One of the seemingly biggest obstacles for some people seems to be a concern over how difficult it is to write useful, compelling Web copy.
In all of the various SEO Workshops that I have taught over the years, there is usually at least one person in class who expresses how difficult it is writing original Web copy that is also engaging.
From I hear, “I’m just not a writer” or “It’s too hard writing.”
In today’s post, I wanted to share an “idea checklist” to give you a range of various easy ways to get started. You of course, are always best to write something that you know about or have experience with so that you can allow your dialog to be filled with examples of real and various helpful experiences.
The primary trouble for some is just where to get started and what type of content to create. So the following list is one that I hope will trigger a few real easy ideas, if you are either new, feeling challenged or just sometimes feel stuck.
John’s Idea Checklist For Writing Fresh Web Copy
- Write an article that shares your various success stories
- Write an article that shares your biggest challenges
- Do some research on Google Trends to find a hot, trending topic you that know about
- Write a detailed product review detailing what you like and dislike
- Conduct an interview with someone and create an article out of it
- Write a story that reveals a personal lesson you learned and how you learned it
- Take one of your success stories and break it down into a “case study”
- Do a “best case” study
- Do a “worst case” study
- Write an article that contains interesting, historical information (Using the word “when” may prove useful here)
- Write an article around a theme that is genuinely nostalgic
- Write a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page focused on something related to your business, that it seems like everyone is always asking you
- Write a “How to” type article sharing some of your expertise
- Create a “product comparison matrix – making it easy for readers to see how one product compares with others, at a glance
But what happens if you still get stuck?
Are there other easy ways to stimulate new ideas or still come up with fresh ideas? You may want try some of these:
Helpful Ideas For Stimulating Fresh Content Without Stress
- Take a break – get away from the computer – go for a walk. Of course, this may not work for everyone every time, but the idea is to change your routine. I can still remember in some of our earliest workshops, coming up with fresh ideas while strolling through the park at Disneyland
- A real good tip I learned from my friend Jerry West was that you should always carry a pocket journal. You just never know when you’ll come up with something fresh and new, but when you do – it is essential to write it down
- Another powerful way to stimulate creative thought is to connect with a friend who you know is creative and do some “brainstorming” together
- Invite someone you know to write for you as a “guest writer”
- One of the most powerful things that you can do to come up with fresh, original content ideas is to simply ask your readers
I hope you found some of these tips helpful and that you will be encouraged to keep on writing fresh content for your readers. After all, your readers will love it and keep coming back, but the search engine love content freshness too!
Update: Check out Barry Byers article, Improve Your SEO Work by Unleashing Your Creativity, for tips on creating new content.