Your Topic List
To write a successful blog we need topics to write about, and that is where a topic list comes in.
Choosing which content to write can seem like a difficult task – with so many possible topics you’re probably asking yourself which ones should I choose?
The answer to this is – write what your audience is asking for, which seems pretty logical, right!
So, how do we know what our audience wants?
Our trusty little side-kick Google can help us out here – let me show you.
How to make a topic list
Open up a Spreadsheet or Word document and save it as ‘Topic List’ – this will be where you save ALL your future blog post topics.
The first thing we want to do is Google search your micro-niche – so, for me it is:
Luxury Solo Travel
Now look at what Google returns – I want you to search through the various websites which have been populated and head into each of their blog pages – what are they writing about?
The first website we come across is Abercrombie & Kent – I head over to their Blog and see what posts they have, read through the posts and ask myself:
Which blog posts did I find interesting/engaging?
How could I better any of the blog posts?
What information did I think was missing?
Does reading through the website give me inspiration for other blog post ideas?
Look through the rest of the website – give it an audit – what does it do right? what doesn’t it do that well?
Add any blog post ideas into your topic list.
Choose the next website and repeat the process.
Take your time searching through various websites and start to make a good list of topics to write about in your ‘Topic List’
Quora Search
Another great way to find topics is to head over to Quora.com
In the search bar type a topic you want to search about – and then once the results come back click on the left hand menu where it says By Type and select ‘Questions’ and you’ll get a load of questions people are asking about your topic.
Any relevant questions that make good blog post ideas add them to your ‘Topic List’
Feel free to change the question up slightly – how can you better the question or make it more relevant?
Find a Forum
The next way to find good blog post ideas is at Find a Forum which you can find here (Find a Forum)
I like to click on the categories link in the top menu and find my niche – for me it’s Travel – click on that and then you will be presented with a long list of travel forums.
Search through the different forums to find engaging topics about your niche and add any great questions to your ‘Topic List’
A question with multiple responses tends to be a good/popular topic.
Youtube Search
The next tip is to head over to Youtube and search a keyword – in this example it’s travel tips and see what populates in the search box.
In this example some good topics came out – use different keywords or phrases – even watch some content.
What blog ideas can you get from what’s inside the video?
Alphabet Search Method
Similar to the Youtube search method is the alphabet search method where we use Google to tell us what search queries people are searching for – let me explain.
Say I’ve come up with a topic for my blog and it’s about ‘Travel Hacks’ and I want to search which ideas around travel hacks people are searching for – well this is perfect for the alphabet search method – we simply type into Google ‘Travel Hacks a’ (your search query then leave a space then the letter A) and make a note of any good topics that are shown.
Now search ‘Travel Hacks B’ and then C, D and so on and so fourth.
Noting down all the interesting topics that come off that one search query into your ‘Topic List’ – and there you have it, a comprehensive guide for making a topic list.
Conclusion:
I hope your found this content useful and now feel competent creating your own topic list and writing a basic blog post answering the many questions your target audience have.
In the next lesson we’ll look at other types of blog post and how to write them.
See you there! 🙂