Marketing · 3 min read
Where to Find Content Ideas When You've Run Dry
Short answer
Reliable sources of content ideas include questions from customers and support, search queries, questions people post on X in your field, your own curated links and comments, your best old posts, and mistakes or decisions from your own work.
Key takeaways
- The best ideas are questions people already ask. Collect them as they come in.
- X search with a question mark and your topic finds real questions in minutes.
- Your curated links show what you care about. Long comments are often drafts.
- Keep an idea list so you never start from a blank page.
Running out of ideas usually means you've stopped collecting them. Ideas are everywhere in day-to-day work; the trick is catching them before they disappear. Here are eleven sources that keep producing.
Where do the best ideas come from?
From questions people already ask, because a piece that answers a real question has a reader waiting.
- Support and sales questions. Every question asked twice is a post. Ask colleagues to forward them.
- Search queries. Google Search Console shows what people searched before landing on your site. Questions in that list are ready-made topics.
- Questions on X. Search your topic with question words and
-filter:linksto find people asking, not sharing. For example:"content calendar" (how OR why OR what) -filter:links lang:en. - Comments and replies. Questions under your own posts, and under posts by others in your field.
What about your own work?
Decisions, mistakes and processes from your work are original material nobody else has.
- A decision you made and why: a tool you chose, a plan you dropped.
- A mistake and what you'd do differently.
- A process you repeat, written as steps.
- Numbers you tracked, even small ones, with context.
How can curation help?
Your curated links and comments show what you care about, and long comments are often first drafts.
- Your share history. Scroll your last month of shared links. Where did you write more than a line? Where did you disagree? Each is a topic you have something to say about.
- Your crate's Top results. Open your crate on Top with a 30-day range. Topics that keep coming up are what your field is talking about. Look for the angle nobody has covered.
- Your best old posts. Update them, or write the follow-up: "One year later", "What changed", "The advanced version".
| Source | Effort | Originality |
|---|---|---|
| Support questions | Low | High (your customers) |
| Search queries | Low | Medium |
| X questions | Low | Medium |
| Your mistakes and decisions | Medium | Very high |
| Curated link comments | Low | High |
| Old post follow-ups | Medium | Medium |
How do you keep ideas from slipping away?
Keep one list, add to it daily, and prune it monthly.
A note on your phone or a document is enough. Write the idea as a question or a headline, plus one line on the angle. Once a month, delete what no longer interests you and move the best three to the top. When it's time to write, pick from the top and draft headlines with the Headline Swapper.
If you're unsure which format suits an idea, 12 blog post types helps you match the idea to the reader's need.
How do you turn an idea into a piece quickly?
Write the headline, the short answer and three section questions before anything else.
An idea on a list is only a topic. Turning it into a draft goes faster if you skip straight to structure. Write a headline that names the reader or the result. Write the one or two sentences that answer it for someone in a hurry. Then write three questions a reader would ask next; those become your sections.
At that point you know whether you have enough to say. If the short answer is obvious and the questions are thin, the idea might be a single post on X rather than an article. If the questions keep coming, it might be two pieces.
Questions
How do I find questions people ask on X?
Search your topic with a question word, for example 'onboarding (how OR why OR what) ?', add -filter:links to find posts without links, and set a language. Questions with several replies are often good topics.
How many ideas should I keep in reserve?
Twenty or so is comfortable. More than that and the list gets stale; prune it monthly.
Is it OK to write about a topic someone else already covered?
Yes, if you add something: your own example, a different reader, more depth. Credit and link to the earlier piece where it helped you.
What if every idea has already been covered?
Most have. Look for a reader the existing pieces ignore, a step they skip, or your own example. Any of those is enough to make a piece worth writing.