Does anyone help have this problem? I run http://getcredit365.net and I seem to have a huge problem finding topics to write about, it doesnt seem to be writing the actual article thats the problem, more of... Finding something to write about.. Does anyone have any suggestions on finding things to write about, especially in the credit card field? I want to find something that is important and genuinely useful to my visitors..
How to get credit card if you have bad credit. How to avoid late fees. How to get lower interest rate on credit card. Credit card fees. What to look for in a credit card. what to watch out for. Read local paper i am sure they are talking about how people are so in debt right now. Between paper and news programs on tv you should be able to find a few topics.
One idea is to visit some credit card forums to find out what people are posting about, what problems they are having with their credit cards, what advice are they looking for. Think about your own experience with credit cards. What do you know now that you wish you had known when you first started? What do you want to know that you don't already know? Do you have advice for how people can better use their credit cards? You'd be surprised at how you can build content just by using your own knowledge of credit cards. Hope this helps!
Search CC sites, and start randomly clicking on decent links to see what the page talks about, repeat
lotoya's suggestion is good. I write blog entries for a site with a forum, and a quick browse through the forum usually yields a topic or two. Also, check newspapers or get a news feed on credit cards. Review the articles for ideas. Keep a list of ideas. Carry a little notebook or tape recorder with you so you can record anything that occurs to you during the day. Review things you've written before, to see if you can do a follow-up piece. Look at every idea or article as a source of spin-offs. For instance, one post suggested 'How to avoid late fees' as a topic. That could be done as quite a few articles. First, one on what late fees cost, and what percentage interest that turns out to be, and how much you could be spending a month on late fees if you have multiple cards. One on late fees in general, not just credit cards. Then one on getting automatic reminders from companies when your bill is due, or setting them up in your calendar system. Another on setting up automatic payments from your bank account. One about watching that they don't shift due dates on you so you end up owning a fee because they changed the rules. You can do this with every topic. In fact, you could probably drill down on each of these ideas to come up with even more. If you have a facility for use comments, they can provide another source of inspiration.
Think "Who, What, How, When, Where And Why". When I'm stuck for ideas, I create a mind map with the topic in the center, and Who, What, How, When, Where And Why as lines off the topic. Then I add ideas to the lines (just a couple of words, circled) anywhere they seem to fit. It seems to work best if you give yourself a time limit - no more than two minutes or five minutes max. Then go and do something else. This lets the info gestate. I aim to leave the mind map for 24 hours if I can. Tip: save your mind map. I draw them in a large sketch book, and often find myself going back to maps I did months ago. Good luck. Cheers Angela
The mind map thing is a good idea. I keep notes and stuff, but not in an organized manner. I like the idea of a special book just for recording them.
Here are some tips. 1. Read the financial section of some papers. Keep an eye out for anything credit related. 2. Look for and subscribe to any publications (like trade mags) for your industry. They are out there. 3. Watch some business news. 4. Go hunting--for sites. Spend 1-2 days looking for at least 50 sites in your industry that you think are pretty solid (they update often). Once you have your list, visit them often (or get RSS if they have it). See what they are talking about and play off that. Get to know your industry. The more you know, the easier it will be to come up with topics. You'll know what's going on and what's important.
A nice benefit of knowing your topic well is that it will take you less and less time to write about it.
Great tips here, especially for those into article writing. I agree about the notebook suggestion. It helps a lot. Mind maps are kinda new though.
I personally wrote 6 articles on credit card topics this week. I thought it would be harder that it actually was to find good topics to write about. When it came down to it, I had 35 good ideas so I just picked the 6 topics that I knew the most about and started writing. The other 29 ideas I filed away in my notepad for future reference when requested to write about this topic. Once my creative juices started flowing it was easy to get out the credit card basics, which is what my buyer was looking for, so it all worked out well in the end. I find that reading the FAQ sections of credit card companies is usually enough to kick start my thought process.
One of the ways I used to come up with ideas, was to read the most influential sources and articles on that specific topic and then try to prove them wrong (at least partially) Controversy does sell. Regards, George