How to Come Up with a Year’s Worth of New Content in 20 Minutes or Less

Content Creation—For whatever reason, this little phrase intimidates more small and large businesses in this world than maybe any other. But the question is why? Why do so many companies find it difficult to come up with ideas for their next blog article, video project, or free report.

Well, to put it simply, most businesses are over-thinking this process. In other words, they’re not thinking like average-Joe customers. They believe a blog article is some groundbreaking story that requires intensive thought and preparation.

Again, this is crazy.

So let’s stop this pattern today. Let’s come up with a system that any business in the world can use to start producing tons of new ideas for new blog articles right now. Are you ready?? Here goes….

How to Come Up With a Year’s Worth of New Content in 20 Minutes or Less

Although I could go into great detail as to the essential keys to unlimited blog ideas and articles for your business, I’m just going to give 2 easy-to-follow and succinct points here (And please note, I’ve used this technique many, many times with many, many clients and it has always worked, no matter the business or niche).

1. Write down on a sheet of paper EVERY question a prospect/customer has ever asked you.

I know, you may think this sounds odd, but it’s an incredible strategy for helping marketers to start to think like consumers and develop a long-tail keyword strategy at the same time. When you do this exercise, don’t take the time to edit—just write, and write as fast as you can. If you can have someone or a group (like all those folks that you employ ) brainstorm consumer questions with you, then even better.

Once you’ve written down as many questions as possible (25 minimum or you’re just either being lazy or your brain is not working), you now have the actual blog titles for all of your articles. For example, if you come up with 30 consumer questions, and you post 2 blogs every week, that means you have roughly 3 months worth of excellent blog articles.

Sound pretty simple? Well it is, it’s just that many people make out the process of content creation much more difficult than it needs to be. Whenever I’ve done this exercise in the past with companies, we often come up with over 100 questions, within little or no time at all. And do you know what else, the process of brainstorming  future blog articles in a team-effort setting is pretty dang fun!

2. Focus on Negative Phrases consumers will ask when considering the product

Not sure what negative phrases are? If not, it’s time to learn, because they are an essential key to long-tail domination and will work wonders for your blog’s organic search results.

Let’s assume you sell concrete swimming pools. A few example of ‘negative’ articles would be:

• Top 5 Consumer Complaints Regarding Concrete Swimming Pools
• Top 5 Problems and Solutions of Concrete Swimming Pools
• What are the Pros and Cons of Concrete Swimming Pools?
• Are Concrete Swimming Pools Bad?
• Read 5 Very Interesting Customer Reviews Regarding Concrete Swimming Pools

Hopefully you’re seeing my point here and how the pattern works. When I explain this pattern to business owners, rarely do they understand it at first. In their minds, why would it do any good to even mention the negatives of a product? Although I do see why this would initially be a concern, you must remember these two keys:

• Consumers are going to search for these phrases whether you like it or not. That’s what they do.
• By addressing a product’s supposed drawbacks, problems, etc; you can actually beat your competitors to the punch and explain fully the good, bad, and ugly of a product—thus lending you massive credibility and thwarting the efforts of those that might talk down your product.

Hopefully you understand these two simple steps and will now apply them to your company’s content marketing campaign. I can assure you as you follow these steps, you will be amazed at just how many new ideas and articles come rushing to your mind. Not only will this prevent writer’s block and frustration, but it will also lay the pattern to huge traffic results and respect from consumers and search engines alike.

Liked this article, then see why so many Inbound Marketers follow Marcus Sheridan’s popular blog, The Sales Lion.

About the author:

Marcus Sheridan, along with his two partners, owns River Pools and Spas, a HubSpot client and one of the largest inground swimming pool companies in the country. You can follow Marcus’ innovative sales and inbound marketing strategies for small businesses at his incredibly popular blog, The Sales Lion. Marcus was a guest during this year's first blogging webinar.