Top Tips to Train Your Brain to Come up With Creative Content

You know how important content is. You know it’s the key to adding value to your site, and getting those coveted conversions. You know it’s the difference between search engine obscurity, and being found by potential customers. So why is it so darn hard to come up with content ideas?
You’re not alone. Anyone who creates content, whether for a living, or to enhance their affiliate or e-commerce site, runs into this problem. The good news is, you can train yourself to come up with creative content ideas. It’s just a matter of paying attention
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Read

This should go without saying, but if you’re not reading other blogs in your vertical, you’re missing out on a goldmine of content idea opportunities. No, this isn’t to say you should be copying anyone. But haven’t you ever read a post and felt the author missed an important point, or left out one thing that would have made a good list great? There’s your content idea—what others miss.
Just remember to be nice and cite the source. If you make your post more of an addendum rather than a “here’s what you did wrong,” you stand a better chance of positive reception and shares, not to mention building a relationship with a colleague.

Watch the News

Whether you tune into the national evening news broadcasts, or you subscribe to a news website, at some point, a content opportunity will present itself. For example, say your site sells baby accessories, everything from toys to clothing to cribs. Then one day, you hear about a manufacturer recalling a certain crib because of injury reports.
First, check to make sure you’re not selling that crib, and if you are, remove it, or turn off the ability to buy it, and add an alert to the listing for those who may come to your site searching for it. Second, add alerts about the recall to your home page, and your crib product page. And finally, write an article informing your customers about the recall, and offering them safer alternatives. New parents need cribs, and if you can help them make a better, more educated choice that helps keep their babies safe, you’ll gain authority and probably a few loyal customers.

Don’t Think About It

This may sound counterintuitive at first, but you know how the harder you try to remember something, or come up with an idea, the more of a blank you draw? The minute you stop trying so hard, and just turn your attention to other things, your mind will begin cooperating with you, and eventually, an idea will pop into your head. Now, this isn’t to say you should completely ignore your site and not ever think about potential topics. Just take it down a notch. Be open to ideas coming from unexpected places.
Sometimes, the opportunities will be obvious to you. Does your site sell wedding-related products? Then the next time you go to a wedding, pay attention to how they did things. Were the favors popular? Did people comment on the table centerpieces? Was the wedding invitation quirky or unusual in a way that got people talking? Those are all ideas not just for content, but for products you may want to add.
Or, you may be somewhere so far removed from the kind of site you run, you’re not actively looking for ideas, but if you’re keeping an open mind, good ideas may present themselves. Maybe you’re at Home Depot or Lowe’s one day, and you see a couple putting together their wedding registry. There’s an article for your site—the ten most popular wedding registry requests.
The point is, there’s a happy medium between trying to force ideas out of nowhere, and not trying so hard that you end up with writer’s block. Just keep your eyes and your mind open, be ready to recognize those opportunities when they show up, and you’ll never run out of creative content ideas.