As bloggers, our ultimate goal, besides to make a little money, is to produce great content for our readers and keep them coming back. In order to do this, you have to know what types of questions are being asked in your niche.

Even though I strive to write informative posts, I sometimes forget how it was when I was a newbie.

You know; when you see these blogs with huge followings and then all the comments. I don’t know about you, but I was left asking “what the freak am I not doing that they are doing?”

I would even compare my content to theirs and just know without a doubt, mines was better.

The one key factor I was missing was that it’s not always about creating the most amazing content. It’s about creating good content on a regular basis.

By the end of this post, you will have 14 methods at your disposal for making your followers think you are some type of psychic blogger. Some you may have heard or may already do. Either way, you’ll know just what your readers want and you’ll be able to give them what they’re looking for.

1. Forum posts

You know one thing I’ve learned about the internet? No matter how much information is out there, there is always a newbie that will ask a question that can be found in Google; and it never fails that there is always one of these questions on a forum that get no attention.

Whether or not you find some great topics in forums depends heavily on your niche. Best thing you can do is browse around and look at what types of questions are being asked.

2. Forum Comments

Inside of the numorous forum threads, there are questions that go unanswered. The difference between posts and comments is in the posts (threads), you’ll find something like “How I drove 15 thousand targeted visitors to my site in 24 hours“.

In the comments, you’ll always see a newbie say something like “wow. Wish I could do that. What can I do to get my site noticed?”

There goes a topic and if you know your niche, it shouldn’t be that hard to come up with a nice blog post.

3. Yahoo Answers Questions

Yahoo Answers is an absolute goldmine for finding topics. It’s filled with people who are clueless about a particular subject.

Just do a quick search and I suggest only looking at recent questions that are still open for answering. That way they are fresh.

Now being that Yahoo Answers rank high in Google, I suggest after you write the post, leave a link back to the new post in your “source” box.

If that question ranks high in Google, then every person that searches for that question will see your answer and that’s the potential for new traffic.

4. Use Yahoo Answers

Get in there and ask some questions. If you’re in the weight loss niche, ask people what were their biggest problems with losing weight.

Let them know you’re writing something important and would appreciate their feedback. You could get a flood of topics. Try it out and see how it works for you.

5. Google Keyword Tool

By far, one of the most advanced methods for finding out what people are looking for. I just type in a niche keyword and look at the searches. Find a subject that gets a lot of monthly searches.

I even suggest going after some of the smaller ones because if you can rank high for those, then you’ll get a huge majority of that traffic.

6. Blog Comments

I’ve personally seen tons of questions go unanswered on blog posts. I don’t suggest searching for them because you would be searching longer than fans have been looking for Elvis.

Just observe as you read blog posts. I’ll even answer the question. Makes me look like an authority.

7. Ask General Questions

Just asking regular everyday people about different problems they face will get you some great topics. Social media has pretty much replaced real social interaction but I suggest meeting with real people.

Depending on your niche, this would be a goldmine. Lets say you have a blog about college life and how to survive; yea I’ve heard some horror stories about making it through college.

Could you imagine the feedback you’d get from students and graduates about what they did to survive?

I remember my cousin showed me how to cook the most amazing Romain Noodles. Apparently, that was a college thing. I can’t cook so I occasionally cook those now.

8. Ask Your Followers

You should be building a following no matter what your niche is. People are following you because they like what you have to say and they want more.

What better way to give them more than to ask them what they are having problems with or would like to know?

If you have Aweber and/or are building a list, just email your subscribers and ask them to reply with problems they are having. Great way to further build your following and get some great topics.

9. Facebook Fanpages and Groups

Using one of my many marketing Facebook profiles, I joined a group for people with low self-esteem. Now I don’t market anything to them but I like to see what types of conversations go on.

People ask questions, tell how they feel and more. Social media has broken down a barrier of privacy where people reveal some of their most guarded feelings for the world to see.

Add yourself to some fanpages and groups and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

10. Search Twitter

Twitter is not my favorite method for finding topics; mainly because of my preferred niche being so freakin’ spammy; but just type in some keywords in the search bar and see what comes up.

I do have a weight loss site and once did a search and saw people struggling to lose weight and they gave their reasons why.

11. Search Tools (Psychic Search)

There are some plugins you can install to your blog to see what people are searching for while browsing your blog.

One of the most popular which I use on some of my blogs is a plugin called Psychic Search by MaxBlogPress.

It is great for seeing what your visitors are searching for but the only bad thing is you must have a search bar on your site for it to work.

12. Close Your Eyes & Think As If You’re A Newbie Again

Do you remember the days when you were just a newbie? I don’t and at times it’s hard to remember.

We get so knowledgable at our crafts that we forget the beginning days. If you can just close your eyes and see yourself as a newbie again and remember what problems you had, you will come up with topics; of course after laughing a bit thinking like “Wow I can’t believe I didn’t know that.”

13. Helping People

When I help people, I’m often amazed at how much I know. I like to keep a pen and pad around because as they’re asking questions, I’m writing topics down.

It’s basically the opposite I guess. I’m teaching and taking notes. LOL

14. Surveys

Surveys are a great way to get feedback on specific issues related to your niche. You can use the free service SurveyMonkey.com and create a survey.

I mentioned above that you can just email your followers and ask them to reply with their questions but all topics aren’t meant to be discussed in this matter.

Being that Survey Monkey can be 100% confidential, it will be easier to get information. You can create a survey and send the link to your list or install a plugin to your blog and allow anyone to fill it out.

In Finito!

The toughest part of blogging is knowing what your readers want.

There are millions of people out there searching for topics everyday and using these 12 methods, you’ll look like a psychic blogger to them.

Is there another method you use to find topics for your blog? Please comment and let us know because I would definitely love to try it out.

I want to thank you for reading. Please comment and share or I’ll be forced to do stand up comedy in my local library. How well do you think that will go? Yea so comment and share…

Thanks

This post was written by

Dennis Marshall – has written 59 posts on .

Dennis Marshall aka the SEO Menace, is a totally cool up and coming entrepreneur dedicated to living life mentally, financially and spiritually free. He started blogging not having a clue where he was going with it but now, here he is, blogging for dollars, taking names and loving every single minute of it. You can follow him (me) on twitter @Dennis_Knows and follow this blog @iblog4dollars. Also, if you're new to blogging, check out the iBlog4Dollars Academy (coming soon..). You will not regret it!