How to brainstorm ideas for content

If you want to come up with a bunch of topics for your website or newsletter, you’ll need to brainstorm ideas for content. There are many different ways you can do that and I’ll explore a few of those. But today we’re going to use one called All About Me.

The All About Me method to brainstorm ideas for content

Okay, so you’ve sat down in front of a nice shiny blank piece of paper. Across the top you’ve written “ideas for content”.

Now what?

What does it even mean to brainstorm ideas for content?

The main mistake people make at this point is to go too broad. I talked about this in a previous post, about what makes a good topic for content. As I mentioned then, you need to get really specific. Simply writing down “personal trainer” is not good enough for a topic.

What does make a good topic for content is something that can be summed up in one sentence. And the best way to find that sentence is to ask yourself some questions. Here are 15 to get you started.

  • What am I good at?
  • What am I best at?
  • When it comes to my business or personal brand, what do I love to do?
  • What are my hobbies, and how do they connect to my business or brand?
  • What do people ask me about all the time?
  • What do I wish people would ask me?
  • What do I wish I knew about this business 1 year ago, 2 years ago, 5 years ago?
  • What do people rely on me or my business for?
  • What do I wish for my customers?
  • What do my clients say about me?
  • How do I delight my customers?
  • How do I make the lives of my customers or clients better?
  • What are my values?
  • How do I contribute to the industry or my community?
  • What do I want to do next?

The goal here is to try to have a different answer for every question. Yes, really. And just like in school, remember to answer in complete sentences.

For example, let’s say you’re a personal trainer.

  • What am I good at?

I am good at providing personalised training and fitness plans for busy people.

  • What am I best at?

I am damn good at getting people to achieve their goals.

  • When it comes to my business or personal brand, what do I love to do?

I love to watch people transform their lives, and to be a part of that.

  • What are my hobbies, and how do they connect to my business or brand?

In my spare time I love to cook, so I enjoy sharing my recipes with my clients or on my social media.

And so on.

And now the how

Once you’ve done that, you need to go through all those sentences, and answer one more question. It’s the same for each answer.

How?

How do I know this? Or, how do I demonstrate this?

I am good at providing personalised training and fitness plans for busy people.

How do I know? Because my business has grown from 0 to 15 clients in just 3 months, entirely by word of mouth.

I am damn good at getting people to achieve their goals.

How do I know? Because two of my clients have already drastically improved their health, while another one is thinking about moving into amateur bodybuilding.

I love to watch people transform their lives, and to be a part of that.

How do I show this? One of my clients messaged me after a doctor’s appointment to say that his blood pressure had improved; at the next session we had a huge high five. And then I worked his arse off some more.

In my spare time I love to cook, so I enjoy sharing my recipes with my clients or on my social media.

How do I show this? Just follow me on Instagram! It’s great when my clients tell me that they’ve tried out one of my recipes.

Now put it all together

You may have noticed that you’ve already got the beginnings of some good content ideas. Okay, not all of those are going to work. But let’s take a look at what we have so far and how we can turn them into article headlines.

Celebrating my 15th client – it’s been a wild ride!

How a regular fitness plan reduced Brian’s blood pressure

So proud as Janice joins amateur bodybuilding league

So your health has improved? Keep going!

5 fast high protein recipes for people with no time

Not all of these headlines are optimised for SEO – but not everything has to be. Your site or newsletter is also about sharing your stories, successes, highlights, services, etc.

Next steps – write the damn article

Hopefully now that you’ve sat down to brainstorm ideas for content, you’ve got 10 – 15 headlines on your paper.

So now it’s time write the damn article.

Yep, there’s no getting around it! You will have to actually write the content. Don’t be afraid. You’ve got a really great headline, something about yourself that you should be proud of. Choose the one that seems the easiest and start there.

I’ll talk about fear of the blank page in another post, but hopefully this is enough to get you started for now.

Happy writing!


Still find the idea of writing content too hard? Get in touch – I can help you out 🙂

xNat.

Nat Newman

Nat Newman is an award-winning writer of short stories, podcasts, feature articles, ghostwritten books, drunk text messages and a novella. She is also an actor, voice artist, tour host and creative writing tutor.

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