We all know that creating great content isn't easy. It's hard enough to generate relevant topic ideas, let alone execute on them. Luckily, there are many online tools that can help you ideate quickly and effectively. Here are four free tools for generating relevant and engaging content ideas.
Google's Keyword Tool will take a base keyword or keyword phrase and make suggestions for related keywords and long-tail phrases.
Since the tool gives you an idea of how competitive the phrase is, as well as an estimate of global and local monthly searches, you can make an educated decision on how well the content will perform.
A Google account or @gmail.com address is needed to access the account, but a specific AdWords account or campaign is not required.
2. Quora
In addition to participating in the question/answer activity, Quora is a great site to data mine for content ideas. Topic questions make for excellent blog titles, and you can be sure that the content will be relevant since a real human is seeking the answer.
3. Übersuggest
Übersuggest operates similarly to Google's Keyword Tool, with the addition of multiple nested layers per suggested keyword. Übersuggest first takes your base keyword and makes suggestions of phrases from every letter of the alphabet. Each suggestion can be unpacked for long-tail phrases.
4. Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is perhaps the least labor-intensive method of generating content ideas, and perhaps the most full-proof in terms of relevancy. Ask your community to submit questions directly via email or social media, and create content that answers those questions. This approach lends itself particularly well to video. If you can personalize the content, the chances of it being shared by the original solicitor will increase.
Between these four tools, you should be able to generate dozens of blog titles and topics for downloadable content like white papers and eBooks. Once you're ready to put pen to paper, check out our Guide to Enterprise Blog Post Optimization.