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Online marketing relies on content. Yet, even for the most creative business owner, sometimes the well of content marketing ideas runs dry. In these cases, you need a few simple ways to create fresh content. Here are some ideas:
Use Top Headlines
Visit your favorite online news (or gossip) site and read the headlines. Use these headlines to spark some ideas for your next item of content. For instance, if I am a relationship coach, and I visit an online celebrity site, and find that yet another celebrity couple has split up due to infidelity, I might think of creating content around relationships and infidelity- how to tell if he’s cheating- how to tell if she’s cheating- how to confront your partner who is cheating- who should move out when infidelity is discovered- can your relationship be repaired after infidelity- and so on. You can see how one headline can create a range of content ideas. And if you were to create content for each of these questions, you would have a type of content series- which could be a series of blog posts, or an ecourse, or even the beginnings of an ebook- or all three. So using top headlines is one awesome strategy.
Read Books
It might seem like a funny idea, but reading more can help your mind become more creative – even if you read outside of your topic area by reading fiction. Reading for enjoyment can open creative portions of your mind that you may have had closed for a while. This is especially true if you’ve been super focused on your business and not doing much in the way of recreation. I try never to get that way, but sometimes it happens! Oddly, watching TV doesn’t help. Reading uses more energy and more of your brain, while watching TV uses less energy than sleeping.
Exercise
If you feel stuck, get out of the house and do some exercise. If it’s a nice day, take a brisk walk around your neighborhood; if it’s not a nice day, go to an indoor mall or gym to walk around and don’t think about your business at all. Just think about breathing, and how your arms and legs feel while moving. A ten-minute brisk walk focusing only on your breathing and movement can open your creative mind faster than almost any other activity. I get some of my best ideas each week when I walk the treadmill after my personal training sessions.
Reuse, Repurpose and Repeat
If you’ve been blogging for a long time, it’s likely that you feel like you’ve said it before. Well, if you posted about something five years ago, it’s likely out of date. Take a little time once a week or so, or if you’re stuck for ideas, and go back to an old blog post. Rewrite it and update it, especially if the advice is now old or irrelevant. Add some new affiliate links to it, spruce it up. In addition, you can take a bunch of old blog posts, move them to a Word document, edit and create an eBook. Any way that you can make the old new again, is a good way to create fresh content.
Finally, remember to keep a note pad, or use your smartphone to write down ideas as they come to you. Don’t believe for one moment you’ll remember it later. Even if you’re in the shower and come up with an idea, get out and write it down before it goes away. By tracking all your ideas, you’ll easily be able to sit down anytime you have the time, look at your list of ideas and create fresh content on demand.
