In one of my previous articles, I discussed how much writer’s block sucks the patience right outta the writer. Sometimes you need a nudge in the right direction or a friendly (inter)face to help break through the ideation block.
When researching topics or a possible title, one of the first steps I take is to utilize content generators. Content generators are quick, effortless (at least on your end), and effective.
I won’t lie–the drawback is that many of these sites aren’t well-kept secrets, so keep in mind that if you want a topic that hasn’t been as widely discussed, you’ll need to use these ideas as inspiration, not as the final idea.
Below are 11 content generators that spin keywords into content gold. One small note: for the purpose of keeping the list concise and showing the difference between the generators, I used “marketing” as a keyword across all websites.
Leading Content Generators
HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator
How it works: fill in the blanks with a few keywords or nouns and Hubspot generates a week’s worth of content. You can also fill out a quick form and get a year’s worth of topics if you’re looking for a long list of evergreens.
Is it worth the visit?: Yes. Hubspot’s generator is a good jumping off point. Obviously not all of the topics are practical. For example, I typed in “marketing,” and got:
- Why We Love Marketing (And You Should, Too!)
- The Worst Advice We’ve Ever Heard About Customers
- 20 Myths About Marketing
- 7 Things About Marketing Your Boss Wants to Know
Price: free
Portent’s Content Idea Generator
How it works: Type in the title, read the generated options.
Is it worth the visit?: Yes. Portent’s ideas are more offbeat and less dry as other titles. The site also provides entertaining sub comments, which depending on your audience, you could weave into text for some added personality. Here’s a few examples of their content:
- Homer Simpson’s Guide to Marketing
- 3 Unexpected Ways Marketing Can Give You Better Hair
- How Marketing is Making the World a Better Place
- How Marketing Made me a Better Person
Not all the ideas make the most sense (*ahem* #2), but this generator is perfect if your audience is more offbeat.
Price: free
How it works: Unlike the last two, Buzzsumo generates actual articles from around the world wide web and shows you relevant statistics for each one:
- Facebook shares
- Instagram shares
- Pinterest shares
- LinkedIn shares
- Twitter shares
- Number of links
- Total shares
Is it worth the visit?: Yes, but it’s not so helpful in the long run unless you get a package
Price: Free for ten days, then not so free (price dependent on package)
How it works: their tagline reads: “Use Übersuggest to quickly find new keywords not available in the Google Keyword Planner.” So at least you’re digging deeper than surface level with this tool. Their handy video shows you how to use it, but this one is also pretty straightforward; type in your keyword and an alphabetical list of keywords appears. Click on those keywords and a Google search of all the articles under that keyword come up.
Is it worth the visit?: It is one extra step than Buzzsumo, but the number of search results makes it worth it
Price: Free
How it works: Type your term into seeker and the seeker generates questions and propositions. After typing in marketing, ATP came up with the following questions:
- Why is Marketing Important?
- Are Marketing Expenses Tax Deductible?
- Who is Marketing Guru? (This is word for word)
And their propositions:
- Marketing to Baby Boomers
- Marketing is like Dating
ATP generates plenty of options you can run with—just proceed with caution if you have neck problems of any kind.
Is it worth the visit?: It is worth your time, but some of the ideas are less relevant
Price: Free
How it works: Insert your keywords, add your website links, or click one of their provided categories and the search comes up with links pertaining to the topic.
A few examples of the search results:
- http://digitalpoint.com
- http://reddit.com/r/marketing
Is it worth the visit?: Yup—there’s some quality blog posts here and the generator shows some popular and relevant social media content, data-driven websites, and viral content marketing resources. It will take some time going through the links as opposed to seeing a full list of topics or blog titles, but the content is good quality.
Price: Free
How it works: Throw that keyword in there and see a grid of titles arranged in categories such as: statistical, geographical, process, comparison, informational, timeline. Click on the topic and it takes you to infographic generator (which does cost money).
Is it worth the visit?: Their FAQ is upfront about their titles lacking originality, but is anything even original anymore? As for the titles, they’re catchy, but not for all audiences
Price: Free but the infographic site costs money
How it works: This one doesn’t require terms. Just click the button until you come across a post that you like.
Example titles:
- I can’t get enough of Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Let me Tell you about Wisconsin
- I Just Can’t Deal with John Travolta
- How do You Feel about Comcast
- 3 Things I like about Heavy cream
Is it worth the visit?: Okay, clearly the topics aren’t always, uh, on topic, but they can easily be reworked to fit your blog post. Generatorland is one of the simpler tools on here. It’s probably best used when you have a subject in mind (ie. Retention marketing) and you need an interesting way to spin the information
Price: Free
How it works: Type in the phrase (or not) and get titles like:
- Here’s why _____________ is so awesome.
- Here is what I did last week that seemed to work well…
- 7 Reasons Why __________ Always Work
Is it worth the visit?: You already should have a good idea of what kinds of subjects you want to discuss, but this tool takes your ideas one step further
Price: Free
How it works: You can either type in your own term, or choose the generate button, which fills in the blanks for you. Some of their suggestions were to “blog about” saving time, your opinion, growth, productivity, the customer service
- How _______Can Be Your Secret Weapon as A ________
- Is ________Still a Key to Success?
- 3 Things _____ Have in Common with __________
Is it worth the visit?: One cool aspect of the site is that you can “heart” topics you like and save them for later. Blogabout is straightforward, and provides professional topics. It’s slightly more work on your end, but overall, it’s pretty useful
Price: Free
How it works: Type in topic, but instead of a list of titles, you get one idea. You can either click through to the next idea or google the topic via the built-in button.
My results:
- The 19 Most Worthwhile Webinars About Marketing
- How Marketing Has Changed the World for the Better
- What a Marketing Workspace Looks Like
- The Best Advice About Marketing You Could Ever Give
- The 32 Benefits of Marketing
Is it worth the visit?: Up to you. The features are pretty basic. This one works if this is the only tool you use, otherwise you’ll see titles here that you’ll come across on other generators
Price: Free
These ideation tools are great for a quick round of brainstorming, but come with a couple of drawbacks:
- Ideas aren’t always unique and can get repetitive
- You may need to do some additional digging/thinking to make the topic your own, which takes additional time
The nice thing(s) about these platforms though, is that they take minimal effort and minimal time, and they’re often a good first step towards brainstorming creative content.
Happy writing marketers!