Looking for content for your website, blog or social media profile, all you have to do is check out a few of the sources on this list. It is easy to find new content ideas and even snippets of information to use yourself if you check through a few of these online and offline resources.
1 – Flickr
If you want somewhere to begin then this is a great place, and it is very easy to get distracted. You may start looking for movie review inspiration and before you know it you have looked at over 200 pictures of women in cosplay outfits. This is a great place to start your research and can be bags of fun too.
2 – Facebook & Google+
It seems a little unfair that they are lumped together as one, but let’s face the fact that they are both basically the same thing except that one is massively more popular than the other. Basically, you look through the news reels and the posts of other people to find stuff you can use.
3 – Twitter
It is a micro blogging site, but those micro blogs can act as cool little ideas that you can use, with the added benefit that you can go through them very quickly so that you go over a lot of ideas before you have finished.
4 – Pinterest
This is a place where people pop their ideas onto a board, and most of their ideas and inspiration for posts come from stuff they have seen on other websites. So, basically you are getting a curated view of all the stuff that other people have found interesting, which is great if you are doing research.
5 – YouTube and YouTube trends
With this you may see lots of inspirational content that you may use for ideas. Oddly enough, it is better used if you either use YouTube trends, or if you look through the posts at will. Just try skipping from one video to another suggested video until you hit upon something interesting.
6 – Academic textbooks
If you want ideas around something specific then academic textbooks are the way to go. Even if you are not interested in reading it from cover to cover, you are able to look at the chapter headings and then pick out the one that you think may interest you.
7 – A newspaper
A newspaper is ideal inspiration for ideas if you think about it because a newspaper has to cover a wider range of subjects if it is not to sink into oblivion. This means there are a wider range of content ideas for you to pick up on and use within your blog or website content.
8 – Movies
There are thousands of movies you can take inspiration from, there are surely some good ideas nestled in them that you could use to inspire yourself.
9 – Video Games
Take them as inspiration on hundreds of levels. You can even steal the ideas they have, such as the funny illnesses found in the old PC game Theme Hospital, or you can base your ideas on the plot twists of the most recent BioShock game.
10 – Forums
These types of websites talk about a massive range of topics. Skim read a few forums to see if anything catches your eye.
11 – Q&A websites
There are often people faced with the same problems that you are, so they go to question and answer websites to find inspiration. You can ask questions if you want, but it is more productive to go through the questions and answers on there already and get what you want.
12 – Statistics directories and websites
These are great material for content ideas because firstly you can lift the data and put it in your content as research, plus you can draw so many fuzzy conclusions that appear to be true via the data you present. In essence you can come up with your own facts that are supported by actual data.
13 – The blogosphere
Blogs come up with material all the time. The weird thing is that people forget they have competitors who face the same problems as you. Even if you do not have a blog you can still check to see if your competitors do and steal a few ideas from them.
14 – LinkedIn groups
They chat about all kinds of topics within the groups. All you have to do is monitor a few to see if any take your fancy. All you need to do is pick up on a few that either interest you, or that get people talking and excited on the LinkedIn group pages.
15 – Industry and manufacturer publications
They produce them all the time, and finding them is not too hard because they want them publicized as much as possible. Sadly for them, they are often ignored in place of bigger advertising pushes, but if you have the energy to go through them then you will find some great idea material.
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