How to Come Up With a Year’s Worth of Content in 30 Minutes

After a client recently revealed that she enjoys a 45% open rate for her newsletter content (and she has a list of 25,000!), I decided it was high time to improve my open rates for my list, too. If you’re in the same boat (or maybe looking to start a content-rich newsletter and blog habit), I’ll walk you through my thought process for how to quickly generate a year’s worth of quality content ideas.

For awhile, I’ve been kicking around the idea that the way I’d thought about content needed a refresh. I’ve been sending a weekly newsletter and posting to my blog for the past six years. I’d grown bored by my own content! No wonder my email open rates had gone down over the years…

Intuitively, it occurred to me that I wanted to do 3 new content categories:

1)     Pep Talks

2)     How To

3)     Writing Prompts

Pep Talks are short video snippets of me firing up Write Club, before we sit down to write our marketing together during our 90-minute writing sessions.

How To articles are walking people through how to write a project for their business (this article is a “how to”). It could also be about a specific skill you need to be successful writing marketing copy.

Writing Prompts are short, snappy questions that help you write clearer, more compelling copy.

How I Did It

Typically, I’m someone who dives into the writing of content. I tend to be a person who learns by doing. While this was great when I was first starting out in my business, I’ve come to see that the best content makes things super simple for its readers.

Now that I’ve found my voice in my writing and know who I am and who I’m writing to, it’s time to give my content more structure, so more people can actually use it to get results.

The hint here is: plan first, then write.

Here’s what I did to generate a year’s worth of great newsletter and blog content for my business:

1. Study a blog you enjoy.  In my case, I went to thekitchn.com. It’s a cooking and recipe blog that I read regularly. Make sure you love the feel, voice, tone, and usability of the site.
2. Write down the headline patterns they use for articles. You’re basically reverse-engineering your own headline patterns, Mad Libs-style.  For example, if the headline is: 10 Easy Ways to Get the Most Out of Your $12 Berries, write down 10 Easy Ways to Get the Most Out of ____.
3. Write out as many headline patterns as you need to generate high-quality content for your audience.  I ended up with a list of 34, but I know I’ll easily be able to generate at least a year’s worth of content from this list. Many of the patterns can be tweaked and used for different topics. (Pro tip: if you send a weekly newsletter, you’ll need about 46-48 titles total, depending on how much vacation you take).
4. Swipe any other good ideas you notice. As I was making this list of headlines, I noticed two other categories that I wanted to use in my business, too: Advice (tips on copywriting) and Questions (answering reader questions). That gives me 5 great categories total for my blog… and just as important, a simple way for me to generate more useful content ideas in the future.
5. Generate headlines for your topic using the list headline you just made. Remember to focus your content on questions people often ask you about your topic, or things that are challenging for your audience. The more you can write simple, useful tips, step-by-step articles, and simple tricks that help your reader, the more your list will be engaged and love getting notes and content from you.

Here’s my list that I created in 30 minutes (with mighty thanks to thekitchn.com for the inspiration):

Advice

1. 10 Easy Ways to Get the Most Out of ____
2. The First Commandment of ____
3. The Right  ____ for your _____
4. Here’s What ____ Looks Like
5. Don’t Skip This Step for ______
6. Stella Orange’s Guide to ______
7. 7 Useful Tips for _____
8. 3 Tips for _____
9. How to ____
10. Should You Be _____?
11. It’s Time To _____
12. What’s The Difference Between _____ and _____?
13. 5 Lessons I Learned From ____ About ______
14. 11 Easy Ways to _______ Your ______
15. How _____ Is Too ____ to ______?
16. 5 Fast & Simple Ways to ______
17. Make ______ Better Every Time With This Simple Trick
18. 3 Smart Ways to ______
19. How Do I _____?
20. 5 Steps to a Better _____
21. 3 Secrets of Pro [job title]
22. Why ____ Isn’t ____ (With a Few Caveats)
23. 5 Things We Can Learn About ______ From _____
24. The One Step You Shouldn’t Skip Before _____
25. Why do ____?

How To

1. 3 Smart Ways to ____
2. How to Write ____
3. Why Do Some ____ Call For ____?
4. How to ____
5. 3 Simple Ways to _____ Every Time
6. 4 Rules for Successfully ____
7. A [attractive adjective] _____ example: A classic egg custard
8. [Adjective] ____ made with ____ example: Homemade bathing salts made with rose and lavender
9. The _____ We Might Love More Than ____

One final thought: time box yourself! Set a kitchen timer for 15 or 20 minutes to make this process more like a game, and less like hard work. See how quickly you can create a whole year’s worth of high-quality ideas for your newsletter, blog, or videos.