Side Hustle - Content Creation: Content Sources - updated sept 2021

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The goal is to have a nice data base of sites that can provide some good copy & pastes content for your website or various social media feeds.

Ill start off with the 50 top Black websites....

50 Top Websites Were Found

#1 - Essence
www.essence.com
AALBC Score: 9.63
Domain Created: Mar 27, 1996 (23 Years, 0 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 1,100
Alexa Rank: 28,860
MOZ Domain Authority: 81
Owner: Essence Ventures LLC

Founded in 1970, Essence is an international, omni-channel destination for diverse storytelling and original content comprising beauty, fashion, lifestyle, entertainment and culture. Essence’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#2 - Howard University
howard.edu
AALBC Score: 9.46
Domain Created: Jul 06, 1990 (28 Years, 9 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 7,600
Alexa Rank: 67,833
MOZ Domain Authority: 73
Owner: Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Howard University’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#3 - Black Enterprise
blackenterprise.com
AALBC Score: 9.03
Domain Created: Nov 17, 1995(23 Years, 5 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 9,100
Alexa Rank: 75,905
MOZ Domain Authority: 75
Owner: Earl G. Graves Publishing Company, Inc.

Black Enterprise is the premier business, investing, and wealth-building resource for African Americans. Since 1970, they have provided essential business information and advice to professionals, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and decision makers. Black Enterprise’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#4 - Ebony
ebony.com
AALBC Score: 8.92
Domain Created: Apr 29, 1998 (20 Years, 11 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 3,900
Alexa Rank: 64,657
MOZ Domain Authority: 74
Owner: Clear View Group

EBONY is the No. 1 source for an authoritative perspective on the multidimensional African-American community. The EBONY brand, including print, digital and social reaches over 30 million readers monthly. EBONY media reflects the cross section of Black America as delivered by the best thinkers, trendsetters, activists, celebrities and next-generation leaders. Ebony’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#5 - The Source
thesource.com
AALBC Score: 8.84
Domain Created: Nov 15, 1993 (25 Years, 5 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 2,300
Alexa Rank: 37,828
MOZ Domain Authority: 62
Owner: The North Star Group

Since 1988, the Source has been the leading international voice for the ever-evolving world of Hip-Hop music, culture and politics. The Source’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#6 - Black Planet
blackplanet.com
AALBC Score: 8.46
Domain Created: Jun 21, 1997 (21 Years, 9 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 17,900
Alexa Rank: 93,630
MOZ Domain Authority: 71
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.

The largest Black community online! Black Planet’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#7 - Black America Web
blackamericaweb.com
AALBC Score: 8.37
Domain Created: May 07, 1999(19 Years, 11 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 2,600
Alexa Rank: 78,291
MOZ Domain Authority: 65
Owner: REACH Media

REACH Media was formed in January 2003 to develop, acquire and partner in quality media and marketing opportunities targeting the African American community and lifestyles. Tom Joyner, radio’s preeminent African-American entertainer REACH Media’s founder, chairperson and majority owner. Black America Web’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#8 - SOHH
sohh.com
AALBC Score: 8.23
Domain Created: Jan 30, 1997 (22 Years, 2 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 11,400
Alexa Rank: 79,429
MOZ Domain Authority: 62
Owner: 4CONTROL Media, Inc

For the best in Hip-Hop News, there is SOHH (Support Online Hip Hop). Voted one of the best Hip Hop sites by Rolling Stone in 2001. SOHH’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#9 - HelloBeautiful
hellobeautiful.com
AALBC Score: 8.22
Domain Created: Jun 16, 1999 (19 Years, 10 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 2,900
Alexa Rank: 165,951
MOZ Domain Authority: 69
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.

HelloBeautiful.com is where Black women go to talk about themselves shamelessly. We share, confess, indulge, encourage and celebrate each other, while indulging our guilty pleasures. HelloBeautiful’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#10 - All Hip Hop
allhiphop.com
AALBC Score: 8.16
Domain Created: Apr 04, 1999 (20 Years, 0 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 19,000
Alexa Rank: 74,780
MOZ Domain Authority: 67
Owner: AHH Holdings LLC

AllHipHop.com was founded and launched in 1998 by CEO’s Grouchy Greg Watkins and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur. AllHipHop.com is a valuable resource for hip-hop on the internet, featuring daily news, interviews, reviews, multimedia, a fast growing community and other interesting content. All Hip Hop’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#11 - Worldstar Hip Hop
worldstarhiphop.com
AALBC Score: 8.12
Domain Created: Dec 18, 2011 (7 Years, 3 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 175
Alexa Rank: 1,318
MOZ Domain Authority: 76
Owner: Worldstar LLC.

WorldStarHipHop.com was formed in 2005 and has undergone tremendous growth since it’s initial launch. WorldStarHipHop.com is the premiere online hip hop destination. Artists and brands alike have utilized the platform that WorldStarHipHop.com to debut their music videos, singles, apparel, and products given the sites traffic and loyal audience. Worldstar Hip Hop’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#12 - EURWeb
eurweb.com
AALBC Score: 8.10
Domain Created: Apr 13, 1999 (20 Years, 0 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 8,800
Alexa Rank: 118,593
MOZ Domain Authority: 65
Owner: Rabercom Enterprises

Since its online launch in 1997, the EUR/Electronic Urban Report has become the Internet’s foremost information source for urban entertainment, sports, politics and opinion. EURWeb’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#13 - Morehouse College
morehouse.edu
AALBC Score: 8.05
Domain Created: Apr 12, 1996 (23 Years, 0 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 26,500
Alexa Rank: 190,735
MOZ Domain Authority: 71
Owner: Morehouse College

Founded in 1867 and located in Atlanta, Georgia, Morehouse is an academic community dedicated to teaching, scholarship, and service, and the continuing search for truth as a liberating force. Morehouse College’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#14 - Rolling Out
rollingout.com
AALBC Score: 7.96
Domain Created: Oct 19, 1998 (20 Years, 5 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 6,600
Alexa Rank: 73,466
MOZ Domain Authority: 57
Owner: Steed Media Group

RollingOut.com is the top resource for Breaking Black News, Celebrity Videos, Entertainment, Business and more. Rolling Out’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#15 - BlackPast.org
blackpast.org
AALBC Score: 7.96
Domain Created: Feb 01, 2007 (12 Years, 2 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 5,400
Alexa Rank: 68,721
MOZ Domain Authority: 71
Owner: BlackPast.org

BlackPast.org is an independent non-profit corporation 501(c)(3) dedicated to bringing African American history to a global audience. BlackPast.org’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#16 - Spelman College
spelman.edu
AALBC Score: 7.94
Domain Created: Jun 14, 1996 (22 Years, 10 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 22,200
Alexa Rank: 240,870
MOZ Domain Authority: 71
Owner: Spelman College

Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women’s college located in Atlanta, Georgia. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Spelman College’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#17 - Atlanta Black Star
atlantablackstar.com
AALBC Score: 7.82
Domain Created: Feb 02, 2012 (7 Years, 2 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 12,000
Alexa Rank: 45,056
MOZ Domain Authority: 78
Owner: Diamond Diaspora Media

“Empowering narratives to change our world - News, Politics, Entertainment, Culture, and more from a Black perspective.” Atlanta Black Star’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#18 - Bossip
bossip.com
AALBC Score: 7.76
Domain Created: Mar 30, 2006 (13 Years, 0 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 127
Alexa Rank: 23,723
MOZ Domain Authority: 60
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.

Bossip.com is the premier destination for African American popular culture and entertainment, with a voice that’s edgy, viciously hilarious, politically aware–and completely unique. Bossip’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#19 - Mediatakeout
mediatakeout.com
AALBC Score: 7.76
Domain Created: Jan 17, 2006 (13 Years, 3 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 885
Alexa Rank: 53,427
MOZ Domain Authority: 62
Owner: Fred Mwangaguhunga

“The Most Visited Urban Website in the World.” Mediatakeout’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#20 - The Grio
thegrio.com
AALBC Score: 7.75
Domain Created: Mar 31, 2009 (10 Years, 0 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 9,700
Alexa Rank: 67,433
MOZ Domain Authority: 72
Owner: Entertainment Studios

TheGrio.com is a video news community devoted to providing stories and issues that affect and reflect black America but may be underrepresented in traditional national news outlets. The Grio’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#21 - BlackDoctor.org
blackdoctor.org
AALBC Score: 7.74
Domain Created: May 23, 2005 (13 Years, 10 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 3,300
Alexa Rank: 5,700
MOZ Domain Authority: 58
Owner: BlackDoctor, Inc.

BlackDoctor.org is your trusted, daily resource for healthier, happier living, and your daily medicine for life. BlackDoctor.org’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#22 - Lipstick Alley
www.lipstickalley.com
AALBC Score: 7.62
Domain Created: Sep 30, 2000 (18 Years, 6 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 4,700
Alexa Rank: 8,944
MOZ Domain Authority: 48
Owner:

Lipstick Alley members are predominantly African American females, but all races and genders are welcome to join. Lipstick Alley’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#23 - NewsOne
newsone.com
AALBC Score: 7.48
Domain Created: May 27, 2010 (8 Years, 10 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 5,500
Alexa Rank: 80,831
MOZ Domain Authority: 68
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.

NewsOne.com is your destination for news and information for and about Blacks in America. Filled with original stories, diverse opinions, photos, videos and polls, let NewsOne be your daily stop and make your voices heard! NewsOne’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#24 - Madame Noire
madamenoire.com
AALBC Score: 7.47
Domain Created: Mar 10, 2010 (9 Years, 1 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 2,700
Alexa Rank: 48,917
MOZ Domain Authority: 64
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.

In the heart of a woman, you’ll find two things: love, and more love. Even when that woman’s having a bad hair day or struggling with her 1980’s wardrobe, she is filled with love. This woman is you, your sister, your mother, your role model, your wife, your friend, your girlfriend, your cousin, your First Lady…: we listen to her thoughts and collect them here. And, we fondly call her “MadameNoire.” Madame Noire’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

#25 - DiversityInc.
diversityinc.com
AALBC Score: 7.24
Domain Created: Dec 31, 1998 (20 Years, 3 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 79,500
Alexa Rank: 63,424
MOZ Domain Authority: 71
Owner: DiversityInc.

“We believe that all people are created equally, and therefore, talent is distributed equally as well. We feel that an organization's management of diversity can be defined and judged in absolute metrics, most easily with human-capital statistics. A full explanation can be found in The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversitydepartment.” DiversityInc.’s information was last updated Mar 11, 2019.

 

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BuzzSumo
If you want to find out what types of posts are currently the most popular on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, BuzzSumo will tell you and it’s incredibly easy to use. Simply enter your search term, select which country you want to focus on, and hit the search button.
The results can be filtered depending on which social media you are most interested in, which gives you the added advantage of a) identifying which stories have the greatest traction on Twitter versus Facebook, for instance, and b) helping you to evaluate what subject matter could make for good content for your company blog.

LinkedIn Pulse
Be honest, how many of you really use this? Pulse – also known as ‘Publisher’ – is LinkedIn’s own blogging platform, where users can post their own thought leadership content that is shared among their network of contacts. It is also a rich source of daily content too.
Pulse works by customized stories according to those people or organizations that you already follow on LinkedIn. For instance, we write a lot about branding, so much of the daily feeds we receive include links to the latest articles written by some of the most prolific figures on that subject. The website version is good, but we’d recommend the App which is great.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn collects the trending posts contributed by LinkedIn users and displays them on each user’s homepage feed on the right side in “Today’s News & Views.” The stories are curated by LinkedIn editors and are updated frequently throughout the day.


News on iPhone
OK admittedly if you don’t have an iPhone then this option is not available to you, but if you do have one then are you using the inbuilt News app? The app enables you to create your favorite news feeds covering a range of subject matter. For us, we have feeds that cover Advertising, Business, Content Marketing, Digital Media, Marketing…you get the idea.
You can also add the feeds from your favorite news sites, such as Bloomberg, FT, The Huffington Post and just about every other newswire you can think of. And the feeds are all updated in real-time, so you can be sure you are kept up to date with the latest breaking stories.

MSN
What MSN is particularly good at doing is aggregating the most popular and searched for news stories on the web and placing them in an easy to navigate platform. Like most news-based sites the top trending stories appear on the home page and on the first set of results under each category heading, but of course, you can search the site for more specific content. Its strength is on providing you with more ‘populist’ content, so for any in-depth business-related stories, you may have to look elsewhere.

Alltop News aggregators
Search for your topic and scan through the headlines with your next post in mind. Within minutes, you should spot a few themes and memes that you can repurpose on your blog.”

Feedly News aggregators
This is perhaps our favorite content-generating site. Its minimalist design and easy to use functionality make this an incredibly popular content aggregator for techies and technophobes alike. Users can create their own personal dashboard that is fed daily with the latest news from across your key areas of interest and presented in a magazine format.

Daily by Buffer
Let's start with one of the places our suggestions appear: our new iOS app, Daily by Buffer. You can think of the Daily app as Tinder for content.
We'll show you a pile of suggestions, and you swipe each story left or right to discard it or to share it via your Buffer queue. The app has built-in abilities to read the stories you want and to sort suggestions via topic.

SmartBrief
SmartBrief boasts more than 225 unique newsletters broken down into 40-plus topics. Whatever your specific industry or niche, chances are that SmartBrief will have a newsletter for you, full of curated news and information. If you're into marketing and social media (like we are), I'd suggest browsing their marketing newsletters, to begin with.

News.me
This daily newsletter collects the stories that have been shared most often by people you follow on Facebook and Twitter. Your digest then becomes a reflection of the content that is most important to your audience--a pretty good indicator that you're on to something good to share. You can edit the News.me settings to receive 5, 10, or 15 stories every day.

Swayy
Another content source that taps into your audience, Swayy connects to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to discover the topics and stories that are trending among your circles or being shared by your community. You can access this content directly from the Swayy dashboard (as well as view analytics on what you've shared via Swayy) or you can see stories via the Swayy daily email.

Sharebloc
Follow topics and influencers on Sharebloc to receive a customized flow of stories you can then vote up or share directly from Sharebloc. If you're feeling particularly helpful, you can submit articles, too.

The New York Times: What We're Reading
New York Times editors and reporters probably have good taste in content, right? That's why their twice-weekly email, What We're Reading, has such value. The email is available for home delivery and digital subscribers. If you aren't a subscriber, you can find some of this same Times-curated content via the free NYT Now app. The app highlights the best content from Times and around the web, delivered in easy-to-read briefings.

MediaREDEF
Jason Hirschhorn of MediaREDEF curates a daily newsletter described as "a mix of media plus tech plus pop content." The interesting mix leads to some interesting discoveries, and Jason's tastes (as a former executive at MTV and MySpace) make for some unique content that you're not likely to find in other newsletters.

Inbound.org Digest
The result of a collaboration between the heads of Hubspot and Moz, Inbound.org is a type of Hacker News for inbound marketing. Stories on SEO, social media, case studies, strategies, and more are submitted and voted upon by users.
Five of the best stories get emailed out every day (or weekly, if you so choose) via the Inbound Digestemail.

Digg
Since its relaunch, Digg seems to be doing everything right in terms of content. They've built an incredibly useful and entertaining main page of noteworthy stories. They provide an RSS reader for those of us who still like to surf our content that way. And their most recent addition, Digg Deeper, places the top stories from those you follow on the social right onto your Digg homepage (the guts behind this service is none other than the News.me app mentioned above).

Medium
Stories on Medium pop up at least weekly inside our Buffer content suggestions. How do we find them? Browsing the collections and the trending lists straight from Medium is one way. Following our favorite writers is another. Based on whom you follow, Medium sends emails with content it thinks you might like.

Ed Yong
For something a little different--yet still entirely fascinating and shareable--try Ed Yong's blog and email list. His blog Not Exactly Rocket Science covers all things science in an approachable, understandable way. His weekly newsletter, The Ed's Up, covers science and more--journalism, writing, "heh/wow/huh," and a list of top picks spanning a wide variety of topics.

Sidebar.io
One of our five content suggestion categories focuses on design, and we're grateful for tools like Sidebar.io that focus directly on the topic. Their daily list of top links is created by a handful of human editors who up-vote submitted links to determine what reaches the Sidebar homepage on any given day. The results (up to five links) are posted on the site and sent out via email.

Panda
One of the most beautiful sites we've found for discovering new content is the collection at Panda. The site collects the top stories and top visuals from some of the best communities on the Web and delivers the content in an easy-to-browse layout (or via email, if you prefer). You can cycle among a handful of different sites without ever leaving the Panda homepage.

Prismatic
One of the top reviews on the Prismatic iOS app calls it "a killer app for curious people." Certainly Prismatic helps satisfy your curiosity by delivering a personalized, social news stream of interesting links based on those you follow on your favorite social networks and on your chosen categories and topics of interest. The content discovery carries over to the Web, too, where you can browse stories and edit your interests and followers.

Contently
The content-focused team at Contently runs a couple of unique online magazines focused on the stories, resources, tips, and strategies for online creators. Our favorite is the Content Strategist, a collection of articles about storytelling, and the future of content. You can browse directly from the main page or sign up for a daily email.

Nuzzel
Nuzzel is another one of the "news from your friends" apps, letting you connect your social profiles in order to surface the stories that your circles are sharing. A few neat features of Nuzzel include:

• Not only news from friends, but also news from friends of friends
• A list of replies and tweets referring to the top content shared by friends
• A boomerang feature highlighting stories that might have slipped your attention

Quibb
Unique among these free and open content sources, Quibb is invite-only--and it's a tough invite at that. Once you apply for membership, the Quibb team manually reviews your application. The current acceptance rate sits at 38%.
Once you're in, you can enjoy a platform that lets you share industry news and analysis and see what others are reading. The select nature of the service ensures that the content that gets shared and talked about is of the highest quality.

The Moz Top 10
The semi-monthly email newsletter from Moz covers the best stories on inbound marketing, SEO, and social, as chosen by the Moz editorial team.

99U newsletter
The weekly email from the 99U blog includes the top stories published on 99U over the past week as well as a handful of chosen links from outside the friendly confines of 99U. You can subscribe via any article page on the 99u website.

Brain Food--Farnam Street Weekly
The Farnam Street blog covers topics like personal improvement, discipline, learning, and growth, and the weekly newsletter is no different. Blogger Shane Parrish shares the best links from his blog over the past seven days as well as a lengthy section on the most interesting stories he's read across the Internet.

NewsCred
Creators of content marketing software, NewsCred also runs a highly entertaining, informative blog made up of original content and syndicated stories from across the web. Their daily newsletter contains three or more of the best pieces of content that appear on the blog each day.

Digiday
Digiday's daily newsletter is chock full of thought leadership and the latest trends in digital media, advertising, and marketing. With multiple new stories every day (and fun visuals along with the stories), Digiday offers something a little different to share, beyond the typical listicles and how-to posts.

The Verge
The daily newsletter from the Verge includes their latest stories on technology, science, art, and culture. The Verge likely gained its notoriety for its in-depth product reviews, but the site covers so much more than that: the latest from Apple and Google, experiments with new creations like Soylent, and unique takes on trending stories across social media.
BlogAbout
This is a simple, no-frills tool. Choose from a variety of topics, or enter a keyword to see an array of fill-in-the-blank titles. You can save your favorites and have them emailed to you, giving you a ready-made list of ideas to draw from.

Tweak Your Biz title generator
Another easy tool, Tweak Your Biz provides dozens of potential content writing tips with just a few clicks. Enter your keyword, indicate whether it’s a noun or a verb, and click “submit.” You’ll instantly have a list of titles, some more compelling than others. This tool uses the same title types repeatedly. No matter which word you enter, you’ll get the same list of titles with your keyword as the only variation. Still, it’s useful for coming up with ideas when you’re truly stymied.

Content Row link bait title generator
The major distinction between this title generator and others is the option to choose whether you want your results to be “clickbait,” “evergreen,” “seasonal,” “topical,” “trending” or “new.” Otherwise, it works the same way as other generators. It’s most useful when you’re trying to turn a “boring” subject into something juicy.

Portent’s Content Idea Generator
Type in a keyword and this generator will give you a catchy headline and the reasoning behind each element in it. Not satisfied? Click refresh, and you’ll get a whole new content idea. You might find some elements within each headline you like. Then, you can combine them into your own original title.

Quandary Content Idea Generator
You’ll have to sign up to use this free tool, but once you do, you’ll have access to a wealth of ideas for all types of content. Simply answer a few questions about your business, and the tool does the rest.

Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest doesn’t provide actual blog titles, but it does offer a wealth of ideas. Simply enter your keyword or phrase, and the tool will return a long list of related topics. This tool is especially useful when you’re trying to identify new audiences for your content or ways to put a fresh twist on your existing posts.

News and Curation Sites
Alltop
Want to see the top stories from across the web? Visit this site, which links to the most popular content on some of the biggest online news sources, including CNN.com, The New York Times, Mashable, Reuters, and TechCrunch. Want to customize your content? Add your own favorite sites, or choose from custom-curated lists from leaders in a variety of industries.

BuzzSumo
Want to see what topics related to your keywords are trending? Try entering your terms into BuzzSumo’s search engine. You’ll get a list of recent blog posts, news articles and other content ranked in terms of how often it’s been shared on social media.

Google Trends.
You can find just about anything you want to know about trending searches using Google Trends. From which terms are generating buzz where, to which terms are trending in response to news and events, you can find it here. Subscribe to Google Alerts, so when the topics you’re interested in are trending, you’ll be among the first to know.

Industry/trade associations
Almost every industry has an association to provide networking, advocacy, and education. Most keep members updated on news and trends through their content, which can inspire your own blog ideas.

Quora
One of the best ways to give your audience what they want is to answer their questions. Quora will tell you exactly what those questions are. Sign up for a free account, choose the categories you want to learn more about, and you’ll see questions and answers from other users. As a member, you can answer questions directly, or use others’ queries to spur ideas for content.

Yahoo! Answers
Yahoo! Answers isn’t as developed as Quora is, but it works in a similar way. An added advantage to getting ideas from Q&A and community sites is that once you’ve written your article, you can promote it by addressing the questions on the Q&A sites and concluding with a link to the article on your blog for people who want a more comprehensive answer.

Reddit
A quick visit to a relevant category (called a subreddit) on Reddit will usually yield a series of questions people want answers to. You can take things to the next level and go to the “Hot” tab showing the most popular articles in the subreddit of your choice. You can then let these popular articles inspire ideas for your own blog posts.

Social Listening
In terms of content, social listening is the perfect way to determine what your audience is talking about. What questions do they have? What do they love — and hate? What are they sharing?
By watching what your audience is saying on social media, you can identify the gaps in their experience and fill them with your content.
The good news is that you have a wide array of tools at your fingertips to help you listen in on social conversations.

Hootsuite
Hootsuite is an easy way to manage all of your social media profiles, but it also offers tools to streamline your social listening. You can use Hootsuite to set up social media streams for social listening regarding certain hashtags, mentions, keywords, and conversations.

Pinterest
Pinterest is more than a place to find new chicken recipes and ways to use duct tape. It provides insight into your customers, as well. Sign up for Pinterest Analytics, which will tell you not only which of your posts are resonating with your followers, but also what other topics your followers are interested in.

Twitter
Twitter makes it easy for you to see what people are talking about. Just look at the “What’s happening” section, and you’ll see the hashtags and topics that are generating buzz. Click on a trending tag to see what people are tweeting about.

Facebook. See what news Facebook users are sharing by typing in topics and keywords into the social network’s search bar. You’ll see top-shared articles, pages, and groups related to the topic.

Awario
Monitor brand mentions with Awario to get ideas for how users view your business and how to improve how it’s positioned through content. You can also track influencer chatter regarding competitors and your industry.

Sprout Social
Sprout Social works with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn to show users insights into brand-focused trends and influencers. You can monitor locations, hashtags, and keywords with the platform to see the latest news.

Instagram
Want to see which images are resonating with your audience? Check out which photos are trending on the popular photo-sharing site. Follow influencers in your industry to see what they’re sharing, or search by hashtag or keyword. You’ll find a wealth of ideas for your own images as well as keep your finger on the pulse of what people are liking and sharing.

Mention
Filter content based on both what you want to monitor and what you want to exclude from your monitoring feeds. You can also use the competitive analysis tool to compare your content with that of your competitors.

Business Feedback & Industry Experts
Your own customers and employees are vast sources of content ideas. Customers ask questions, provide praise and complaints, and share feedback. Your customer-facing employees, like your customer service team and sales team, probably have a wealth of topics they could provide based on what they’re hearing from customers.

When you’re stuck, look within. Talk to your staff and pay attention to the discussions on your own channels, including blog comments and social media posts.

Competitor analysis and breaking industry developments can also give you blog inspiration. You can feature interviews and hot takes on trending topics using industry experts and your own staff as sources.

The following are ways to glean ideas directly from customers and employees and from within your industry so you can address important topics.

Surveys
Even if you have a defined customer persona and plenty of market research, asking your audience what they want guarantees your content is on the right track. Use a free survey tool to gauge interest and ask for ideas, request feedback in the comments or even institute a regular Q&A feature where you answer customer questions directly. Try getting your sales team involved. Ask them which questions customers and prospects ask the most. Then tailor your content to fill the gaps.

Industry news
Becoming a thought leader in your industry requires sharing a unique perspective on the issues and news that affect your business. Look for opportunities where you can share insight. For example, if you sell sporting goods, share your thoughts on news stories involving athletes, or explain rule changes, or offer ideas for improving performance.

Resources your team uses
Most leaders are on a continuous quest for the best books, apps, resources and services to help them grow their business. Why not share your finds with your audience? Enlist your team to write reviews on the tools they’re using that customers would find helpful, too.

Case studies
When things go very right – or horribly wrong – for a company, others want to know how they did it. Write articles or case studies offering your expert insight into what others are doing right, or analysis of what they’re doing wrong and how they can improve. One caveat: badmouthing other enterprises, especially the competition, reflects poorly on you. When analyzing a failure or mistake, be sure to focus on the facts and present your analysis as a constructive criticism.

Your own products and/or services
When you’re creating content, consider your company’s core values, how customers use your products and services, and develop related content. Another way you can employ this strategy is to develop simple how-tos for using your products or field guides and troubleshooting tips related to a trending topic.

Blog comments
You can get blog post ideas by paying attention to comments made on blog posts in your industry. These could be comments made on your own blog or comments made on other popular blogs. Start by taking note of the blogs that get the most comments in your niche. Dedicate time to going through those comments. Pay close attention to common questions being asked in the comment section. These include questions that are asked directly and indirectly.

Interview insights
Interviews, including video interviews, are easy and effective forms of content. An industry leader sharing their thoughts on a particular topic can draw a substantial audience, especially if the interviewee is someone your audience wouldn’t otherwise meet or have access to. An idea: develop a standard list of 5, 10 or 20 questions to ask every subject. Publish their answers verbatim. Readers will look forward to seeing the different answers and gaining some insight from thought leaders. Another approach is to post a round-up. Ask the same question to 5 or 10 thought leaders, and share their responses. It’s quick and easy. Your audience will appreciate the diverse perspectives.

Other related content
Use content curation to collect the best content on a topic and share links to it with insight as to why you’re sharing. Don’t forget to curate your own content, as well. A weekend wrap-up post of the week’s most resonant content or updates of older posts give your existing content a second life.

Blog comments

• Questions and challenges readers have
• Objections readers have
• Links to related resources
• And potentially, ideas for expanding your content regarding topics readers have shown interest in

General Forums (Quora, Yahoo!, etc.)
One of the first places I go to find inspiration for titles is Quora. It’s a huge forum where people ask questions about everything under the sun. Simply type in the topic your readers are interested in or the name of your industry, and you will start finding questions that you can turn into content.

Industry-Specific Forums (Your Readers’ Forums)
Forums are a kind of old school in the world of the Internet, but they’re still popular. They are one of the simplest ways for people to converse with others online just as they do in real life. People share news, ask questions, answer questions, and more.
Go to Google and search for [your industry] forum, and you’ll likely find at least one and probably a dozen.
Here’s a snapshot from </dream.in.code>
There are a few great questions on that one page.

Online Groups (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
Social media groups are like niche forums. People discuss industries, interests, and topics. Look for the groups that don’t allow lots of article sharing. Those are mostly spam. Look for groups in your industry that have a lot of questions and answers.

Industry Publications: Popular Titles and Topics
Find the sites in your industry that publish all the latest news, trends, tips, and everything else your readers love. Look for the articles with the most engagement: comments, shares, views, etc. You’ll get a feel for what’s popular and what the hot topics are. Create the content on those topics, and try to either bring a different viewpoint or expand on what’s already been discussed.

Industry Publications: Comment Sections
On industry publication sites, you’ll see comments. The people leaving the comments are your target readers, so notice what they’re saying. Since writers do not, and cannot, share everything on a topic in a single article, sometimes readers will ask questions. Look for those questions, and provide answers with your own content.

Social Media: People You Follow
Create a list of your ideal readers. Usually, that’s a list of your best customers or ideal customers. Follow them, and take note of the content they engage with. See what they share, reply to, etc. Those are topics you can cover with your content.

Social Media: People Who Follow You
A basic social media strategy is to share the content you create (and the best content you can find) that your target audience will find interesting and useful. If you do a good job of this, you’ll attract a following. Even with only a few followers, you can ask your followers questions like: What is your biggest challenge at work?
The replies can lead to great topics for content.

Social Media: Hashtags
It took me a while to start using hashtags on the updates I share on social media, and it took me even longer to follow hashtags.
Your ideal followers won’t always follow you. It’s just the way it is. But you can still find them by following popular industry hashtags.
Follow the hashtags and look for popular articles, buzzwords, and questions. That can lead to potential topics for your content.

Social Media: Questions People Ask Industry Influencers
Identify the influencers in your industry. Put them on a Twitter list or follow them. Look at how people interact with those influencers. Often, people will ask influencers questions; but because influencers are busy, they won’t have time to respond to all the questions.
That’s where you can step in and provide the answers.

Social Media: Topics Industry Influencers Discuss
Look at the things influencers are sharing. Create similar content. If it’s good enough for the influencers in your industry, then it’s important.

SlideShare
SlideShare kind of falls into its own category of online content. It’s a hugely popular site, and there are slide decks for just about every industry out there. Search for your industry, and find the most popular decks. From there, create content that builds on popular topics or that presents your unique commentary.

Wikipedia
Wikipedia is like the world’s HQ for finding tables of contents or related ideas. Seriously, search for anything. Bam! You could find:

• Detailed posts
• Links galore
• A table of contents to inspire a crazy number of ideas
• A “See also” section with even more ideas
• Notes (footnotes), references, further reading, external links

YouTube: Industry Videos
There are a few ways you could get inspiration from YouTube. The one that works the best is to find the most popular videos from your industry, which could be how-to videos, trend videos, news videos, or whatever. Then look for those with views, comments, and other engagement, and you’ll have the topics you should be focusing on with your content.

Instagram Feeds and Comments
Follow influencers in the online industry, and the comments they get can lead to content gold. Again, influencers don’t have time to answer every question. That’s where you can come in. And for some reason, influencers on Instagram get a lot of comments.

Interviews
Talk to interesting people. I like to think that everyone has a unique perspective to offer on something. Even if they’re just telling their own stories about experiences they’ve had, it can lead to inspiration for a post. So interview someone. Talk to them in person, on the phone, or over email. Ask them a few questions.
Use the discussion as inspiration. You also could use the interview as a piece of content, but always get permission before you do that.

External Roundups
A roundup can make a great post on its own. Provide ten great pieces of content for your customers to consume. In addition, looking through the content itself can spark inspiration. You can see what people like and then form your own content.

Internal Roundups
This is the same basic idea as the external roundups described above, except that here you’ll look back through your own archives to see what you’ve done in certain categories or tags.

Surveys
Are you unsure about what your customers need to know? Ask them what they’re struggling with. Ask them for three challenges they’re facing in the industry. Ask them what topics they would like to know more about. Don’t overdo it with surveys. Directing even one question to a few customers can lead to great content inspiration and ideas.

Your Website: Comment Sections
In the same way, you can get ideas from the comment sections of other websites, you can get great ideas from your own comment sections. If readers are asking questions or telling you what you should have included, you can use that to create new content.

Your Website: FAQ Sections
Many websites have frequently asked questions sections because they get repeat questions and want to provide the answers for visitors and new customers. Look at your FAQ section and determine if there are ways you can expand on the topics with another form of content, such as a video, a blog post, an e-book, or a guide.

Competitor Websites: FAQ Sections
Take a look at the FAQ sections on your competitors’ websites. See what questions they’re getting all the time, and make sure you’re answering those questions with some form of content.

Conference Q&A Sessions with Experts
Conferences are great if you can attend. Not only do you learn a lot, but you can use the sessions for content inspiration. You can pull inspiration from the topics the experts discuss. Also, pay close attention to the Q&A sessions and focus on what people ask. Can you provide answers to those questions?

Conference Agendas
Check out the agendas for conferences. See what the big topics are. You can create your own content based on the hot topics at conferences.

Conference Roundtable Discussions
I think there is good value in the roundtable discussions at conferences. The best discussion often comes from the questions. If people ask questions about the same topic, it’s a good indication that content covering that topic would be popular.

Customer Service Representatives
Here is one of my favorites. I used to work for a large shoe catalog company, and I would get the occasional email from customer service saying they were getting questions about the shoes. Customer service representatives speak with customers all the time. They get a lot of business-specific questions, but they also get many general questions. Those general questions can lead to great ideas for content.

Salespeople
As customer service representatives, salespeople are in constant communication with customers. They are on the front lines. Even better, salespeople work with customers in the early stages of the sales process. So they answer common questions all the time. You can take that insight and turn it into great content that will attract other potential customers.

Product/Service Experts
merchandisers would attend shoe shows where they would get all the latest information on upcoming trends. The experts at your company often have very interesting and useful knowledge.

Popular Posts on Your Site
Look at the popular posts on your site, even going back a few years. You can create new content on the same topics or repurpose content into other forms like videos, podcasts, and more.

Announcements
What does your company have coming up? Big announcements can make for content that your customers would find interesting.

Webinars
Webinars have really become popular the last few years, but they’ve been around for a while. Check out the popular webinars in your industry. Look at the influencers. They usually hold webinars. Follow a few and see which ones are more popular. The topics discussed can make for great topics for all content.

An Industry Outsider
Have a discussion with someone who has little to no interest in your industry. They’ll likely have questions that would make for great content.

Webmaster Tools
All Google keyword search queries pass through Google’s Webmaster Tools now. It’s a good place to see what content is generating the most traffic from search. From there, you can look for other potential keywords that could be the focus of future content.

Website Analytics
The same tactic described in Webmaster Tools above works with analytics. You can see how visitors are finding your site. Then determine if there is more you can do in those channels to create content to attract more of the same type of visitors.

Ubersuggest
Once you have a basic idea of what you want to write about, you can use Ubersuggest to uncover content ideas. Here’s how to do it:

Step #1: Enter Your Keyword and Click “Search”
Step #2: Click “Content Ideas” in the Left Sidebar
Step #3: Analyze the Results

With this list, you now have the inspiration to guide your next article. For example, the third listing from the Huffington Post is titled “29 Essential Content Marketing Metrics.” You can play off of this with a title such as:

• 59 Essential Content Marketing Metrics
• 37 Content Marketing Metrics for Growing Your Following

You get the point. Your goal is to see what’s been published and then create an engaging headline followed by industry-leading content. It’s a simple formula that generates serious results.
When you’re done with this, click “Keyword Ideas”.
It’s here that you’ll find data related to your primary keyword, as well as a long list of keyword suggestions:
Once you find a keyword you want to target, click on it:
Here’s what you get:

• Google SERP – the top 100 URLs that rank for the keyword in Google search
• Estimated visits – the estimated traffic the page gets for the keyword
• Links – the number of backlinks from other sites
• DS – the domain score, ranging from 1 (low) to 100 (high), measuring the overall strength of the website
• Social shares – the total number of times the URL was shared on social media

This provides you with a clear overview of what it takes to rank for your selected keyword. You can use the top-ranking sites as a jumping-off point, as these are the competitors standing between you and the #1 spot.

Google Related Searches
On search results pages, look at the bottom and you will see related searches that can clue you into what you could be covering in your content.

Controversy
What are the controversies in your industry? They don’t have to be life or death arguments but find something that is a hot topic and start a conversation. Pick a side and create a piece of content around that idea.

HARO
Help A Report Out is great if you’re looking to be included in stories. You can also subscribe to see what popular topics are in various industries. If you see trends, it’s a sign that you could be discussing the topic, too.

Popular Industry E-Newsletters
I try to subscribe to at least a handful of industry newsletters. I maintain the subscriptions to the good ones and replace the others. What I look for are the topics being discussed, and sometimes I get inspiration for something I can create that my target customers would find interesting.
One key: you’re looking at e-newsletters that your customers subscribe to.

Google Alerts
Set up alerts for certain topics that your customers care about. See what’s being published. Look for gaps in the information and create content to fill them.

Internal Data
Use the company data that you typically have about your industry and customers. It might be an old research project your team did or a collection of statistics you’ve gathered about your customers.
When the information is on a large scale, you can tell your customers things like “75% of our customers use X tool for analytics.” It’s anonymous but valuable to customers and potential customers.

Industry Statistics
Tap into industry statistics. I try to follow places like Nielsen, Emarketer, and others to see what the latest studies are showing in various industries. I can comment on the findings to create content.

Experiments
Experiments aren’t just for science class. Try experiments with your work. You can turn the experiment into a piece of content, or you could get inspiration for something you can create that your customers would find interesting.

Internal Website Search Queries
This goes with analytics a little bit (which was mentioned earlier), but I’m also calling it out as its own point. See what people are searching for on your site. If they’re not finding what they want, it’s a sign that you need to create content that provides the answer.

Popular Content Types from Other Industry Publications
Use popular content types, such as the Top Ten list from David Letterman. People love that format.
Maybe a popular site presents annual awards. You can create awards for your industry, its influencers, and the best products and tools.

Content Topic Generators
There are a few content topic generators available. They use popular title formulas, and you fill in the blanks with your industry terms and keywords.

• HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator
• Portent’s Content Idea Generator

Self-Help Magazines
Self-help magazines are full of crazy titles. Simply add in your own industry’s words. Cosmo, Men’s Health, etc., all have extremely clickable titles.

Local News Broadcasts
The local news can have some hidden gems of information. They are great at finding stories that people find interesting and useful. I like it when they bring on local experts to share tips.

Local Business Networking Events
You know those happy hour events that chambers of commerce put on throughout the country? They can be great, but they can also be boring. To get more out of them, simply have conversations with a few people. Often, they’ll ask you questions about what you do, and those questions can inspire potential content for you to create.

Local Newspapers (Opinions, Letters to the Editor)
The stories in local newspapers are one thing, but I like the opinions and letters to the editor. These often point out things that someone wanted to know but didn’t get from the story or article. You can fill in the blanks with your own content.

Personal Mistake Analysis
Have you made mistakes? Who hasn’t?
Talk about a mistake you’ve made. These have been some of the most-read posts on my own blogs.

Personal Success Analysis
Success works well, too. People like to read about more than just mistakes. We can all learn from stories about mistakes and successes.

Amazon’s Top Industry Book Lists
Check out the list for the top books in your industry on Amazon. If people are buying a book on a topic, you know they would be interested in a great blog post, guide, or podcast.

Your Forecasts for the Future
What do you think will happen in your industry in the future? Take twenty minutes to think about it. Break it down into different categories, and you’ll have yourself a few ideas for content to create. People are always looking for information to help them prepare for the future.

An Idea Notebook or Journal
Songwriters typically carry around notebooks where they write down random thoughts, lines, and ideas. These thoughts are later revisited to create entire songs. There is no reason content creators can’t do the same. Start today by getting a notebook. Then, every day, add your thoughts for potential content ideas. Most of the ideas probably won’t work out, but you don’t need every idea to be a winner in order to succeed with content marketing.

Reddit
Reddit is a great tool. You can discover just about everything on the site. See what people are sharing in your industry. Look for items with the most engagement. Those items are what you should be covering with your content.

Google News
Search for your industry on Google News. See what the latest articles discuss. Find hot trends and topics and look for a unique way to comment on them.

Trade Magazines
Trade magazines are incredibly popular with business professionals, including executives. They depend on these magazines for insight into what’s happening in the industry. Pick up the magazines for your industry and see what the hot topics are right now. Offer your own commentary on the subjects.

Buffer
I love using Buffer. I take one day a week to add a week’s worth of social media updates to my Buffer, and then I sprinkle in updates when I can on top of it.
But, each week, I also look back on the updates that have been most successful. I can see what my followers care about and expand on those topics with new content.

Psychology Blogs/Magazines/Etc.
If you follow popular psychology blogs, magazines, and other publications, you’ll find studies about all kinds of things. You can start entire content pieces from a study. You also can collect studies on a certain topic and make a very compelling piece of content.
psychology blogs and magazines include:

• PSYBlog
• Psychology Today
• American Psychological Association

Photo Sharing Websites (Flickr, Facebook, etc.)
You can gain inspiration from more than just text. Sometimes a photo can spark an idea. I like Flickr, but Facebook galleries can work, too.

Business Executives and Leaders
Business leaders almost always reach their positions because they know how to run a company and because they know what customers care about in the industry. Talk to the executives and leaders you know in your industry; for example, the CEO of your company. Invite them to lunch and discuss what’s happening in the industry. The ideas will flow.

Industry Regulating Organizations
Some industries are regulated more than others, but they're usually are regulations to discuss in just about any industry. One thing customers care about is how new regulation might affect them. Do some research, follow updates from regulating organizations, and provide commentary on what’s happening and how it affects your customers.

Headline Formulas (Similar to Self-Help Magazine Titles)
Sometimes you can start with a simple headline or title formula and work from there. This is like the self-help magazine titles. They all follow successful formulas. Just plug in your own terms.

• 30+ Ultimate Headline Formulas (Buffer)
• 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work (Copyblogger)
• Steal These 15 Headline Formulas (Crazy Egg)
• Read this post as well: Can You Write a Better Headline than This?

Procedures and Systems
Look at the procedures and systems within your company. What you’ll find is that these systems can provide answers your customers wonder about, like How do you streamline cash flow?
There’s a procedure for that.

Competitor Websites (Answer Questions They Leave Unanswered)
I mentioned earlier that FAQ pages on competitor websites are a good source of questions to answer. Also, look through the entire website of your competitor. Going through this process can spark inspiration for questions they leave unanswered.

Old Industry Advertising
Search for some old advertising in your company or google for old advertising in your industry. The way they sold things decades ago is probably different from today, and that can lead to content inspiration. Or you could collect 10 funny advertisements that would intrigue your customers.

Old Industry Manuals
Look at old industry manuals. They seemed to do a lot better with sketches and details back then. It wasn’t all just text. Those manuals can lead to inspiration as well.

Famous Quotes and Proverbs
Quotes are popular with people. We have them in our email signatures and on our office walls. Look for some new quotes to inspire you in general, and you’ll often find inspiration for content.

Famous Theories
Is there a famous theory in your industry? Maybe it’s an age-old rule that everyone follows. See if you can create a new rule that is better than what everyone has been doing for the last few decades. Or find a famous theory from science, like the law of gravity, and apply it to your industry.

Industry Software Knowledge Bases
There is a lot of good information on knowledge bases. They’re often forums, but other times they’re collections of articles on how to do things. You can get content ideas from the articles; but if it’s also a forum, you can see what people are asking that isn’t found in the knowledge base. Then you can provide the answers.

Support Forums
See if there are support forums in your industry. Check out your competitor websites or look in your own support forum. Find questions and provide the answers.

Behind the Scenes
What is it like in your office or workplace? Tour everything yourself. You might get inspired once you get out of your comfort zone. You could even give your customers a glimpse behind the scenes with a few photos and stories.

How It’s Made
Go back and see how your product/service works. People like to see how things work so document the process and lay it out for your customers.

Customer Reviews
Do customers leave reviews for you? We mentioned that you can tap into customer service; but if you get reviews via email or on your website, it’s a great source of ideas for content. Any questions your customers ask can lead to content, but also pay attention to the language your customers use. It might differ from the terms you use. Always use the terms your customers use when they’re discussing your industry and product.

Your Company’s About Page
Often, we get caught up in the daily activities at our company. It’s easy to forget about its history, vision, and mission. Check out the About page and get some inspiration for a piece of content.

Sneak Peeks and Previews
Is something coming up at your company that you’re excited about? Provide a little glimpse into the future for your customers. It can build intrigue.

“You May Also Like…” Article Suggestions
Do you read popular online publications like CNN and TIME? Most of these sites now have “You may also like…” suggestions. Check these out to see what publishers are promoting. Usually, they’re promoting their most popular or most important content, which can be clues to what people are interested in right now in your industry.

Competitor Email Signups and Newsletters
I mentioned industry email newsletters above but now look at competitor newsletters. Specifically, look at the signup forms. See what the competition is offering in return for signup. If it’s a guide or e-book, you can bet that it’s important, so you might want to create something similar (or even better).

Before and After Transformations
Has something changed at your company or within your industry? The change can make for a compelling story.

Difficult Decisions
What are the most difficult decisions your customers face in your industry? Find a few of these and discuss how your customers can make the decisions that are best for them.

Seemingly Obvious Situations (Can You Write about the Converse?)
Let’s say everyone is talking about the benefits of walking to work every day. It seems obvious that it’s beneficial, but what if you looked at the converse? Maybe it’s not healthy to walk to work every day. Maybe a bike is better. See if you can debunk some common practices.

Industry Myths
Look at things that your customers believe that they shouldn’t believe. Content like this can be good, but make sure you come prepared with research and examples.

Games
Games offer timeless lessons. You could probably get inspired by a game of Monopoly or Life.

Sports
Sports is another area that delivers valuable lessons. Playing a sport teaches you about many things in life. In my case, I’ve written posts that reference lessons I’ve learned while golfing.

Meditation
When your mind is focused on the present, you’re able to think of new things, things you weren’t thinking about before. That can lead to inspiration.

Challenge Yourself to Something
What is something that you’ve been wanting to accomplish? Challenge yourself to do it now. Document the experience for a piece of content.

Life-Changing Events
Things that change your life can make for great content. People like inspiring stories. Even if something negative happens, telling your story can help others going through similar situations.

And it doesn’t have to be about you. It could be something you’ve read or something a friend experienced.

Your Own Reviews
Look at a tool you’ve used recently or one you’ve been using for a long time. Write a review of it. Keep the focus on your customers, if possible. If things you’ve reviewed won’t help them, then get your hands on something that would and provide your thoughts.

Vacations
I know you’ll be on board with this one. Some of the best ideas I’ve had for blog posts have come when I was spending time on vacation. Being in a new place can spark inspiration. And when your brain is rested, you will think clearer than you do when you’re busy all the time with work.

Fiction
Fiction, any kind, can lead to inspiration. Fiction explores the common themes we experience in life; and in just about every piece of content, you’re exploring a common theme that affects someone.

Give Strangers Fake Backgrounds and Stories
A person on the show was a screenwriter. He said he watched people in public places and imagined fake backgrounds for them. He would see a couple and imagine how they had met and what kind of work they did.
Thinking about people in this way trains your brain to think in new ways, and that can help with the content you create.

Life Lessons
Those lessons your parents, family, and friends have taught you throughout life can lead to wonderful content. We love hearing the wisdom our elders have shared with us and with others.

Clichés
These are things that are so common we say them without even considering if they’re actually true or not. Think of the common sayings you’ve heard and see if you can come up with an argument against them.

Sketching
Sketching can actually improve your memory. When you’re trying to think of something to write about, your mind can wander. Sketching can focus your mind just enough to help you come up with a great idea for your new content. The activity also works in different parts of your brain.
You could even use the sketch itself as a piece of content.

Film Dialogue
At one point, the main character states that the same five people make it to the final table in the World Series Of Poker every year. They’re not lucky. They’re the best, and they worked to get there. Hearing that can lead to creating content about the theme of hard work or about dominating your niche. Look at films for inspiration. Pay attention to the themes the characters discuss.

Song Lyrics
Music inspires just about everyone. Artists sing about all the emotions and situations we experience in life. If you’re in a rut with brainstorming, listen to music for a while. Get lost in the lyrics, and you may find a theme you can use for a piece of content.

Your Favorite Hobby
My favorite hobby is golf. I get inspiration from it in a few ways: conversations with fellow golfers, situations I find myself in, things that challenge me. When you step outside the areas where you commonly work, you can find inspiration that leads to new insight.

Family and Friends
Family and friends are your best support system. If you’re struggling with something, just ask them for their thoughts. See if they have any questions. They want you to succeed, and they’ll be happy to get your brain working again. They can help you see something from a different point of view, and that can lead to better content.

Walk Outdoors
Writer’s block can put you in a bad mood. A bad mood won’t work for creating great content. Get outside and go for a walk.
You don’t believe me? One study found that walking thirty minutes had a bigger impact on depression than anti-depressant medication. Another study found that the more steps a person takes, the better the mood they are in.

Email newsletters
We look at the inbox every day, but how often do we search it for great content? Perhaps we should consider email the original content discovery engine. You make your interests known (by signing up for newsletters), and your inbox delivers tailored content. Newsletters are often filled with hand-picked links of interest. The best ones have one or two new pieces of content that you can share each day. Here are a few to consider:

Next Draft
Managed by Dave Pell, this daily newsletter contains the day’s most fascinating news – a Top Ten of interesting links from around the web, often starting with current events and meandering into fun, off-beat, interesting links.

The Daily Digg
The newsletter offshoot of Digg.com, this daily email brings you up to speed on the top stories from yesterday with an uncanny knack for highlighting potentially viral content. Digg’s algorithms and users help identify the day’s most important stories, which you can glean for uniquely shareable content.
Sign up by clicking the Daily Digg link in the menu bar of the Digg homepage.

Austin Kleon
Author and illustrator Austin Kleon is one of the most unique marketing and motivational minds out there, and his newsletter reflects his eye for design and his keen curation of content off the beaten path.

Zen Habits
The Zen Habits newsletter delivers Leo Babuta’s popular insights into simplicity and peace. The stories here could provide a good balance to the marketing and social media posts in a stream.

SmartBrief
Newsletters from SmartBrief cover a vast array of topics and professions – 150 to be exact. The daily newsletters of curated content focus on a particular industry, and you can browse a deep list of topics to find ones that suit you (Tech and Business topics is a good place to start).

5 Intriguing Things by Alexis Madrigal
A senior editor at The Atlantic, Alexis shares links that span a wide range of topics – technology, science, culture, just to name a few.
Pro tip: Once your inbox fills up with quality newsletters, you can manage them with Unroll.me, a service that rolls all your subscriptions into a daily digest. You can still click on individual links and read all the copy, and you get to do so from a slick dashboard with minimal impact on your inbox.

Subreddits
Reddit helps identify a wealth of valuable content as discovered and voted on by its deep user base. Specialized subreddits focus on a single topic and can be an ideal place to monitor up-and-coming links you can use. The full list of subreddits covers just about any topic you could imagine. Here are a few that might be relevant for digital marketers:

• R/Socialmedia
• R/Bigseo
• R/Advertising
• R/Design
• R/ContentCreation
• R/Infographics
• R/InternetIsBeautiful

Pocket
Pocket is a multi-dimensional content finder. First and foremost, you can use the app like nature intended: Save the articles you find online to read later. Inside the app, Pocket will even notify you of what stories are popular and trending.


Beyond the basic functionality of Pocket, there are some neat ways that the company helps highlight particular types of content. The Pocket blog features popular posts about timely events like the Oscars and the Super Bowl. And particularly helpful is the Twitter offshoot @PocketHits. The account tweets three to five great pieces of content daily.

The quotes page on Goodreads.com
Oftentimes, you will want to share more than just great articles. A good quote, perhaps?
If so, Goodreads is a worthwhile stop. The quotes page on Goodreads pulls out the best snippets from books and authors, as chosen by the large community of Goodreads users. Here’s a selection from some of the top quotes:

• “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
• “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Bernard Baruch
• “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West

The Latest
Built as a way to monitor what’s hot on Twitter (without actually monitoring Twitter yourself all day), The Latest prides itself on quality curation of top links. To accomplish this, the site polls a number of top influencers on Twitter and extracts and measures the links they share. The top ten links get added to the Latest homepage and are updated as new best-of links surface. You can also follow top stories on Twitter from The Latest.

BuzzSumo
Gauging the virality of an article sometimes seems like voodoo magic. How can you tell what people like when there’s so much of it out there? BuzzSumo helps separate the signal from the noise with a tool that collects all vital share stats and spits out a dashboard of top links. You can see what has performed best on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and overall, and the tool also lets you filter by date and content type (e.g., guest posts, video, infographics).

Sidebar
Curating unique content with a design focus, Sidebar.io provides a daily list of top links that you can grab on the Sidebar homepage or in the Sidebar daily newsletter. A handful of human editors upvote submitted links to determine what reaches the Sidebar homepage on any given day. The results (up to five links) are posted and emailed out.

Twitter lists
Many Twitter power users rely on lists to make sense of their huge stream of tweets. Lists are an ideal, minimal way to focus on a smaller number of voices—no @ replies or Retweets show up in the stream for a list, and you can choose which Twitter users get added. A common practice is to set up a list around a topic (e.g., startups, design) or a group of people (e.g., influencers, coworkers). Here are a few handy ones to get started:

• AdWeek Marketing Top 50 – list curated by Mark Schaefer
• Writers at Social Media Examiner – list curated by Michael Stelzner
• Copywriting / Writing – list curated by Unbounce
• Social Media Managers – list curated by Mashable
• The Buffer team ?

Want more? Here’s The 101 Best Twitter Lists To Follow in the Twitterverse.

Medium collections
The blogging platform Medium has an incredibly deep well of shareable content, much of which is highlighted on the Medium home page. For an even finer degree of curation, you can hop onto collections built by Medium’s users. Here are a few examples:

• What I Learned Building …
• Social Media

Slideshare
Two things make Slideshare a great source for original content: 1) the quality of the submissions are top-notch with presentations from some of the top voices in digital marketing, and 2) the content is visual—pictures, graphs, etc.—meaning a huge opportunity for added engagement.

On the homepage, Slidshare lists the most popular decks currently being shared as well as decks around a certain topic. Here are some of the top presentations on Facebook and Twitter.

• Netflix Culture: Freedom and Responsibility
• How to Trade a Red Paperclip for a House
• 26 Time Management Hacks I Wish I’d Known at 20

What’s Trending on Google+ and Pinterest
Of course, the top social media networks also have a pretty good idea of what content is popular. All you have to do is ask!
Google+ tracks its rising content in a section titled Hot and Recommended. Its algorithms pull up-and-coming content that has resonated on the network or is about to. To reach this feature, click on the Explore link on your top navigation bar, then choose “What’s Hot” from the list of tags.

The Feature
Just as the afore-mentioned Pocket highlights the best content that its users appreciate, the best content from fellow read-later app Instapaper can be found online, too, via The Feature.
The Feature runs on Tumblr, so you can pull up the full archive to quickly browse what’s been shared.

Idea generators

• Answer the Public is quite handy for generating a mindmap of related ideas and questions.
• Portent’s Content Idea Generator actually takes multiple stabs at crafting headlines for you.
• Wordstream created a post about idea generation tools that offers even more.

Keyword tools
Keyword tools are everywhere, free and paid. Of course, if you’re a serious SEO researcher, you’ll want to consider the paid tools and identify the feature sets and fees that work best for you. Here, for the simple purpose of hunting for content marketing ideas, I’ll present three you’re likely to find helpful and easy to use.

• Google AdWords Keyword Planner—The free tool from Google was created to help marketers plan pay-per-click ad campaigns. However, whether you buy ads or not, the tool will generate lists of related keywords based on the terms you enter and broadly estimate search volume, making it a good starting point for content marketing ideas.
• Ubersuggest
• Keyword Tool.io

Ubersuggest and KeywordTool are similar and focus on generating a long list of related search terms, largely of the long tail variety, in an alphabetical format. Search volume is not indicated with the free versions. There is, to a limited degree, a variety of ways to stratify searches (by search engines and search types). Ubersuggest includes a word cloud display option, but it’s probably more of a toy than a tool.

****Help section
If your company’s site has a help or support section on its site, dig into it. Wander your way into your competitor’s help sections too. What topics could use more informed answers? What ideas could be expanded?

****Onsite search

Does your website and/or blog have a search mechanism? The data it captures is bound to tell you exactly what people are looking for, which is exactly what you need to create content about.

 

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Generating Blog Post Titles & Ideas

• Blog, Borrow, Steal. What headlines do you see that capture your interest? Steal that headline and tweak it for your own purposes. Imitation is flattery x5!
• Same But Different. You’ll find that, for the most part, the ideas spun by most of these topic generators are largely the same. These generators are using formulas that work and applying them to your key themes. If you find that you prefer one generator over another, go ahead and stick with that one.
• Expand Upon Generator Ideas. The “X Things You Don’t Know About ___________” is a standard blog topic. It’s overdone and overused, but it’s still spit out as a good idea because it works – it generates curiosity. Don’t be afraid to use one of these tried and true blog structures, but make sure that you add some creativity to make it your own.

Content Strategy Helper
The Content Strategy Helper by Built Visible is actually a Google Doc tool that generates blog topic ideas right into your Google spreadsheet.
The tool gathers information from Google News, Google Insights, Reddit, YouTube, Topsy, and more sources to show the stories everyone is talking about. As a bonus, it also offers outreach contacts for relative topics, which is always handy.

Link Bait Generator
The Link Bait Generator isn’t as flashy as the other blog idea tools, with a simplistic, barebones design.
Type in your keyword and then choose whether you’re looking to write a blog post that is:

• Controversial
• Fun
• A List
• Shocking

Build Your Own Blog’s Idea Generator
The Blog Post Idea Generator from Build Your Own Blog is a bit different in that you don’t put in any keyword related to your industry – you just tap the “generate blog post idea” button and off you go.

HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator
HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator has you input three different nouns and dishes back five blog topic ideas that will get those creative juices flowing.

 

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Got any plug on good outsources to put this together?

 

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AUTOMOTIVE
www.onwheelsinc.com
award-winning online magazine spotlighting the love affair between African Americans and their cars.

BUSINESS
www.blackenterprise.com
highlights profitable business opportunities for African Americans.
www.nationalbbc.org
organization empowering blacks through entrepreneurship and capitalistic endeavors
www.blackstocks.com
get a grip on stock information from industry insiders.
www.targetmarketnews.com
analyzes black consumer spending and its impact on the economy
www.diversityinc.com
a look at diversity in the corporate world
www.african-americaninvestor.com
up-to-date investment source for African Americans who want to keep their hands on their money

CULTURE
www.agoodblackman.com
dedicated to loving, honoring, uplifting and celebrating men of African descent and men of color.
www.socialstep.com
don't step out without checking this national information guide
www.afronet.com
move over Yahoo and Google; now there's afronet.com
www.africana.com
gateway to black entertainment, arts and history.
www.savoymag.com
lifestyle resource for young black professionals.
www.thekingcenter.com
be one of the 6,000 annual visitors to the center dedicated to the late Dr. King.
www.harlemlive.com
want to know what's going on in Harlem?
www.jack-and-jill.org
family organization enhancing the beautiful minds of African Americans with cultural, social and civic activities.
www.juneteenth.com
learn more about the oldest known celebration of freedom from slavery.
www.melanet.com
forum for African American intellectuals and economists.
www.aawc.com
African American art, poetry, entertainment and general information for the whole family.
www.blackplanet.com
don't quit before networking and finding a new job at this community site
www.everythingblack.com
finally! a black search engine, and it's growing by the minute.
www.niaonline.com
online fashion and lifestyle magazine for the stylish and confident black woman

EDUCATION
www.blackhistory.com
learn about black history three hundred and sixty-five days a year.
www.blackfacts.com
world's largest free online database of black history information.
www.blackhistory.eb.com
Encyclopedia Britannica's a-z guide to Black History.
www.aachild.com
information for the nurturing and raising of African American children
www.abetterchance.com
a useful resource for identifying, recruiting and developing leaders among young people of color.
www.uncf.org
the United Negro College Fund, America's #1 African American education assistance organization.
www.raaheroes.com
salutes hundreds of African Americans who have made a difference
www.naaas.org
provides annual conferences dealing with African American studies and its affiliates
www.kulturezone.com
fun and educational site catering to kids and parents of color.
www.spelman.edu
find out more about the college ranked #2 In acceptances of African Americans into US medical schools.
www.morehouse.edu
information on the nation's largest liberal arts college for men
www.famu.edu
find out about the 108 undergraduate degrees or 60 graduate degrees at Florida A&M university.
www.cau.edu
more information about higher education at Clark Atlanta University
www.howard.edu
everyone has heard of Howard University, now get all the information on how to go there
www.tusk.edu
Booker T. Washington made way for the school of opportunity -- take advantage.
www.homeworkhelppage.com
selected as a "Best Bet" on the USA TODAY Education Web Site.
www.hbcu-central.com
free information about Historically Black Colleges and Universities nationwide

ENTERTAINMENT
www.bet.com
America's premiere black entertainment source
www.blackvoices.com
stories of the moment in news and entertainment from a flavorful perspective
www.alvinailey.org
put one foot in front of the other as you follow the legendary dance troupe.
www.eurweb.com
get dally news on the likes of Shaq, Denzel and Prince for free
www.radioblack.com
a collective guide to black radio stations around the world.
www.hollah.com
log on and hear a truly expressive and unique style of humor
www.newblackcity.com
featuring controversial radio, shopping and business expansion opportunities
www.y2g.com
where hip-hop, sports, style and allure collide
www.urbanentertainment.com
production, exhibition and distribution for animation, shorts and full-length films created by African Americans

FITNESS AND HEALTH
www.omhrc.gov
a minority healthcare resource from the Office of Minority Health
www.healthquestmag.com
has shaped and led the discussion on Black Health Issues
www.blackhealthcare.com
culturally oriented information provider dedicated to addressing the special health problems of African Americans

FILM
www.blackfilm.com
links the black film community and gives a forum for filmmakers, scholars and fans
www.blackmovie.com
selling films as a way to help you "bring the urban experience home"
www.3blackchicks.com
these three are "reviewing life with flava"
www.afrigeneas.com
a site devoted to African American genealogy
www.rootsweb.com
free genealogy site for those in search of their roots

HUMOR
www.blackcomedydirect.com
come get your laugh on
www.ucomics.com
"the best comics site in the universe"

LITERATURE
www.qbr.com
black book reviews online
www.nubianpoets.com
praises the excellence of poets past and present. end highlights the poets of the future
www.timbooktu.com
stories, poetry and essays with an African American flavor
www.allblackbooks.com
a 100% black owned online bookstore catering to the black reader`s needs.
www.aalbc.com
team about black authors, read excerpts, listen to poetry and join in online discussions.
www.thegrits.com
online book club for anyone interested in the diversity of contemporary African American Literature
www.blackwriters.org
striving to expand appreciation of the Black literary tradition

MUSIC
www.afrovoices.com
focuses on African American performers and composers and on vocal music forms they influenced, especially opera, art forms and Negro spirituals composed for concert performance
www.aka.com
where the artist, promoter, manager, and advertiser put out there what they want
www.blackgospel.com
hallelujah! a one stop shop for gospel music and information
www.jazzusa.com
get the latest information on everything going on in jazz
www.vibe.com
here is another way to enjoy Vibe magazine.
www.thebluehighway.com
today's music would have no soul if it weren't for the blues

NEWS
www.blackheadlines.com
the top news from a black perspective
www.blackpressusa.com
well received Web site featuring exclusives from black journalists and community publicists
www.nnpa.org
with over 200 black newspapers, there has been no competition for this news service since 1970

POLITICS
www.tbwt.com
join the information revolution moving toward the empowerment of black people
www.matah.com
a site focusing on black support of black owned businesses
www.nul.org
enabling African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights

SEARCH ENGINE
www.blackwebportal.com
black owned and operated, and equipped with the largest conglomeration of products, information, and services.
www.searchblack.com
black owned and operated site, putting control at the fingertips of the user
www.btackamericaweb.com
Tom Joyner's venture into credible news and information for all aspects of African American life

SHOPPING
www.shopnow.com
save yourself the drive and try out the online mall
www.cushcity.com
blacks can skip over amazon.com and come straight here
www.urbanstyle.com
shop neighborhood-style from the independent retailers on this site
www.bodyinblack.com
uniquely designed greeting cards and art prints created to energize the mind, body and spirit
www.hiphopcloset.com
apparel for the hip-hop in all of us

SPORTS
www.ibcsports.com
get an inside took into black college sports
www.blackathlete.com
continuously evolving site featuring stories about black athletes written by top black journalists
www.blackbaseball.com
keeps the legend of the Negro leagues alive
www.nbs.org
if you didn't know black people skied, now you do
www.mgaa.com
for any minority who wants to be like Tiger
TECHNOLOGY
www.theconduit.com
African American source for the latest technological information and conspiracy theories

TRAVEL
www.africanamericantravel.com
get great deals and fares while knowing where to go when black support is needed
www.blackopolis.com
lifestyle information ranging from business to leisure
www.bdsummit.com
travel resources for African Americans airfares, hotels, cruises, you name it
www.blackchicago.com
dedicated to the African American community in the greater Chicago land area
www.blacktravelonline.com
voted "Best Site" by The Atlanta Journal Constitution (May, 2001); Voted "Best of the Web" by Y2G, The Best of Life (2000), and Official Travel Website of the Los Angeles Black Business Expo & Trade Show -- need we say more
www.soulofamerica.com
plan your vacation with culture and soul
WOMEN'S INTEREST
www.blackliving.com
black women, there are people to talk to
www.blackgirl.org
created for black women who love themselves and for those who love them
www.clickonbeauty.com
comprehensive resource for all hair care and beauty needs
www.blackwomenshealth.com
dedicated to the health and wellness of today's African American

 

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#1 – EURWeb
eurweb.com

Domain Created: Apr 13, 1999 (21 Years, 4 Months)
Owner: Rabercom Enterprises
Email: raberbailey@eurweb.com

Since its online launch in 1997, the EUR/Electronic Urban Report has become the Internet’s foremost information source for urban entertainment, sports, politics and opinion.

#2 – The Source
thesource.com

Domain Created: Nov 15, 1993 (26 Years, 9 Months)
Owner: The North Star Group
Email: editorial@thesource.com

Since 1988, the Source has been the leading international voice for the ever-evolving world of Hip-Hop music, culture and politics.

#3 – Black Enterprise
blackenterprise.com

Domain Created: Nov 17, 1995 (24 Years, 9 Months)
Owner: Earl G. Graves Publishing Company, Inc.
Email: beeditors@blackenterprise.com

Black Enterprise is the premier business, investing, and wealth-building resource for African Americans. Since 1970, they have provided essential business information and advice to professionals, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers.

#4 – Essence
essence.com

Domain Created: Mar 27, 1996 (24 Years, 4 Months)
Owner: Essence Ventures LLC
Email: latraviette@ngmventures.com

Founded in 1970, Essence is an international, omni-channel destination for diverse storytelling and original content comprising beauty, fashion, lifestyle, entertainment, and culture.

#5 – Bossip
bossip.com

Domain Created: Mar 30, 2006 (14 Years, 4 Months)
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.
Email: tips@bossip.com

Bossip.com is the premier destination for African American popular culture and entertainment, with a voice that’s edgy, viciously hilarious, politically aware–and completely unique.

#6 – Worldstar Hip Hop
worldstarhiphop.com

Domain Created: Dec 18, 2011 (8 Years, 8 Months)
Owner: Worldstar LLC.
Email: instagram@worldstarhiphop.com

WorldStarHipHop.com was formed in 2005 and has undergone tremendous growth since it’s initial launch. WorldStarHipHop.com is the premiere online hip hop destination. Artists and brands alike have utilized the platform that WorldStarHipHop.com to debut their music videos, singles, apparel, and products given the sites traffic and loyal audience.

#7 – SOHH
sohh.com

Domain Created: Jan 30, 1997 (23 Years, 6 Months)
Owner: 4CONTROL Media, Inc
Email: social@sohh.com

For the best in Hip-Hop News, there is SOHH (Support Online Hip Hop). Voted one of the best Hip Hop sites by Rolling Stone in 2001.

#8 – Black America Web
blackamericaweb.com

Domain Created: May 07, 1999 (21 Years, 3 Months)
Owner: REACH Media
Email: sales@blackamericaweb.com

REACH Media was formed in January 2003 to develop, acquire, and partner in quality media and marketing opportunities targeting the African American community and lifestyles. Tom Joyner, radio’s preeminent African-American entertainer REACH Media’s founder, chairperson, and majority owner.

#9 – Lipstick Alley
lipstickalley.com
AALBC Score: 6.85
Domain Created: Sep 30, 2000 (19 Years, 10 Months)
SEMrush Rank: 7,819
Alexa Rank: 8,205
Bing (indexed pages): 105,000
Owner:
Email:

Lipstick Alley members are predominantly African American females, but all races and genders are welcome to join.

#10 – Rolling Out
rollingout.com
Domain Created: Oct 19, 1998 (21 Years, 10 Months)
Owner: Steed Media Group
Email: info@rollingout.com

RollingOut.com is the top resource for Breaking Black News, Celebrity Videos, Entertainment, Business, and more.

#11 – Africanews
africanews.com
Domain Created: Feb 11, 1996 (24 Years, 6 Months)
Owner: Michael Peters
Email: digital@africanews.com

In response to the question “Why Africanews?” Michael Peters answered: “Africa is a land of opportunities. It is a continent which is rising. But why can’t we hear what the Africans have to say, not only on African affairs but on world affairs too? The demand for unbiased News is unmet. There is a gap to fill. This is why we are launching Africanews to pioneer independent News from the African perspective. A new adventure starts for a fully-fledged Pan-African network whose unique mission is empowering people through independent and reliable news.”

#12 – Ebony
ebony.com
Domain Created: Apr 29, 1998 (22 Years, 3 Months)
Owner: Clear View Group
Email: social@ebony.2com

EBONY is the No. 1 source for an authoritative perspective on the multidimensional African-American community. The EBONY brand, including print, digital and social reaches over 30 million readers monthly. EBONY media reflects the cross-section of Black America as delivered by the best thinkers, trendsetters, activists, celebrities, and next-generation leaders.

#13 – The Grio
thegrio.com
Domain Created: Mar 31, 2009 (11 Years, 4 Months)
Owner: Entertainment Studios
Email: info@thegrio.com

TheGrio.com is a video news community devoted to providing stories and issues that affect and reflect black America but may be underrepresented in traditional national news outlets.

#14 – All Hip Hop
allhiphop.com
Domain Created: Apr 04, 1999 (21 Years, 4 Months)
Owner: AHH Holdings LLC
Email: nolanstrong1@gmail.com

AllHipHop.com was founded and launched in 1998 by CEO’s Grouchy Greg Watkins and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur. AllHipHop.com is a valuable resource for hip-hop on the internet, featuring daily news, interviews, reviews, multimedia, a fast-growing community, and other interesting content.

#15 – HelloBeautiful
hellobeautiful.com
Domain Created: Jun 16, 1999 (21 Years, 2 Months)
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.
Email: advertising@interactiveone.com

HelloBeautiful.com is where Black women go to talk about themselves shamelessly. We share, confess, indulge, encourage, and celebrate each other while indulging our guilty pleasures.

#16 – NewsOne
newsone.com
Domain Created: May 27, 2010 (10 Years, 2 Months)
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.
Email: advertising@interactiveone.com

NewsOne.com is your destination for news and information for and about Blacks in America. Filled with original stories, diverse opinions, photos, videos and polls, let NewsOne be your daily stop and make your voices heard!

#17 – AALBC.com
aalbc.com
Domain Created: Mar 02, 1998 (22 Years, 5 Months)
Owner: AALBC.com, LLC
Email: troy@aalbc.com

AALBC.com oldest, largest, and most frequently visited website dedicated to books written by or about people of African descent. AALBC.com’s

#18 – Young, Black and Fabulous
theybf.com
Domain Created: Nov 11, 2007 (12 Years, 9 Months)
Owner: Young, Black and Fabulous, LLC
Email: tips@theybf.com

Delivering breaking news, exclusive stories, the fab, the foolywang and instant celebrity news.

#19 – Madame Noire
madamenoire.com
Domain Created: Mar 10, 2010 (10 Years, 5 Months)
Owner: Interactive One, LLC.
Email: advertising@interactiveone.com

In the heart of a woman, you’ll find two things: love, and more love. Even when that woman’s having a bad hair day or struggling with her 1980’s wardrobe, she is filled with love. This woman is you, your sister, your mother, your role model, your wife, your friend, your girlfriend, your cousin, your First Lady…: we listen to her thoughts and collect them here. And, we fondly call her “MadameNoire.”

#20 – Atlanta Black Star
atlantablackstar.com
Domain Created: Feb 02, 2012 (8 Years, 6 Months)
Owner: Diamond Diaspora Media
Email: info@atlantablackstar.com

“Empowering narratives to change our world – News, Politics, Entertainment, Culture, and more from a Black perspective.”

#21 – MTO News
mtonews.com
Domain Created: Jun 27, 2014 (6 Years, 1 Months)
Owner:
Email: info@mediatakeout.com

MTONews.com launched in 2006 and quickly became the top online destination for African American news. The site covers celebrity, entertainment and general interest news, with a focus on African American culture.

#22 – JET Magazine
jetmag.com
Domain Created: Jul 05, 1996 (24 Years, 1 Months)
Owner: Clear View Group
Email:

We’re hip, engaging, fresh, saucy, informative…and naturally, opinionated. At JET we proudly establish ourselves as the coolest point of entry for a young, determined audience who won’t be put in a box.

#23 – Blavity
blavity.com
Domain Created: Dec 19, 2013 (6 Years, 8 Months)
Owner: Blavity
Email: team@blavity.com

“Blavity is a community of the most exceptional multi-cultural creators and influencers in the world. We partner with diverse content creators and influencers to help them reach a wider audience, amplify their message, and fund their hustles. We believe that the world shifts according to the way people see it. If you change the way people view the world, you can transform it.”

#24 – BlackNews.com
blacknews.com
Domain Created: Aug 30, 1998 (21 Years, 11 Months)
Owner: Diversity City Media
Email: support@diversitycity.com

 

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Social Media Content Marketing Blogs
Social Media Examiner – Daily original content on how to navigate the social media jungle through social networking, blog, and podcast best practices.

Jeff Bullas’s Blog – The author, blogger, and strategist offers insights on aspects of social media marketing, content marketing, and digital marketing.

Social Media Today – Provides daily insight for PR, marketing, and professionals in other disciplines requiring social media information.

Razor Social – Provides independent advice on the latest in social media tools and social media technology.

Social Media Explorer – A leading publisher of insights and opinions on social media marketing, written internally and by a roster of marketing thought leaders.

DreamGrow Social Media – Offers ideas and tools to help you shine in your organization and achieve better, measurable social media marketing results.

Socialnomics – Presents social media stories, trends, studies and statistics. The name Socialnomics means that as the site’s success grows, the more social good they hope to give back.

Buffer – Buffer’s blog focuses on UX, productivity, customer happiness, writing, and life hacks for an all-encompassing view of business.

Social Fresh – Inspires businesses to improve their marketing strategies through social media education.

Hootsuite – Hootsuite’s blog offers tips relating to a variety of social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Kik.

Social Media Impact – Aimed at anyone interested in social media. Featuring original content, product reviews and tips, as well as curated articles from other top social media websites.

SEO Blogs
Quick Sprout – From Neil Patel, co-founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics and Hello Bar. He writes on how businesses can improve search engine optimization and content marketing strategy.

Search Engine Watch – Revolves around tips and information on search, analysis of the search industry, and support for site owners wanting to improve SEO.

Moz – The Moz blog is a great asset for marketers, providing fresh ideas on content, SEO and providing value to buyers.

Search Engine Land – A news and information blog on global trends and insights into search engine marketing and the search engine industry as a whole.

Success Works – Educates online marketers on optimizing content for SEO with tips, training and writing advice.

Search Engine Journal – Offers a unique community-based approach to search marketing content. This blog’s content comes from almost all real experts, both in-house and independent Internet marketers.

Vertical Leap – Helps companies drive traffic and increase brand awareness. Covers SEO, PPC, content marketing, social PR, and design.

Brandpoint – Content news, developments, best practices, emerging ideas, insights and thought leadership from a bunch of content junkies.

Content Marketing & Strategy Blogs
Duct Tape Marketing – Provides advice for small businesses on how to improve marketing strategy through content marketing tactics.

Occam’s Razor – By author and digital marketing expert Avinash Kaushik. He writes on an array of digital marketing topics, offering actionable insights for content strategies and marketing metrics.

Sparksheet – Explores how various brands use tools and platforms to distribute relevant content to the right audience.

Freshmail – Covering all you need to know about email marketing, from basic metrics to creativity tips, best practices, growth hacks and more.

ClickZ – Interactive marketing news and information from search to social to technology. ClickZ offers advice for content marketers to do their jobs better.

The Knowledge Bank – Helps companies create and distribute content that engages and educates a specific audience.

Spin Sucks – Influencer Gini Dietrich provides daily content advice for PR and marketing professionals’ development.

{grow} – A community to help you grow, from influencer Mark Schaefer. Focused on marketing technology and strategy.

The Influential Marketing Blog – Non obvious marketing insights from Rohit Bhargava, trend curator and author of the Wall Street Journal best seller “Non-Obvious.”

Barry Feldman’s The Point – Chock full of consultant Barry Feldman’s knowledge of social media, content strategy, influencer marketing and more.

Seth Godin’s Blog – The best-selling author and marketing expert writes on marketing, leadership, change, and spreading new ideas.

Heidi Cohen’s Actionable Marketing Guide – Marketing expert, educator, and writer Heidi Cohen provides actionable tips and advice for digital marketers.

Vertical Measures – Content marketing expert Arnie Kuenn is the CEO of this agency. Vertical Measures is full of content strategy and tactics to ensure your content marketing program is a success.

Enchanting Marketing – Teaches readers how to gain followers, utilize SEO and create engaging content for target audiences.

More Content Marketing Blogs
CMS Wire – Provides daily information on digital marketing, social business, and enterprise information management.

CMO.com – Information on executive level strategies and marketing information for Chief Marketing Officers.

The Content Wrangler – Offers insights and advice for content marketers on strategy, content management, and best practices.

Web Ink Now – Provides content marketing strategy advice and general leadership insights. Managed by author and influencer David Meerman Scott.

SnapApp Blog – Covers content marketing from SEO to PPC and strategy, with a focus on interactive content.

eContent – Features articles on digital marketing, publishing, and media for businesses, targeting executive-level decision makers with strategic information.

Orbit Media Studios – Providing digestible information on management, content marketing, web design, and digital marketing tips.

Velocity – Focused on B2B content marketing. A great information resource from influencer Doug Kessler for marketers looking for a fresh take on content.

HubSpot – Offers insights and advice for marketers regarding inbound marketing, sales and social media, as well as opinion articles.

Marketo – Provides information in various key marketing areas including marketing automation, social media, content marketing, and email marketing.

ExactTarget – Provides daily insights for content marketers about mobile, email, marketing automation and cross-channel strategy.

Marketing Interactions – Content marketing industry insights and strategies from influencer Ardath Albee.

KISSmetrics – Neil Patel offers content marketers information on SEO, online marketing, and analytics to better shape marketing processes.

Oracle Marketing Cloud – Examines marketing technology, content marketing, email, and social media to help educate marketers.

Curata – Focuses on content marketing strategy insights, content curation best practices, and everything marketers need to develop a successful content strategy, increase buyer engagement, and improve the quality and quantity of leads.

MarketingProfs – Provides consistent insights into the marketing world. There’s a variety of topics: content, non-profit, customer behavior, ROI, PR, sales, and more.

Even More Content Marketing Blogs!
TopRank Online Marketing – Offers expert insights on new topics including content marketing, content tools, writing, SEO, and social.

Inbound Marketing Agents – The expert writers at IMA focus on inbound marketing topics. They provide a fresh take on these subjects for content marketers.

Content Marketing Institute – CMI writes engaging content daily for a wide audience about content, curation, ROI, social, and many more topics with actionable value.

Convince and Convert – Educates content marketers about online strategies to improve customer engagement and lead quality.

Unbounce – Online marketing insights, SEO, analytics, and content are just some of the subjects covered.

Orbit Media – Influencer Andy Crestodina’s blog focuses on SEO, marketing, analytics, and web design.

Contentology – Focuses on everything content, from how to create a visual storytelling strategy, to social content, and content marketing tools.

Sprout Content – Content marketing tips and tricks for optimizing your efforts and increasing brand value.

LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog – Marketing and content marketing insight and strategy.

The Sales Lion – Expert marketing advice on teaching and communicating in today’s digital world.

PR 20/20 Blog – Covers strategy, content, SEO, social, PR, email, and marketing technologies.

MarketingThink.com – By marketing expert Gerry Moran. He proffers his vast knowledge of content marketing, small business, personal branding, and many other marketing-related fields.

Relevance – Industry expert Chad Pollitt expands upon many subjects, including content promotion, social media marketing, and content curation.

Marketing Insider Group – Influencer Michael Brenner’s blog is packed with insightful, original content. Covers content marketing, demand generation, marketing strategy, social media, and more.

Marketing Technology Blogs
The Marketing Technology Blog – Provides daily updates from marketing professionals on the latest in marketing technology.

Chief Marketing Technologist Blog – Marketing technologist Scott Brinker, co-founder and CTO at ion interactive, writes on marketing technology trends and insights.

Martech Advisor – Expert advice on the best technology for optimizing your marketing strategy.

The Hub – Stay on top of the latest marketing technology trends.

Analysts & Research Blogs
Brian Solis’s Blog – Solis is a principal analyst at Altimeter, anthropologist, and futurist. He writes about social business and how readers can use it to shape their organizations.

Jake Sorofman’s Blog – Sorofman is a Research Director at Gartner. He writes about digital marketing strategy, trends, and best practices for mobile, social, and content marketing.

Ryan Skinner’s Blog – Skinner is a Senior Forrester Analyst. He provides insight for marketing leadership professionals about content and experiences that drive customer engagement.

Rebecca Lieb’s Blog – The well known influencer offers expert insights on digital and content strategy for marketers.

Marketing Experiments Blog – The first Internet research lab to conduct and publish experiments on optimizing marketing and sales strategies.

Michael Fauscette’s Blog – From the leader of IDC’s Software Business Solutions Group. Fauscette offers advice and analysis on emerging software strategies for businesses.

eMarketer – Covers ecommerce, digital marketing, and online media, offering insights and advice for marketers about the digital environment.

Econsultancy – Independent advice and insight. Offers content marketers a one-stop shop for improving strategies and answering digital marketing questions.

Blogging
Problogger – Professional blogger Darren Rowse proffers blogging tips and advice marketers can implement into a content strategy.

Copyblogger – Educates readers on how to “create killer online content.” Offers information on all aspects of content marketing blogs, from copywriting to SEO and social media.

Boost Blog Traffic – This community offers advice for content marketing blogs to increase traffic.

Blogging Tips – Advice and tips on how to rise above the crowd and become an authority in the blogging world.

Daily Blog Tips – Help for those who see blogging as more than a hobby and are focused on getting a return from their efforts.

BlogMutt – A good resource for blogging advice, content marketing strategy, and writing tips.

Sorry For Marketing – Marketing expert Jay Acunzo’s blog focuses on creativity, inspiration, and insight.

Conversation Agent – Thought leadership and writing insight from brand strategist and marketer Valeria Maltoni.

 

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To make idea-generation easier an editorial calendar can help. Also, revisit your key themes and search phrases from time to time. Using these will keep you on topic with your content.

Another tip, which I use often, is to keep a list of favorite places to visit—sites, blogs, magazine—when I want to know what’s new and what’s trending. I make it a habit to visit some of these places routinely just to make sure I’m staying on top of things, but I always turn to them when it’s time to refill the editorial calendar for the month or when I’m just stumped on what to write about.

1. Customer feedback. I love to turn customer and prospect questions into blog posts and more. (You should be keeping track of those FAQs anyway, and answer every single one.) Don't know where to start? Search your “sent” e-mail box. Chances are good that there are some real gems in there posing as an answer to a question from a prospect or customer.

2. Bookmarking service. I use delicious an old-school bookmarking site, to see what other folks are finding and saving. I also use it heavily to keep me organized when I’m researching topics for courses and e-books. I simply tag pages and then come back to them when it’s time to collect my thoughts.

3. Q&A site. The question-and-answer site, Quora lets you group information by topics and industries, making it easy to find good information on a topic. Community members vote on the answers so the best usually rises to the top. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for a topic and get it fed to your inbox.

4. My RSS reader. use Google Reader to check in with some of the 1000's of blogs you can subscribe too.

5. Blog content aggregator. Alltop is a site that collects the best blog content from leading bloggers in hundreds of categories and displays the recent posts on topic pages. It’s a great place to go and scan for topic ideas and industry updates.

6. Keyword phrases. Google’s free keyword search tools can give you keyword phrases that people are actually using to find your products and services, and offer some tips for what to call your blog posts.

7. Daily briefings. I subscribe to SmartBrief on a variety of topics and to see what some pretty smart editors are turning up for topics like social media, small business and marketing.

8. Social search engine. Topsy reveals the hottest, most shared, tweeted and talked about content across the Web. Simply put in a topic and see what’s hot. You can also subscribe to topics.

9. Random-yet-targeted searches. StumbleUpon which is a search engine of sorts, allows you to create an account and pick topics of interest. You can then “stumble” and it will show you random Web pages related to your chosen topics. It's a great way to find unique stuff and is oddly addictive.

10. Hit the magazine pile. subscribe to Wired, Inc, Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, Business Week, Success and Fast Company....