresistible headlines and use it to create irresistible content:
First, go to a site that’s related to your niche.
For example, if you were dabbling in the growth marketing niche, you may consider a site like Sujan Patel’s.
Search the site for posts your readers might be interested in … like this post Sujan wrote on FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Within those posts, look for interesting subheadings that you think you can use … and use it to create new, engaging content.
Fact: The world is full of people desperately wanting to know answers. Doesn’t even matter what the question is. And because that practice is so common, it’s almost a no-brainer to swipe ideas from this resorceful shortcut. There’s only one problem: you just need to know where to look for the questions. And answer the ones that your readers are desperate for an answer to.
Think of it like this:
Your reader has a debilitating headache. Addressing that particular topic that’s causing the headache, and providing the solution they want, is the cure. The end result? They’ll hang on your every word. Makes sense? Here’s the 3-step process you can use:
To find topics, go to a site like Quora to find potential problems people want answers to.
This is important. The potential a topic has only goes so far. You need to make sure that it’s a topic that’s actually searched for. After you’ve determined it’s something that people actually look for, it’s time for the next step.
Finally, you want to create something that will be, head and shoulders, above other content. This is very similar to step #2 in Brian Dean’s Skyscraper Technique. But what you want to do is go to BuzzSumo and do a search for the main keyword of your topic.Visit the sites that show up, “steal” their ideas and figure out how you can make your content drastically better.
Can’t get much simpler than that, right?
Here’s the deal:
Forums are one of the best shortcuts you can use to generate ideas. Similarly to Quora, you can use it to find questions people are asking that you can transform into actionable content.
For example, let’s say your primary keyword was “photography”.
Do a search in Google with inurl: forum + “photography.” This brings up more than a few forums around the topic of photography.
Choose a forum and skim through the threads. When you find something that interests you, do the research in Google for the phrase. If there’s a lot of results, check out the content on the first 5 pages to see how you can make your post better.
Most of the content that you read is incomplete. Agreed? Sure they have a few good points, but want to know what else they ‘sometimes’ have? Intriguing comments. More specifically: comments that asks a question or require further elaboration.
This is a post that Dre Beltrami put together a while back called 11 List Building Strategies that Actually Work. It covers a lot of detailed information on a topic every business/blog can relate to — list building. But as good as this post was, there were still certain questions people had
Which would provide the perfect opportunity to create possible topics. Here’s a few I came up with:
Pretty simple, right?
It may take a while to find posts with genuine questions but when you do, do the proper research to find out if it’s something people are interested in.
Ready for the next shortcut?
I don’t need to tell you that Facebook is a goldmine for traffic, shares and likes.
And according to a poll by Survata, it’s the preferred social media platform:
Awesome news if your target audience is 25 – 55+ years old. But here’s the best part: Just like forums, Facebook is one of the best little-known places to find content ideas. Go figure.
And here’s how to use it to find highly targeted topics:
1.First, do a search for groups in Facebook related to your general niche.
2.When it auto-populates results related to that main keyword, scroll through and click on groups that you’re interested in. Once you found a question, now what?
Well, do a general search for it in Google. Study the posts that show up on the first 5 pages of results and determine if it’s a topic worth pursuing. f it is, great! But if it isn’t, don’t sweat it. Keep on searching for questions other group participants have. In no time at all you’ll have a large array of topics to work with.
Want to know something?
This is probably the quickest content creation shortcut you can apply.
And should probably be one of the first shortcuts you should try. Because if you really want to write quality content that’s targeted, ask your subscribers right when they sign up.
I know, it seems so obvious, right?
Truthfully, this never crossed my mind until I saw Derek Halpern do this when I subscribed to his email list. Then, I saw Pat Flynn did something similar.
This is genius. Why? Because rather than guess, you find out exactly what issues/troubles they’re having by just asking them. And not only does it help you connect with them, but think of how appreciative and loyal they’ll be if you help resolve their specific problems.
Giving them a choice to ask for what type of content they want shows them that you truly care about creating content just for them.
Okay, show of hands. When searching for something in Google, who actually notices the suggestions that populates? Yes? Well, those simple suggestions are Google’s way of helping you create content worth reading. For example, let’s say you wanted to publish a post optimized for the keyword “exercise plan”.
First, type it in Google
And what you should notice are additional suggestions of topics people are eagerly searching for.
And what you should notice are additional suggestions of topics people are eagerly searching for.
Think you can use this shortcut to create exceptionally targeted content? I know you can.
I think you can agree with me on this: Slideshare is a site that you know about, but don’t use as effectively as you should, right? In fact, you barely use it at all. And like it or not, you’re missing out on a treasure trove of juicy topics to write about. You might be wondering:
“Yes. I’ve heard of Slideshare. And I know it’s a great place to repurpose my content, but how can I use it to generate proven content ideas?”
Here’s how:
Head over to Slideshare and instead of doing a search, click on “more topics”
This will bring up topics assigned to a specific category.
Next, explore each topic until you find one that matches your general niche.
Say for instance, you were trying to find content revolving around anything workplace related, you would choose “Recruiting & HR”:
Lastly, seek out content that not only interests you, but has a decent amount of views.
With this slide, you can clearly see how many views it has. All you need to so is view the slideshow, get ideas and start putting pen to paper.
Look: sometimes when you’re looking for content ideas, you need to think outside the box at times. And one of the best ways to find proven content ideas is by looking through niche specific magazines.
Here’s the step-by-step process:
And when you search for the keyword “cold processed soap”, you’ll see that it gets only 110 searches per month. But here’s the interesting part: That main keyword revealed absolute gems …
And — BOOM — you’re good to go. Rinse and repeat to find other potential content ideas to create.
If you’ve been online for any amount of time, you know that visual content reigns supreme. In other words: The days of just plain text isn’t effective anymore — which is a good thing!
After all, 65% of the population are visual learners and need visuals to help them fully grasp a concept. But, believe it or not, certain visuals like infographics can be used generate a MASSIVE number of content ideas.
How can you do that?
It’s easy: visit a site like Visual.ly (the largest online collection of Infographics) and create an account.
Then, enter a keyword that describes your site’s broad niche. For this example, I’m going to use the keyword “travel”.
The results will show pages and pages of infographics revolving around the keyword “travel.”
All you have to do is find an infographic that interests you and create something better. And what’s great about this shortcut is that it’s a well that will never run dry. New infographics are being created everyday which means the content ideas should be endless. Can you say jackpot?
know, constantly creating content is a chore. Especially if you’re fresh out of ideas and don’t have a clue of what to write about. Fortunately, these shortcuts are pretty damn easy to use — and they work. So, are you ready to use one of the 15 content creation techniques from this post? If so, which one are you going to start with? Leave a comment below. The following two tabs change content below.
Sylviane Nuccio
May 24, 2016 at 10:00
Hi Andrew,
Long time no see.
Wow, what a mega post you have here. I have to bookmark it and read it more thoroughly like a book.
Thanks for your hard work and research into that topic.
~Sylviane
Hey Sylviane,
Thanks for the comment and long time no see indeed.
It was a long post and took a while. And it does seem like a book. But I hope people get something useful from it.
Have a great day.
Andrew
Ashley Faulkes
May 24, 2016 at 10:02
Hi Andrew,
Long time no see.
Bro, I am loving your new content and I have to remember to put you on my feedly! I am gonna bookmark this for future ref.
So many cool ideas and very actionable! love it. I love the way you tackle looking at places I know about, but have not thought about going to for ideas. And being in SEO niche, I need them! super saturated :>
I used the sky scrapper with my latest post (link comment luv below I am guessing) and it has done very well so far. Pity such big posts take so long! haha
Ashley Faulkes recently posted…Over 100 Internet Business Ideas To Make Your Millions Online
Hey Ashley,
Thanks for the comment.
This is the type of content that comes from only publishing a post once a month or so. Now, I get to focus more on promotion. Yea, I certainly hope that the tips were actionable. There are so many ideas out there, but yo have to really look at them beyond what they are. Like the conference one. I love the SkyScraper technique. Something I use quite often. Thanks again for the comment.
Andrew
Adrian Jock
May 25, 2016 at 01:09
Hi Andrew, have you posted your latest book here? Interesting. I use some of the methods you described but I never thought of others (e.g. Conference Agendas)
If I meet that bad guy named Writer’s Block, now I know another good place to come
Adrian Jock recently posted…AWeber vs GetResponse. Marketer’s Best Friends. Epic Review
Hey Adrian,
Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for the comment. Lol it does seem like a book. I like that conference agenda one. Something that’s not thought of a lot but very proven.
Writer’s block doesn’t stand a chance, right?
Andrew
Mi Muba
May 25, 2016 at 13:54
Hi Andrew Very precious and valuable resources you share and all are very practical without any abstract approach. Nowadays the trend is not to bring any dead unique idea but the one that may serve the info needs of our audience and that obviously could be gotten from other places. It is rightly said no idea could be created it could simply be borrowed and reproduced with a little alteration to best serve the needs of another set of audience. Many thanks for sharing this wonderful list with a lot of lovely images and support material to well explain each. Have a great rest of the week.
Hey Mi,,
Thanks for the comment.
“It is rightly said no idea could be created it could simply be borrowed and reproduced with a little alteration to best serve the needs of another set of audience.” That’s very true. Many ideas out there are just recycled. I mean, why reinvent the wheel if you already have a proven method to follow, right?
Andrew
Andrea Beltrami
May 25, 2016 at 14:49
What a EPIC post jam packed with tons of ideas to get the content monster juices flowing! You go, Andrew. Thanks a shit ton for the link love for my list building post, you ROCK. Off to shower this bad boy with tons of love…
Hey Dre,
Thanks for the comment.
There was a lot of ideas packed in here. Hopefully readers got some new ideas they can play around with. Thanks for the love, badass.
Andrew
Sherman Smith
May 25, 2016 at 17:05
Hey Andrew,
No one can’t go wrong with these content ideas. I like the fact that they are practical and anyone can instantly start using them no matter what level they’re one. It does get tough trying to come up with an engaging headline. Especially if you’ve been writing for a while. But with these shortcuts you’ll defintely won’t run out of ideas. Great post Andrew! Have a good one! Sherman Smith recently posted…Conquering The Fear Of Publishing Your New Blog Post
Hey Sherman,
Thanks so much for the comment.
Practicality is the key. And that’s exactly what I was going for with this post and these ideas. Hopefully it can help people NOT run out of ideas like you said.
Andrew
Victor
May 25, 2016 at 17:58
Andrew,
This was an unbelievable post. Sooooo detailed. Thanks for creating this and putting it together. I know there shouldn’t be any reason to NOT come up with exceptional content ideas after reading this. Take care.
Hey Victor,
Thanks so much for the comment.
Glad you enjoyed the post. There shouldn’t be any reason at all.
Andrew
Lorraine Reguly
May 26, 2016 at 02:25
Hi Andrew. I know, long time, no see!
I actually found your site again when using JustRetweet. This post title caught my eye. I particularly love point 6: Use Questions Readers have as Possible Idea Igniters This is a variation on what I did when looking at my stats one day. I noticed the questions people were asking Google. Google had no idea where to send them, so they were sent to my site, even though I didn’t actually — at that point — provide answers to their queries. So… I wrote up a couple of posts and guess what happened? Google KEPT sending these people to my stie, because NOW I actually HAD answers. This is a surefire way to get ranked on the 1st page of Google! LOL I am living proof!
Hey Lorraine,
Long time no see indeed.
I love that. You saw a question being constantly asked and took advantage of Google sending you the traffic initially then provided concrete answers. Great stuff.
Andrew
Bruce Davidson
May 26, 2016 at 14:31
Andrew,
Really love the post. Specifically point #1 with the conference agendas. Never thought of that but that shortcut is gold.
Thanks for the share.
Hey Bruce,
Thanks for the comment.
That conference agendas one is something that’s really overlooked. Great I could share it.
Andrew
Cyrus Solomons
May 27, 2016 at 02:03
Hi Andrew. Thanks for writing such an informative post, it is really helpful. Maybe something to add though, all the newbies out there should realize that putting all these important ideas into action is the only way to realize results. Once again thank you.
Hi Cyrus,
Thanks for the comment.
You’re right … putting it into action is the only way. But not all at once because that would be overwhelming. Just a few at a time should do it.
Andrew
Fakharuddin
May 30, 2016 at 02:18
Hello Andrew, Thanks for sharing these awesome content creation ideas. I’m already a big fan of Udemy and take several ideas for some of my blog post. Get ideas from conference looks interesting and will try to implement it.
Hi Fakharuddin,
Thanks for the comment.
I love Udemy. And being able to leverage that platform to create more great ideas only seems to make sense.
Andrew
Tony
May 30, 2016 at 10:42
Taking ideas from other blog posts, articles and news is the good method to make a new content. In fact, I have been following up this method for a while and just want to say that it’s an excellent method to grab more ideas to write. Take point of views, perspective from other articles and make a new one. What do you think? Tony recently posted…How To Permanently Disable Browser Extensions For Maximum Security
Hi Tony,
Thanks for the comment.
That is a great method indeed. As long as you can come up with something fresh that readers want to read, you’re golden.
Andrew
David Hartshorne
May 31, 2016 at 05:28
Hey Andrew, What an excellent reference post you’ve created here! Definitely one to bookmark. I especially liked your first tip about the conference agendas. I think we are blinkered in our approach to content research and forget there is an offline world out there too. We just need to open our eyes and look around us a bit more. Thanks
Hi David,
Thanks for the comment.
There are many offline ways to generate ideas, money, etc. We just need to keep or eyes open for when those opportunities come up.
Andrew
Robin Khokhar
June 1, 2016 at 03:00
Hi Andrew, This long post but worth reading. I learned some of the new things from it. and surely will be looking to check some fo your post. Thanks for sharing. Robin Khokhar recently posted…GetResponse Review- The Powerful Tool to Create Business Impact Online
Hi Robin,
Thanks for the comment.
Even though it is quite long, I hope I provided some truly valuable information.
Andrew
Tauseef
June 2, 2016 at 01:30
Thanks for sharing such a informative blog , the way you have written its just fabulous , as i am new content writer i experience many of these problems , i hope after following these i wont face any problem.
Tauseef,
Thanks for the comment.
I think all writers should be able to benefit from the information shared here.
Andrew
Summer
June 3, 2016 at 00:03
Hi Andrew, I just want to say thank you very much for creating this long, and hugely informative post. I am a very new blogger so I don’t have anything good to contribute but I am very appreciative of your generosity.
Hey Summer,
Thanks for the comment.
As a new blogger, it’s always difficult to come up with proven ideas that your readers would want to read and consume. Hopefully this post provided some great suggestions to spark those ideas.
Andrew
vino
June 10, 2016 at 13:42
Hi Andrew,
Am visiting your blog for the first time and really I must say that the above techniques what you have provided are really great and mindblowing. Especially a detail single topic post from a list post is a good content creation shortcut worth considering, Share more ahead.
Hey Vino,
Thanks for the comment.
Glad yo enjoyed the post.
Andrew
dhanunjai
June 23, 2016 at 09:54
Hi Andrew,
Wow, what a great post this is. As a blogger, i been always trying to write effective and get new ideas. And after reading your
post it gave more clarity and certainly more ideas. Thanks.
Hey D,
Thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed it.
Andrew
Saurav Kumar Nayak
June 30, 2016 at 06:49
Hi Andrew,
Many of new bloggers are registering daily on the Blogging world. In every 2 second a new blog is created. As a Writer you don’t want to write on the same topic which already contains thousands of similar posts. Also you have trustworthy readers who come to your site to consume valuable and new Content. It leads to a problem for the writers.
The most important and difficult part of any work is its starting. For writer it is sometimes become very difficult to generate an Idea/Topic on which he can write a Quality Content and also deliver it to the readers effectively.
You have come with a beautiful post containing lots of sources for generating new ideas. I was not familiar with many of your shared resources.
These resources are worth trying for and are very helpful for writers like us.
Thanks for publishing this amazing post.
With regards, Saurav
Hey Saurav,
Thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed it.
It is tough to generate ideas from time to time like yo said, and that’s why I truly believe what I shared here can be ultra helpful to those that struggle with those ideas. Or coming up up with it at least.
Andrew
Arpit Roy
July 10, 2016 at 04:42
Hi Andrew,
Wow! This is SOME resource that you have come up with. I really liked the post as I got a plethora of ideas to ponder on and implement.
Appreciate the effort put in by you in writing this very useful post. Have a great day ahead!
Thanks
Hey Arpit,
Thanks for the comment.
Glad you enjoyed this resource of ideas. And glad you got a few ideas from it as well.
Andrew
Kunal Mehta
July 18, 2016
Hi Andrew,
this is a huge post with in-depth research. So much to consume here. Very impressed.
Thanks
Hey Kunal,
Thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed it.
Andrew
Brent Jones
July 26, 2016 at 11:36
Hi Andrew,
I thought I had commented on this post already! Damn. Looks like I missed it somehow.
Expanding on subheadings, taking a look at Udemy courses, checking out conference agendas… these ideas are brilliant, and mostly all new to me.
This post is a rare example of truly unique, original, helpful and engaging content.
Nice job!
Brent
Hey Brent,
No worries. I wanted to add some things that weren’t the traditional (brainstorm, etc.) These are some ideas that I use religiously. And they work. Thanks for stopping by.
Andrew
Daniel J. Chappell
August 2, 2016 at 10:34
This is quite the article. You chalked it full of value, Andrew. Nice job! Planning each year is one of the best ways to take bite-sized chunks into marketing strategies, but rarely will small businesses take the time or know the steps. This post should be used as a rule of thumb each year at the planning retreat. Well done!
Hey Daniel,
Thanks for the comment.
I really did try to add a lot of vale on this one. Planning out your content is a smart choice. That’s something I’m doing with a project I’m tackling now.
Andrew
Alize Camp
August 4, 2016 at 23:03
There is a point that I have used before to find new ideas for content creation. That’s use Udemy and some other online courses. In the past, I was running a how-to website. So Udemy is a great place to find new ideas to write about. Sometimes, I use SEMRUSH to scan the whole site (Udemy) and find keywords that have much search. This is a simple and quick method to have targeted keywords.
Hey Daniel,
Thanks for the comment.
I really did try to add a lot of vale on this one. Planning out your content is a smart choice. That’s something I’m doing with a project I’m tackling now.
Andrew
Donna Merrill
August 7, 2016 at 11:52
Wow Andrew!
I’m speechless and that doesn’t happen a lot. You have done such a great job with this post, it should be a number one eBook! You fully explained so much here I really don’t know where to start with my reaction to it.
But if I was to choose just one thing it would be keeping things simple and asking your audience what do they need to know. It is amazing how much content one can write from a few questions people will ask. And of course keeping things simple to understand is a must. We have to consider when writing that we want something someone can take away and act upon.
Fabulous! Now I have to go off and share this.
Edward Thorpe
August 8, 2016 at 13:06
Hi Andrew!
Loved this post about different ways to discover content ideas to blog/write about.
Admittedly, this is a longish, detailed post, yet with all the ideas and examples you shared, I was able to read it in sections. Doing so allowed me to field test a few of your strategies – before moving on to the next one.
Using your strategy for searching Facebook, I found 4 groups in my niche that I didn’t know about. After skimming through some of their posts, I figure it would take me months to cover the content ideas that blinked at me during my brief look.., I don’t know about you, but that’s exciting to me!
Great tutorial. Would make a terrific Kindle book. Thanks
Gary Campbell
August 9, 2016 at 07:58
That was an awesome post! I went to Udemy and I am so hooked!! I was totally looking for something like that last year and never found anything. You have saved my life Andrew! Also, I am so glad you mentioned BuzzSumo. I wanted to know what the paid subscription offered but could not really find out anything on BuzzSumo. Thank you again for this amazing list!
Paul Bola
August 23, 2016 at 05:32
Content creation is very important for any website, it’s is like backbone for any business, Here are few reasons why content creation are important: Name recognition: At the very least, the click through to view your content, should provide you with another opportunity to instill name recognition so that you or your company is at their top of mind when they are in need of the types of products and services you provide. Provides your readers a benefit: Relationships work two ways. If they are are goings to spend time on your site, reading your content, you have to provide them with something in return. Education or entertainment are the two most popular exchanges for time. Content can build relationships: When readers invest time in perusing your content the know, like, trust factor grows. They feel like they know you, hopefully they like you and if your content is quality, they will develop trust for you and your services. Good, consistent content can be so much more than a single blog post. It can be reused as a book, an e-book, social media shares, images, videos, slideshows or infographic. How you use your content is only limited by your imagination and the ability to stretch it. Content allows you to establish, share, and strengthen your brand. Consistently good content establishes your authority on your pertinent subject: For example, if you are a real estate agent sharing information about your area, readers will begin to understand that you know those neighborhoods. If you share home care tips, they’ll realize you will be an asset when looking at potential homes. Search engine optimization: Just as this works for human visitors, it also works for the robotic variety. Good consistent, content on topics around your industry, tells the search engines that you know what you’re talking about too. Search engines prefer quality content and are more likely to share it on their platforms.