Give Them What They Want - Popular Content

A big part of writing content is figuring out what to write about, and writing popular content is what sells. Not only do you search for content ideas that you can sell to magazines, e-zines and other publications, but many of us also sell content to Associated Content. If you've been with Associated Content for a while now, you know they usually pay more for "popular content." "How do I find popular content to write about," you ask? Well, it's actually pretty simple if you think about it, and I'm going to share some ways you can find that popular content today.

Message Boards & Forums

One way to find popular content is by searching message boards and forums. First, decide what topic you want to write about. Then your next step is to find message boards and forums related to your topic. Read through the posts to find out what people are asking about the most, and then write about it.

If you write the content for Associated Content go back to the message boards and forums and post a link to your article at Associated Content. Because people were asking about the subject they will also want to read more about it. Leading them to your content will earn you a higher clout at Associated Content.

Research Keywords

Using your favorite keyword tool (see additional resources), enter the name or title of the subject you want to write about. Next, study the results to see which phrases are the most popular, and decide what you want to write using the most popular phrases.

For example, say you want to write a piece about parenting. Using your favorite keyword tool type the word "parenting." If you're using NicheBot it will return the top ten keyword discovery phrases, and one of those phrases is "parenting tips." Now, if you click on "parenting tips" you will get ten more top keyword phrases. You now want to select a phrase from those ten - one of those phrases is "parenting tips for toddlers." That's it, you now have a piece to write, and that piece is "popular content." You could title your content "10 Parenting Tips for Toddlers."

If you're writing a keyword rich article for search engine optimization you will want to choose a phrase that doesn't have a lot of competition, and not only do you want that phrase to appear in the title of your article, but you will also want to mention it several times throughout your article.

Research Current Trends

Trends are what's hot at the present time. If something is hot at the present time an article on that trend will be popular. However, before writing the article you will want to study the publication you're getting ready to submit the article to. Why? Because you want to submit something the publication your writing for hasn't already covered. In addition, if the publication has covered the topic several times already you need to make your topic different and unique. For example, if you're submitting to Associated Content, search the library of articles on the topic you will be writing about. During your search find out which articles are not covered often and write about that. At this time picture books for children are coming back into style, and if you search Associated Content's library for "picture books" you will find that there aren't many topics on how to write picture books for children. Because picture books for children seems to be a popular trend right now, and because Associated Content doesn't have many articles on how to write them, you could write the article and submit it to Associated Content.

Associated Content resources

Other than their content blog, Associated Content will also e-mail their content producers each week, and this e-mail will give you a list of topics they are looking for at that time. Make sure to check your messages from Associated Content once a week for that list. Again, this list of topics can also be helpful when you're looking for article ideas for other publications as well.

Amazon Best-Sellers

Head over to Amazon and find out what their top sellers are. In books, choose a topic you write about and check to see what Amazon's current top selling books are related to that topic. These are not only popular titles, but they can also give you a variety of ideas for popular content to write about.

Pick up your pen and paper and start researching for popular content using the methods mentioned above. When you're done, open your favorite word processing program and write. Good luck!