The 3 Best Content Ideas (In Any Niche)

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content , with 750K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

Posted 3.6.25

The best content ideas are the same across every niche.

How can that be? You may wonder. Every niche has its issues and problems.

That’s precisely the point. All the best content ideas boil down to solving problems. Find the problems that plague readers in your niche — and you’ll never run out of content ideas.

And when you solve those problems in your content, you’ll keep adding followers and fans.

Ask just 3 questions about any subtopic in your niche and you can generate all those luscious ideas. And readers will adore your content. Let me explain a little bit more why this works — and how.

It starts with your audienc.

A little secret about getting ideas for your content

You’re desperate to connect with your audience. (All writers are.) But here’s a little secret you may not learn in YouTube videos or blog posts or even online courses: Readers are desperate, too. They are desperate for answers.

If you want to connect with your audience, the solution is simple. Help your readers. Give them what they want and need.

Your best content ideas will spring up from this principle. You can develop your unique following when you uncover what your niche’s readers desperately want. Then, you deliver it.

I’ve found a simple way to find out what my readers need. To get the best content ideas, I ask myself 3 questions about a subtopic. Then, I use my content to answer those questions.

The best content ideas come from asking just 3 questions

Question #1. How can you help your reader make a transformation?

A transformation is a change. But “change” is a dirty word. People resist change because it’s hard work … it carries a cost … it’s uncomfortable … it comes without guarantees … it’s confusing.

Despite all the angst surrounding change, people know that positive change can lead to a happier, healthier, more productive life. Why else would so many of us make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, get out of debt, or floss every day? We want to look better, be more financially stable, and get fewer cavities. People want results.

But the problem is that results only come after people make a change.

Solution: Make change more palatable for your readers.

You can connect with your audience and build your following when you identify a transformation that readers want … and write content that makes the change easier. In other words, help take the sting out of the change. Show how readers can have results with less effort … less cost … quicker … in a simpler and less complicated way.

For instance, show readers how to get oodles of the best content ideas by asking just 3 questions. (Evidence: you’re reading this.)

Or look at the Couch to 5K program. The transformation? Non-exercising wannabes become road race athletes. These are folks who have dreamed of being in good shape or at least having a healthier lifestyle. Maybe they’ve even tried to start a running program, but they’ve failed. Or they were high school athletes but have slipped into bad habits as the years have passed.

Couch to 5K is successful because it makes running easy, accessible, and achievable for beginners and backsliders. I say this from experience. I started life as a non-athletic nerd who went through the program in late middle age. Now, I regularly run 5Ks and 10Ks.

What transformations are your readers desperately looking for? Address one of the changes. Use your content to show how he can make that change more easily, with less cost, less time, less work, less discouragement, or less confusion.

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Use this worksheet to find the main point for your content.

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Question #2. What pressing problem does your reader need to solve?

A transformation is a change over time. But people have gazillions of problems they need to fix now. Use your content to solve pressing problems — those that are urgent.

Urgent problems are immediate. They need to be solved fast. And this approach is universal. You can understand how readers in any niche have problems that need fixing ASAP.

Let’s say your niche is parenting for newbies. One of the more pressing problems your readers face is sleep deprivation. So you write a piece of content that promises, “3 Ways to Get Your Newborn to Sleep Tonight.”

Your reader tries one of your tips and finds it works. Now, he wants to know more about what you have to say about raising little ones, right? The content has solved an immediate problem. And you’ve earned the right to be heard again by this reader.

So you set about to answer yet another pressing problem for your reader. And another. And since newborns present all kinds of pressing problems, you never run out of content ideas.

Question #3. How can you help your reader achieve a big goal?

Big goals can seem insurmountable. Buying a house … losing 50 pounds … learning a new language …

Any success coach will tell you the surest first step to achieving a big goal: break it down into smaller, achievable steps. Work the steps persistently, one by one. Soon, progress snowballs and you achieve your goal.

Some of my best content ideas come from studying my readers’ big goals. Then I craft step-by-step solutions to help them achieve those dreams.

Let’s look at an example. I write for nonprofits. Grants provide a key income stream for nonprofits. Over time, I’ve taught myself the grant writing craft. I didn’t learn the skill overnight but in a series of steps.

Now, millions in awarded grants later, I teach writing grants through my content. Like me once upon a time, others need this skill. Nonprofit executives, writers, and community leaders want to learn to write grants, but many of these fine folks enter the process fearfully. Convincing a funder to invest in their project is a big goal.

But they read my content which explains the 7 main parts of a grant proposal. They take steps to write one element and then another. Suddenly, grant writing is less of a mystery. These readers complete an application … submit it … receive the award.

They’ve achieved their goal because someone showed them how to master it in a series of steps.

Plenty of content creators paint big-picture goals for their niche audience. That’s a great place to start. Some of your best content ideas have their roots in those big goals.

Be the writer that makes it possible for your reader to achieve a big goal. Break down the process so it’s not so intimidating. You’ll connect to your audience by showing them what they can accomplish when they work in steps.

Bonus writing tip: Fashion each of your steps into a piece of content. Then combine all those pieces. Now you have a series of blog posts or videos. Or even a course or a book.

The best content ideas provide answers

In the short story “The Three Questions,” Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) writes about a king who seeks answers to three of life’s key questions: When is the best time to do something important? Who are the best people? What is the best thing to do?

Although the story was written in 1903, its message is timeless. The best time to act is now, the best people to serve are those with you, and the best thing to do is to help the person nearest you.

Take that lesson to heart. The people you should serve are your readers. The best time to help them is now. And the best thing to do is to help them by offering answers to the 3 questions they ask the most:

• How can I make a change more easily, for less cost, or faster?
• How can I solve a problem that’s pressing and urgent?
• How can I achieve a seemingly insurmountable goal?

Answer those questions for your reader and you’ll have a nearly limitless supply of the best content ideas. What you write will be useful and valuable. And for that, your reader will become your die-hard fan.

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