Sourcing relevant content

What are the best ways of sourcing new content for my site?

[FredP]

I realise that I have to keep adding relevant content to my site, but where do I go when I have run out of ideas about what to write?

[Nick_W]

The competitions sites ;)

I don't mean copy it of course but what better inspiration? Also:

• Google News: I have a folder in opera bookmarks set up with about 40 search terms I open all at once and click through each page looking for 'stuff'.
  
• User feedback: Ask them what they want
  
• Log files: Check out the more obscure search strings in your logs
  
• Related Topics: See how related areas are generating content

Just a few off the top of my head...

Nick

[seeber01]

There has been a lot of talk on another forum I frequent about this very thing. Some of the ideas from there include places such as elance. Some even hired from rentacoders, giving them the subject and keywords they wanted in the articles.

I also subscribe to a variety of topic related newsletters from different sources and see what they are writing about then create my own articles, with my own twist.

Hope this helps,
Debs

[Hawkgirl]

Buy two friends a couple of beers and get them talking about the subject. They'll give you at least 20 ideas in no time. If they start down a path that seems interesting, ask lots of open-ended questions like, "What do you mean by that?" and "Tell me more about that!"

Those questions are guaranteed to keep them talking and you'll have loads of stuff to write about - or at least loads of ideas to explore.

[Jenstar]

Go back through your customer service email, and find all those really dumb questions that potential customers have sent you. There is often a wealth of content ideas in those emails.

Check out your stats for what keywords people are using to find you - something there might give you some ideas, especially when people are searching with "Why" and "how".

[onlineleben]

> Log files: Check out the more obscure search strings in your logs <
In case you have a site search functionality, check for what visitors are searching on your site and you don't have content for

[Hawkgirl]

> all those really dumb questions that potential customers have sent you

Great idea, Jenstar. And I'd add to that - make sure that each "answer" that you put up on your site (in whatever format you want to do it) is on it's own page.

[creative craig]

I use atomz for site search, when they send me an email telling me the what was searched on for the week I get an idea of what people want and what new pages to make.

<added>This week I had over 700 searches and of those 700 there are roughly 200 - 300 new pages I could make out it</added>

Craig

[killroy]

I have a "Do you have any more questions?" form on eahc page (well, will shortly) and I already get enough to give me ideas. I send them of to my researchers, they not only answer the question but explore the topic with additional articles. Then I link it all up in several FAQ sections.

SN

[creative craig]

I have a suggest an article and report an error, I try to get as much feed back as often as I can.

Thats the key to building a site IMO, make sure the visitors get what they want.

[FredP]

Thanks to all for the great tips! Does anyone know what the deal is on putting other peoples text/articles on one's own or one's client's web site? Is it legal and/or ethical to use actual text from another source, if you provide and give credit to said source details and perhaps a link to it's origin?

[buckworks]

The legal, ethical thing do if you want to use someone else's content to is to ask and get their permission. Be prepared to offer (at a minimum) a spiderable link to their site as "payment"!

Not everyone will say yes, but many people are pleased and flattered to be asked, and some will even link back to you as a way to tell their own visitors, "See, this site likes what I wrote!"

[rogerd]

FredP, this thread talks about how to use content from others and has a good link to an explanation of "fair use": [webmasterworld.com...]

Grabbing a whole article would usually not be fair use, so you'll have to work out terms as buckworks suggested.

[Hawkgirl]

And, of course, the other thing to remember is that if you're trying to add content for SEO purposes and you "add" content that is already out there somewhere else (i.e., an article from someone else's site), you can run into issues with the search engines and the dreaded "duplicate content penalty."

I think a lot of folks use other sources to give them ideas about more types of content to write; but for SEO purposes, the best content that you can put on your site is original, one-of-a-kind content. (And lots of it!)

[old_expat]

Hello,

I have a travel web site and was getting ready to do the default "history of this country" page or so. I mulled it for days, researched, factored in my limitations and realized I was about to undertake a very time consuming task that would likely yield a mediocre product.

So I researched more ... and found a SPLENDID history! I wrote to the author and told him what my site was about, asked his permission to use his work under the following rules:

-I would show him finished and formatted pages for his approval

-Add a link to his site on each page (and a brief bio if he wished)

-Show his copyright at the end of the text on each page.

He liked the layout I used and gave me permission.

I now have one of the very best histories (20+ pages) on the region, get lots of hits and ... well, sometimes asking nicely works!;>)

[rogerd]

Great success story, old_expat. Writers love to see their work published, and the right approach can generate high quality content for free, or nearly so. Nice example for the rest of us!