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What the heck should I write an article about?

By Jody Gabourie

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 24Feb2009
Word count: 530
Viewed: 235 time(s)

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Coming up with ideas for your articles doesn't have to be difficult. It's mainly a matter of keeping your eyes and ears open!

I have both an electronic folder and a hard-copy file where I collect ideas about what to write for my next article. If I read something interesting, or jot down a comment a client makes, or make note of a question that seems to keep popping up - I'll put these bits and bites into my folders. Then when it comes time to sit down and write, I've got some ideas to build on and get my creative juices going.

Of course, don't lose sight of the fact that whatever your content is going to end up being, it has to be something that resonates with, and is relevant to, your target or niche group. Otherwise the article won't be doing a good job of marketing you and your business.

Your article needs to educate and inform people and not be a self-promoting, glorified sales pitch about your services and products.

I mentioned that it's important to keep both your ears and eyes open. Below are some places that you can get great ideas for your article content:

- When you're reading the morning newspaper, what news stories would be relevant to your audience?

- Watching the local or national newscast, what could be angled towards your clients and business?

- When reading magazines, books and articles that deal with your area of expertise and business, what do you disagree with? Agree with? Find missing? Find biased?

- What questions do your customers and prospects ask you?

- Check out websites that list upcoming teleseminars and see which topics you might write about

- What kinds of information and questions are people posting on online forums and message boards?

- What topics are Yahoo and Facebook groups talking about?

- When reading editorial calendars, what topics for articles come to mind?

- When browsing in bookstores (online or offline) look at the hot new books and see if any topics resonate with you and would be interesting or helpful to your target audience.

- When looking at other business's websites see what the topics of their articles are and read their testimonials to see what people are highlighting as important or valuable to them.

- What are people tweeting about on Twitter?

- What are people talking about and sharing on their Facebook posts?

- Check out some blogs that serve the same niche as you do and see if any of their topics might be something you could build on or take a contrarian view about.

As you can see, there are lots of different places you can get inspiration for content for your articles. The great thing is that you interact with these places as a normal part of your business day. You don't need to spend any time actually looking for ideas - just keep alert to something that appeals to you and you think would appeal to your prospects and clients. Jot it down or copy it into your Article Ideas folder...and you'll be ready the next time you sit down to write a great article!

Jody Gabourie, The Small Business Marketing Coach, teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs how to take action with their marketing in order to get more results and more profits. To learn all about her unique "done-for-you" ebooks called Ready Made Marketing Plans™ and to sign up for her FREE special report, ezine and articles, visit her site at http://www.JodyGabourieMarketingCoach.com

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