How Do You Know WHAT Content To Write About - If Your Goal Is To Make Money!

[george]

I really appreciated todays topic on writing copy... but I wish we would have started on how to discover WHAT is worthwhile writing about - with a profitable business being the goal.

I know there are many business models, and they all require content, but there's only so many hours in the day, and, unless we're just writing for fun, I think it would be a good topic to see what methods people use to find WHAT is hot AND PROFITABLE to write about... We can all just write about what we know... but if what we know isn't profitable, and you're trying to make money, it's best we stop and talk about how to find profitable ways to write content.

So, let's "talk" about it... How do you know what to type in Wordtracker? Was it a hunch? or did you do some research? Where did you go to do that research? Did you see a tv informercial and checked to see how many people are buying that? Where did you go to check?

I'm doing some research on starting a blog called tipsNbuzz with the intention of having most articles lead to affiliate sites, free reports (to grow a list in a certain niche) or eventually to sell my own ebooks or rewritten PLR etc.

So let's discuss it!

[David Jackson]

I know there are many business models, and they all require content, but there's only so many hours in the day, and, unless we're just writing for fun, I think it would be a good topic to see what methods people use to find WHAT is hot AND PROFITABLE to write about... We can all just write about what we know... but if what we know isn't profitable, and you're trying to make money, it's best we stop and talk about how to find profitable ways to write content.

George, I think you're approaching this the wrong way. I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't approach writing content with the intention of making money. When I write content, my intentions are always to help the reader - to somehow make her life better. The fact of the matter is, just about any topic you can think of, someone is making money with it.

It's been my experience that if you put helping people first and foremost, and profits second, the money will usually take care of itself. So, don't worry about writing profitable content. Just worry about writing the best content you can that actually helps people.

If you do that, I promise you, the money will come.

David Jackson

[george]

I agree with you about writing content that helps people. My question is to those that are starting a business with the intent of making money. There are millions of topics to write about... My question is; what do people actually do to decide what to write about that would be more likely to convert into sales.

For instance. TipsNBuzz.com will be a site to help people find resources that helps them solve problems - instead of having to learn from their own mistakes all the time. My goal is to offer an overview of the problem, some insight I've researched and then recommend the best solution I've found (an affiliate site, an ebook I wrote, etc.

It will also be used to generate lists in various niches. My question is: how do I choose which subjects to write about first? How can I find the best topical subjects? - and the appropriate affiliate products that solve that subject?

I thought it would be good to find out what resources we're using to find the type of topics to write about...

[David Jackson]

My question is: how do I choose which subjects to write about first? How can I find the best topical subjects? - and the appropriate affiliate products that solve that subject?

George, I always write about things I know about. I know marketing, and that's what I write about. For me marketing is the best topic, because that's what I'm best at writing about. Conversely, the affiliate products I choose to promote are directly relevant to the articles I write.

David Jackson

[wlben]

Hey George:

I'm glad you ask the question and I agree with you completely. I've just learned some things recently that makes this very important, no mater what niche you are in.

Of course we all have read and heard that eZine is the best and most popular database of articles, but I didn't really know what that ment. I know they have a lot of visitors daily or monthly. Thats great but why do those people go there? What are they looking for? I assume that their looking for articles to answer a question or are looking for an article to post on there site because it shows some sign of inteligence on a subject that we have some commen interest in.

Well that might be alright for the other person in this world whose niche or interest is hummingbird foot band colors, like me, but how many people that are looking for insurance info or lawyers for DUI in Atlanta, GA are going to click on my link after reading my hummingbird article?

I also found out that it's not just readers that go to the top article sites. There are all of the little article sites that scrape the big ones for articles in top niches and they post them on there sites so people will come to there site to get good articles. One problem is they sometimes don't include the resorce box with the article so you don't get the link juice like you should.

So if I write an article on lawyers in Atlanta and put my hummingbird link in the resourse box then it may be plastered around on the web for links. Which is good. Right?

So where are some of the places we should go for this info on what we should write about that is important enough so people will look for it?

I know of Google Trends and have that set up on my Google Chrome but it's mainly people that shows up in the top ten. Theres a program that looks at all the eBay sales and gives a reports on that. It's not free though. Amazon comes out with a report now and then that tell's what people are looking for there, but I'm always wondering if that's what people are really looking for or is that what they have left over and want to push it?

SpyFu has a list of 50 topics that are the top in the search engines and that's free, but if you want to get down to the ones that are not quite as competive it cost a fee.

I was hoping that someone would have a site that is free that we could go to and see what niches are being looked at the most and they would offer free content for those niches and maybe even build the website for us and Oh yes send free traffic to it. Hummmm.

I can still walk to the mail box and collect the check. If I could just get someone else do the rest for free.....

I guess that's what defines me as still being a newbie. I still beleave it can happen. Don't you?????

warren

ps. Don't forget to keep your stick on the ice!

[DeirdreJ]

I think we all use different methods for locating a 'HOT' topic or trend. For me it can be noticing a gizmo that I see my 8 year old and her girlfriends playing with or just listening to the news or following some Twitter conversations. It is always different for me. It sounds like your question is more directed at finding a niche rather than content writing.

To address the content question, I agree with David. Write for your readers, not for the sale. Give your readers what you expect they would want to see when they arrive at your site. For instance on the TipsNBuzz.com site you could start with your end product in mind. example: You have a great affiliate product that will show your readers how to optimize their website or blog...write an article on the common problems faced by people who are trying to optimize their website or blog (being sure that the problems you note are things that your product can solve). Then, introduce the product and tell them why it would help.

If you already have traffic to the site then you can check your readers comments or poll them on the site or through your list. If you don't have traffic yet, check out Yahoo Answers and similar sites to see what questions people are asking. You can search by specific topics and see if anything is asked more frequently than others. Once you locate a hot 'problem' area you can base your content on that or test the keywords.

There are many places to find a BUZZ. Just test out different areas and see what works best for you.

Hope this helped a bit.

[Lynn Terry]

This thread is all over the place

Warren - I am not sure if you were serious about mixing topics (humming birds and lawyers). I got tickled with the way you ended your reply there, so forgive me if you *were* serious. Just to clarify - your articles should be on the same topic as your website. All of your content should be written to reach your target market.

George - I think your question is about finding trends or "hot markets". Not necessarily general niches, and not directly related to writing content. Is that correct?

I didn't cover trends & hot markets, or even keyword research in great depth, on today's webinar because the topic was "creating content with purpose" and tips on how to easily create different types of content. By now, everyone in that room should already have a website, or they are working on getting their first one online - so topics were already chosen.

About Trends - I use some of Deirdre's suggestions myself, keeping your ear to the ground, being in the right place at the right time, watching the offline media, intuition, etc.

For online research, I used to use http://buzz.yahoo.com quite a bit though it's now changed to being user driven (votes, like Digg).

Google Trends is worth checking out: http://www.google.com/trends
And Google Insights: http://www.google.com/insights/search/


On writing... I always write with traffic and profit in mind. That doesn't mean that I don't write to help my readers, but it does them no good if they can't find it. The numbers do have their place - specifically by optimizing for phrases with decent search volume, or by optimizing for multiple longtail keyword phrases so that you can reach more of your market.

Unless you're blogging for hobby, or writing for fun, your work should always have an objective. Whether that's to build your readership or your list, or sell product.

[ScottTousignant]

I never have an issue coming up with content. Sometimes I'll just hear two people talking about a fitness issue, or I'll be at a party and listen to conversations.

The news is always full of hot topics and I especially love reading the headlines in fitness magazines while I'm in the grocery check out isle.

I have google alerts set up for a list of keyword phrases too.

Plus, I get questions through email and instead of responding to the one person I will use that question and answer it in a blog post. I'll also get common questions in my support communities that I like to answer on my blog too.

I agree with Lynn, I almost always write with traffic and profit in mind. This isn't a hobby, it's a business. I love what I write and I always produce quality content that my readers love, but I'm doing it for profit.

Some people just love to blog and could care less about money... that's not me

[george]

Thanks for all the replies... I got a lot of good feedback - and appreciate it. It's sometimes overwhelming to know what you SHOULD be writing about so you won't miss a flood of natural search engine traffic, and I just wanted to know if there was any special way to know what people are searching for - at this moment. Lynn nailed it! Thanks Lynn... and to everyone else too... I'm new to forums and don't know if I'm just asking questions you've all answered already - so thanks for your patience.

[wlben]

This thread is all over the place

Warren - I am not sure if you were serious about mixing topics (humming birds and lawyers). I got tickled with the way you ended your reply there, so forgive me if you *were* serious. Just to clarify - your articles should be on the same topic as your website. All of your content should be written to reach your target market.

Hi Lynn:
I did some digging to conferm what I was told about mixing what you write about. I checked in the eZine forum and found others that have ask the question about writing about something different than they are linking to and the admin responder said it's ok as long as it goes to your own ".com domain name".

I'm sure you realize that one of the reasons for writing articles is the links that can be added to your site.

I guess that's enough.

Thanks for the work.

w.