The importance of good content cannot be underestimated when creating or upgrading your small business website. For a start, content plays a huge part in search engine optimisation (SEO), helping search engines decide who to send your way. Once people have arrived at your site, your content convinces them to buy from you. And if you post content that people find helpful or entertaining, they are likely to share it with their social networks, generating free advertising for your business.
The more often you update your site with good content, the more Google takes notice. But coming up with a continuous stream of quality content can be challenging. Here are a few tips for finding content ideas for your website.
Social media groups and forums
If you hang out in special interest forums (such as those on Reddit) or Facebook groups for any length of time, you’ll notice the same questions pop up over and over again. For example, on any given day in a houseplant group, you’ll likely see “what is this white stuff on my plant?” or “why are my plant’s leaves turning yellow?” asked repeatedly. If you sell plants or plant-related items, these kinds of subjects make fabulous blog topics. Try Reddit or Quora to see what people are asking about the products or industry you are involved in.
Instagram influencers
There’s content gold in the comments section of popular Instagrammers’ feeds. Are you following your competitors? It’s a great way to keep an eye on what they are doing, and if they aren’t already comprehensively answering the questions people ask them, you can do that on your website in the form of blogs, FAQs and infographics.
Surveys
Not sure what your customers want to know about your products or services? Ask them! Surveys are very simple to create for free in Google forms. For more info, check out our blog on best practices for customer surveys.
Ubersuggest
Free web app Ubersuggest has a content ideas tool that will show you the most popular topics online for any product or service, as well as the keywords those content pieces are using.
Google’s related searches section
If you Google your product or service and then scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll find Google’s related searches feature, displaying the most-searched similar topics.
Tutorials and explainers
People love tips, tricks, hacks, and how-tos. If you’re selling cameras, you could post blogs about shot composition or the best way to back up your photos. Or if you’re selling dried fruits, you could share creative ways to use them in recipes. Maybe you’re selling bed linen, why not make a YouTube tutorial demonstrating the best way to fold a fitted sheet? Not only will your customers find this content helpful, but it will show them that you are a trustworthy subject matter expert.
Case studies
Often, a customer’s biggest question about your product or service is, “what’s in it for me?” Case studies illustrate how what you’re selling works in a real-life scenario. If you’ve received great feedback from a client, ask if they would mind you using their experience as a case study.
We hope this guide has provided plenty of inspiration for your website’s content, but if you’d like some extra help, get in touch!
