Article Ideas for Entrepreneurs: 8 More Sources
Like everything else in life, writing thought leadership content is easier when it's automated.
Hear me out!
This doesn't mean getting an AI to write your articles. It means arranging for article ideas to come to you, instead of stalling out searching for an idea each time you're ready to publish.
Setting up systems to gather ideas is easier than you might think, and leads to a smooth writing process.
Here are eight endless sources to fill your idea pipeline:
- Spend a couple of hours, one time, setting up tools to gather industry news. Feedly is a news aggregator that can learn what's important to you and flag those stories. Twitter lists and LinkedIn groups are also great sources of hot-off-the-press info. Anything that happens in your field can spur you to offer your opinion or vision in article form.
- Get a knowledge base started for your company. A knowledge base is a repository for all that stuff that isn't quite ready for prime time yet, but ought to go into a development pipeline for later. Everyone in the company can contribute. Bonus: There's a template you can download.
- Use your project management system (Asana, Trello, etc.) to collect ideas. This blog post from GrooveHQ has a clever breakdown for companies using Trello, but the same principle could be applied to any PM system or software. You can even get Zapier to create cards for you! And creating a repository of ideas in a PM system allows you to open your ideas up to your team, asking for their input and feedback.
- Find out what people want to read. Use tools like BuzzSumo, Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, Moz, or Google Trends to determine what your audience is searching for and why. Then fill that need with your expertise.
- Get ideas from your team. If you've set up a knowledge base or project management system (see #s 2 and 3 above), you're already on your way. But even informal chats with employees over lunch can provide fodder (pun intended) for your articles.
- Get ideas from your customers. Obviously you won't ask a customer what you should write about, but the customer input you already collect by monitoring social media, sending out surveys, and answering questions for clients can provide valuable insight into what's top of mind for your audience.
- Start with one of these 20 timeless business article prompts as a starting point for a new piece. Example: "What's one dangerous myth others have about your industry?" These questions can be used for dozens of articles; just remember to drill down on ONE topic per article. The more focused you are, the better.
- Take notes at your next industry event. Attending a conference with world-class speakers? Speaking at a conference or event yourself? Make time to attend breakout sessions and talks that interest you. These might provide fodder for an article ("4 Lessons From X Event"), or simply kick your brainstorming into high gear.
The ideas are out there. Use these eight tips to gather them so they are ready when you need them.
