Coming up with the right topics for articles isn’t easy. On the surface, an article topic is just one line of text. But once you dive deeper into what it really entails to write an article topic, you’ll see that it’s a whole lot more.
Writing an article topic requires deep knowledge of your target market. It requires an understanding of what catches attention and what doesn’t. It requires an understanding of what your market already knows and what they want to learn.
Here’s how to come up with article topics that create buzz.
==> Look for Specific Questions to Answer
Go on internet forums and look for specific questions to answer. Ideally the questions should be specific, but still appeal to the audience globally.
For example, let’s say your audience is pizza parlor owners. One specific question they might have is how to know when they need to start planning to replace their pizza ovens. It’s a very specific question, but it applies to all pizza parlor owners.
These questions work very well because often people have never read an article addressing those specific questions; but a lot of them will still gain a lot from reading the answer to such questions.
==> Browse Google
Type your search keyword into Google using various search terms. For example, if you run a site on gold investing, type in keywords like:
“How to invest in gold”
“Gold investing tips”
“Gold investing mistakes”
“Top tips for investing in gold”
“Why invest in gold”
So on and so forth. Try to come up with as many search terms as you can. You don’t need to actually read any of the articles that come up.
Just use them as inspiration to come up with your own content ideas. Perhaps open up a few of them to see what they talk about and see if you can elaborate on any of those points.
==> Writing Your Titles in an Attention-Catching Way
Once you have a specific topic that you want to write about, how do you write a title that catches attention and generates buzz?
There are a few different ways to do this.
The “X Tips” formula is tried and proven and works in just about every industry. For example, “17 Tips for Increasing Per-Pizza Earnings” would work very well for the pizza parlor market.
A cautionary or warning tale can also get a lot of attention. For example, “Sneaky Ways Your Delivery Guys Might Be Stealing From You” would instantly grab any pizza shop owner’s attention.
You can use the most shocking or attention-catching part of a story in the article title. For example, “His Customers Paid In Pennies, But When He Counted His Tips …”
Finally, if you have a really great topic, you can just use a straightforward description of the topic. For example, as discussed before, “How to Know When to Replace Your Pizza Oven” would likely work quite well as an article topic.
If you have both a good topic and a well-written title that can catch and keep attention, you’ll have a successful article.