Pa. one of worst 5 places in US to start a business

For many Pennsylvanians, the findings of a recent study confirm what they already know: Pennsylvania can be a difficult state to start a business.WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked Pennsylvania as one of the five worst states to start a business in their nationwide rankings for 2018.“Not to diminish what anyone has but starting and running a business is a really difficult thing,” said Valerie Case, Vice President of Operations and Development for [...]

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The Top 15 Ways to Come up with New Content Ideas

I write a ton of blog posts for my websites.

Writing has become a major part of my life throughout the years.

People recognize this and often ask me the same question: How do you come up with these new ideas?

Truthfully, writer’s block happens to all of us. Just ask any writer, and they’ll tell you the same thing.

Sometimes you sit down, and the words don’t spill onto the page as easy as you’d like them to. I can relate and empathize with you there.

That said, I don’t have much trouble coming up with new ideas. I came up with a system a while ago that made it easy for me to constantly source new topics to write about.

These strategies aren’t limited to blog posts.

They can be used to come up with content for research articles, podcasts, and ebooks. You can even use them to come up with ideas for your new video blog or whatever else you’re working on.

Here are the top 15 ways to source new content ideas.

1. Create topic lists in bunches

When you’re ready to write new content, you shouldn’t be sitting down to decide what you’ll write about.

This wastes time, and it’s inefficient.

I like to create long lists of potential topics all at once. Spend a few hours researching subjects for new ideas.

Give yourself enough topics for at least a month or two. If you’re publishing three posts per week, you’ll want to aim for at least 12 to 24 new ideas.

Sometimes, I come up with 50 topics at a time.

When your mind is focused on one task, it’s much easier to brainstorm. Come up with the ideas first. You can perfect the titles when you start writing.

This strategy will make it easier for you to pump out content. You’ll be able to pick a topic from your list and start writing.

2. Social media followers

Start with people who follow you on social media. Click on their profiles and see what they’re talking about.

Read through tweets. Check out photos. See what brands they are interacting with.

Some of these may lead to a dead end, but others can be extremely beneficial to your brainstorming process.

Plus, if you have tons of social media followers, you’ll always have a huge source of ideas.

You could even ask your followers directly. Post a question on your Instagram story, and ask for replies.

For example, let’s say you have a brand related to the fitness industry. Ask your followers a question about their favorite unconventional workouts or what meals help them lose weight.

The answers will help you come up with new content ideas.

3. Blog comments

Review the comments on all your posts. You should do that even when you’re not trying to come up with new ideas.

It gives you a chance to communicate with your audience. Always respond to their comments.

These comments can be a great source of inspiration. For example, here’s one of the comments from a recent post I wrote on the Neil Patel blog:

The reader makes some interesting points here. I could pull a few different concepts from this message to write about in the future.

As you can see, I responded to his comment as well.

If people ask questions in the comments section, those questions could be used as titles for a new topic. Just tweak a few words or so to make it SEO friendly.

Regardless of what your audience comments about, I’m confident you can generate at least one or two ideas from this section of each post you publish.

The great thing about this source is it’s nearly never-ending. As long as you keep publishing new posts, there will always be new ideas hidden in the comments.

4. Conduct interviews

How do you know what type of content your audience wants to see? Ask them directly to tell you.

Conduct interviews. Ask them about their habits.

The great thing about an interview is it doesn’t have to be direct. You don’t have to have a clear black and white question with a definitive yes or no answer.

Just find ways to get people talking.

You’d be surprised how interesting some of these statements can be. The responders may start feeding you new content ideas without even realizing it.

It’s in your best interest to record your interviews. That way, you can review them later instead of frantically trying to write things down while someone is speaking.

5. Competitor websites

If you’re not sure what to write about, check out your competitor’s blog. This is one of the best ways to come up with long lists of topics in bunches.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you to steal or plagiarize. But there is nothing wrong with using their titles and concepts for idea generation.

Look through their posts and start writing down topics you haven’t covered yet.

You have a huge advantage here because you can try to make your post about the same topic even better than theirs. For example, let’s say you’re using a top 10 list from a competitor’s blog as an inspiration for a new content idea. Well, you can try to one up them by creating a top 15 list on the same topic.

In addition to your competitor’s titles for new content ideas, you can also look at other aspects of their website.

Read through their comments section. You already did this with the comments on your website, so it makes sense there will be ideas buried in other sites as well.

See if they have an FAQ page on their site. These questions could all be ideas for the topics you can write about.

6. Google search suggestions

If you’ve got a general topic in mind, start searching for it on Google:

Look at all the suggested topics that come up when I type in “email marketing.”

These suggestions could all be topics to cover.

In addition to the search suggestions, you can also check out the related searches at the bottom of the page:

If you’re not sure what to search for to generate these suggestions, start with content titles you’ve already posted.

The reason why this is such a good strategy is because you know the topics will be relevant to your audience.

Plus, you can assume these new titles will be SEO friendly since you sourced them through Google.

7. Recent events

Depending on your brand, you may not want to be reporting breaking news.

It won’t speak to your audience, and it doesn’t fit with your company image.

But you can definitely come up with ways to get creative. When you’re watching the news or reading updates from an online source, try to figure out how you can make these topics relevant to your brand.

Look up local events or  national trade shows related to your industry.

Give your audience information about the event. Tell them what they need to know if they want to attend or register.

8. Product reviews

Think about recent products you’ve used related to your brand or industry.

You can review these topics in a blog post or video demonstration.

For example, let’s say you run a website related to camping and other outdoor adventures. If you go on a fishing trip and use a new pole, you could write about your experience with the new gear.

If your company is releasing a new product, use this method to build hype for a new product launch.

You could even write reviews for products you don’t own and never used. Just look up products online, and base your discussion around online customer reviews.

9. Topic generator platforms

If you’re still stuck and can’t think of anything to write about or research, use online sources to help you generate topics.

One of my favorites is the HubSpot blog ideas generator.

As you can see, it’s pretty simple.

Just add some keywords you want to include, and the tool will come up with a list of potential ideas.

In addition to the HubSpot tool, you can check out Portent’s content idea generator.

10. Personal stories

When in doubt, tell a story about something that happened to you.

It could be a success story. Or maybe tell your audience a story about a mistake you made.

How did you learn from it? How did you get to be where you are today?

It could be a recent story or one from the past. Master the art of storytelling.

Personal stories are great because they make your content unique. While people may have similar stories, the details of yours won’t be the same as anyone else’s.

11. Sign up for newsletters

Get content ideas delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up for industry newsletters. They’ll keep you up to date with trending topics, news, and events.

You can even sign up for competitor newsletters. See what they are discussing with their customers.

Use the topics covered in these emails to generate new content ideas.

12. YouTube videos

All businesses should have a YouTube profile. Use it to upload videos, and then share those videos on all your marketing channels.

But YouTube can also be a resource for coming up with new ideas.

Treat it the same way as a Google search, which I previously discussed. As you start to type in a subject, you’ll see suggestions.

When you watch a video, there will be related videos on the sidebar for you to consider as well.

Let’s say your brand is in the automotive industry. Here’s an example from the ChrisFix YouTube channel:

This video is about how to change the oil in a car. But look at the videos on the sidebar I’ve highlighted.

These related topics are about how to replace brake pads and how to repair rust on a car. Both of these are suitable new content ideas related to this industry.

In addition to finding topics based on the titles of videos, you can also watch some of them to find some inspiration within their content.

Just as you did with your website and the websites of your competitors, you’ll also want to read through the comments section of YouTube videos. Check out the comments on your videos as well as the videos you’re watching to help generate new ideas.

13. New products and technology

If your company sells something, writing content about a new product release is a win-win scenario.

I briefly mentioned this earlier when I talked about product reviews.

First, you’ll be able to generate a buzz for the release, which will ultimately help you drive sales. But it also gives you something to write about.

Furthermore, staying up to date with the latest technology trends can help you come up with new topics to cover.

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or what type of business you have, new technology is evolving everywhere.

There could be new software directly related to your business or just a general advancement in your industry. These are all scenarios to consider sharing with your audience.

14. Use data and analytics

Have you seen a recent study related to your brand or industry?

Write about it.

You don’t have to be the one conducting the research, although that would make the content even better. But to save time, you can use new data to write about a subject.

For example, let’s say you’re in the fashion industry. This new study may be something worth writing about:

Use this study to talk about fashion trends that don’t require wearing a tie. Or maybe share ideas about how to wear a loose tie with the top shirt button unfastened.

You could even share a video demonstration about how to properly tie a tie so that it’s not too tight around the neck.

All these ideas came from new facts in your industry.

15. Revisit previously published content

Your old content shouldn’t be dead and forgotten. Use those topics for ideas too.

Just re-work the titles, and write a newer post from a different angle.

For example, let’s say your company is in the field of mobile app marketing. If you had written a post about how to get ranked on the app store, a new topic could be how to boost your ranking to get more downloads.

Although the topics are similar, they are not quite the same.

Or let’s say you’re in the personal finance space. An old topic might have been about how to save for retirement. But you can take some of the content from that piece and write a new article about the best retirement accounts to invest in.

If an old post has outdated research, you can write a new one that includes the updated information.

Conclusion

While you may suffer from writer’s block from time to time, you should never be struggling to come up with new content ideas.

There are many resources at your disposal. Learn how to take advantage of them.

Come up with a long list of new ideas at once.

Go through this guide of tips and tricks, and you won’t have any problems.

What resources are you using to generate new content ideas?

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Handling Guilt After a Big Purchase

In this past Monday’s reader mailbag, I gave a brief answer to a question about an expensive watch purchase; you can go back and read my original answer here. That question, asked by a reader named Gerald, has stuck with me all week. Here’s his question again:

For the past several years, I have been saving up for a really nice watch like the one my grandfather wears and about a month ago I finally purchased a Longines Master Collection Chronograph. It is so beautiful and it is like a modern pairing to my grandfather’s watch. He was with me when I bought it and he is getting quite old so it might be one of the last things we get to do together because he lives 2,500 miles away.

The thing is beautiful to me and full of meaning but yet I can’t bring myself to wear it without feeling tremendously guilty about the $7000 I poured into it. I could have knocked off the rest of one of my student loans with that kind of money and instead I’m still making payments and paying interest. I should have been out of student loan debt at least before buying it and now when I look at it I think of my foolishness.

I can’t sell it and recoup the full value of what I paid for it but I can recoup most of it.

My initial response to Gerald was mostly oriented toward encouraging him to stick with the purchase, because it had intense sentimental value for him and he had planned carefully for it.

However, what stuck with me about Gerald’s question was the underlying guilt.

It doesn’t take much reading of Gerald’s message to clearly understand that he felt guilty for buying the watch. He’s a clear headed individual who could see what other things he could have done with that money, and the opportunity cost of that watch was getting to him.

Let’s be clear on what I mean by “opportunity cost.” Opportunity cost is an investment concept that refers to the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. We deal with opportunity cost all the time, albeit in a transparent way. For example, we face opportunity cost any time we choose to buy a non-essential item, because we could have done something else with that money. If I choose to buy a book, for example, the money invested in that book could have been used to buy a different book or something else entirely.

It is natural for a frugally minded person to think about opportunity cost, perhaps without even realizing it, when thinking about a purchase. It comes out when you ask questions like “Is this a good use of my money?” or “Do I really want this?” You’re simply wondering whether or not the thing you’re intending to spend money on is really a smart choice.

The thing is, consideration of opportunity cost often leads straight to a sense of guilt because you see other purposes for that money, ones that are tied to your long term goals, and those purposes seem really important. When you then cast a critical eye toward that non-essential expensive item that you’re considering, it’s really easy to feel as though you’re putting your money in the wrong place, and when you feel as though you’ve done that with a healthy amount of money, you feel guilt.

How do you address that guilt, then? If this is a normal thought process of a price-conscious frugal person, how does a frugal person ever not feel guilty about a big non-essential purchase?

Here are four strategies that work well for me.

First of all, I budget for all non-essentials. If I’m making an expensive purchase of some kind, it’s because I budgeted carefully for it and the actual execution of that purchase is not going to disrupt any of my long term financial goals.

In Gerald’s case, he seems to have planned and budgeted for this purchase. He put aside money regularly for it and waited patiently until that money that had been put aside was enough to buy the watch he was eyeing.

This strategy takes away the argument that an expensive non-essential purchase is somehow disrupting my financial future. It’s not. My financial future is still fully on track.

Second, I understand that occasional splurges or extravagances are not inherently a bad thing. I am not doing something wrong by splurging on occasion. An occasional splurge opens our lives to a wider variety of human experience, both in terms of the splurge itself (which is outside of the norm of our life) but also in terms of the anticipation and the aftermath of the experience.

In Gerald’s case, this splurge has particular meaning because of the association with his grandfather. It is an item that is definitely outside of the norm of his life and is also imbued with a great deal of personal meaning.

By focusing on the benefits of the occasional extravagance, this strategy takes away the argument that the purpose you’ve chosen for the money is somehow wasteful. An occasional splurge that offers a unique divergence from the norm, one that’s buffered by planning and anticipation and appreciation, is a worthwhile part of human experience and not a bad thing in and of themselves.

Third, I very carefully consider big purchases before diving in. Is this really a good item that matches exactly what I want rather than something I’m nudged into by marketing? Have I thoroughly researched the exact item and know exactly what I want? Is this a good price for the item? Asking and then answering these questions helps me to be sure that the purchase I’m considering is actually a sensible purchase and that I’m not wasting money on something I don’t truly want.

In Gerald’s case, he clearly researched his watch purchase extensively. He knew exactly what he wanted and (I assume) he looked around for a good price for that item, likely in concert with his grandpa. It’s what he wanted, he was confident in the quality of it, and he found a good price on it (I assume).

This strategy goes a surprisingly long way toward scratching my sense of frugality. If I know that this is a well considered purchase, then my sense of making a mistake declines drastically.

Finally, I evaluate the reality of how much I’ll use this item or how much this experience will impact me. This is a surprisingly important part of the equation. If I am not sure that I will use an item a lot, then I do not buy the expensive version of that item. I go for the cheap version, see how much I use it, and then upgrade as I see a reason to once I become more experienced with its use. For experiences, this is a bit trickier, but my strategy here is to simply maintain an ongoing “bucket list” of experiences that I want to have and aim for splurges from that list, because those experiences are usually ones that I’ve considered and know that they will have some real impact on me.

For Gerald, he’s buying an item that he has experience with and that he’s confident that he’s going to actually use and appreciate. He appears to be a bit of a watch aficionado and he is considering a watch that will last a very, very long time, thus it is something that he will use for a very long time. It will not only tell time for him, but it will remind him of his grandfather, a person Gerald seems to cherish. It passes the test of whether he’ll use it or not.

This strategy really cuts into the sense that this is a frivolous use of my money. If I truly understand that this splurge is something that I’ll use, that will have a meaningful resonance in my life, then it begins to feel more worthwhile in the big scheme of things.

These four strategies work in concert. If I understand that this was budgeted for and that I can afford it, that it really is okay to splurge on occasion, that this is a well-researched purchase, and that it will have a positive and lasting impact on my life, I usually feel good about an occasional extravagance. It’s when one or more of those factors fall away that I begin to feel like I’m making a mistake, and it’s that sense of a mistake that begins to produce guilt.

My advice to Gerald is to carefully walk through each of those four strategies on his own and consider each of them. It is my strong impression that he’s living up to all four of those strategies and I believe that, if he considers all of them together, he’ll feel much better about making that purchase without a sense of guilt.

My advice to you, if you’re struggling with guilt over a major purchase, is to follow this same framework. Budget for it, do some homework, make sure it’s something that will really have impact, and then do it with the understanding that an occasional splurge is fine.

Good luck!

The post Handling Guilt After a Big Purchase appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Keep Your Data Off The Dark Web: Economic News You Can Use

Is your credit card information floating around the dark web, waiting to be sold to a criminal? That's increasingly likely. Learn how to protect your data.

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