Have you ever opened your computer to blog and ended up staring blankly at the cursor? I know I have. As a professional copywriter, I have to generate blog post ideas daily for my clients as well as my own business. I’m sharing my top three free tools for coming up with blog post ideas when I feel stuck. 

1. Use Answer the Public.

Answer the Public is an impressive AI tool that looks at the autocomplete data in different search engines. You know how you can type in a word, such as “restaurant” and Google will suggest phrases? That’s what Answer the Public looks for. It then organizes those search phrases visually. These graphics are extremely detailed. I find it easier to view on a desktop than my phone.

To get blog posts ideas with Answer the Public, type in a keyword. For example, I entered “copywriting.” Answer the Public immediately generated over 150 phrases. They’re organized by questions, prepositions, and comparisons. 

Looking closely, you’ll see that not all of these search phrases are useful as blog post ideas. For example, I wouldn’t write a blog post titled “when did copywriting start.” That doesn’t seem like helpful content marketing. However, I might write a post around the phrase “when to use copywriting.”

I recommend using Answer the Public when you’re casting a broad net around the keywords your main web pages are optimized for. These blog post ideas may not be the lowest hanging fruit, but it’s fair to assume people are actually searching for them.

2. Check Ubersuggest’s Content Ideas.

Ubersuggest is Neil Patel’s keyword research tool. We use it regularly to come up with SEO plans for our clients. It provides helpful information, including the search volume and difficulty for keywords. (You can find more on what all this means for you here.)

To use Ubersuggest, start by typing in a keyword. Get inspiration for blog posts in the Content Ideas section. This will show you highly ranked pages optimized for your keyword. Of course, you should never directly copy someone else’s work. It might get you unstuck if you’re feeling writer’s block around your keyword though. 

Ubersuggest’s Content Ideas are good for generating blog post ideas when you want to target a specific keyword but aren’t sure how to approach it. For example, I want to write a post optimized for “blog SEO.” I see that the most successful pages are how-to guides. I could write a guide to log SEO and put my own take on it.

3. Turn FAQs into blog post ideas.

When all else fails, FAQs are a great place to turn. By FAQs, I mean topics that come up frequently during your sales process and client experience. I also encourage entrepreneurs to include things that clients don’t necessarily know they should be thinking about. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, your client may not know what a second photographer is or whether they should be considering one for their photography package.

Turn FAQs into blog post ideas by taking note of what comes up most often in your discovery calls and client experience. Then write down your thoughts on these topics. Once you’ve got the bulk of your copy, do some keyword research. Maybe your keyword will be “second photographer.” Whatever keyword you choose, add it into your post in a way that sounds natural and conversational.

In my experience, it’s best to use FAQs for blog posts when you want to make your clients’ lives easier by answering questions before they necessarily arise. You can make these blog posts part of your client experience as touch points. If you’d rather hit publish and not think about it again, you’ll still be helping your SEO and attracting clients who view you as a supportive resource.

One of my favorite things about all of these tools (Ubersuggest, Answer the Public, and FAQs) is that they’re largely free. Ubersuggest, for example, allows five free searches each day. That’s plenty for most casual small business marketing research.

Curious how you can drive more organic traffic – and leads – by blogging for your business? We share tips and resources to our list every week. Join us and get support marketing with your blog!