Don’t Guess Topics From Your Desk
Companies often start a blog with a meeting. Someone suggests writing about industry news, someone proposes an article about the company’s history, and someone wants to showcase a new machine. All of that can be interesting. But a customer usually isn’t searching for your machine. They’re searching for a solution to their problem.
A good topic doesn’t come from the question “what do we want to talk about.” It comes from “what are people dealing with right before they call a supplier.”
That’s precisely why it’s best to start with real inputs: phone calls, emails, inquiries, chat, forms, questions in Google Search Console. That’s where the customer’s language is. And it’s usually much more specific than the company’s language.
Search for Questions, Not Keywords
A keyword is a shortcut. A question is a situation. For content meant to generate leads, the situation is more important.
Instead of a generic topic like “automation,” search for:
- what to automate first in a company,
- how much invoice automation costs,
- when an AI assistant is worth it,
- how not to lose control over bids,
- what shouldn’t go into a public AI.
Instead of “SEO,” search for:
- why my website isn’t generating leads,
- how many articles a website needs,
- how to identify blog topics,
- when a service page is a good investment,
- how to track phone calls from articles.
Phrases like these are longer but closer to a decision. The person typing them is already dealing with something specific. That’s exactly the moment when a website should help.
Three Filters for Choosing a Topic
Run every topic through three simple questions.
| Filter | Question | What a Bad Answer Means |
|---|---|---|
| Demand | Is this a real customer problem? | The topic only interests the company |
| Link to Service | Can we offer them something after reading? | The article educates but doesn’t lead to a sale |
| Next Step | Does the reader know what to do next? | The text ends without any contact |
When a topic passes all three filters, it makes sense. If it only passes the first one, it might be good for general awareness, but don’t expect leads. If it fails the first one, don’t write it.
Where to Get an Initial List of Topics
Start simple. You don’t need an expensive tool. You need to extract what the company already knows but hasn’t written down.
Source list:
- the last 30 email inquiries,
- questions customers ask over the phone,
- price objections,
- questions asked just before an order,
- topics the sales rep has to explain repeatedly,
- competitors’ pages that appear for specific queries,
- Search Console data for an existing website,
- internal guides and checklists.
Pull the exact wording from each source. Don’t immediately polish it into marketing speak. If a customer says “why isn’t my website getting leads,” write it down exactly. Then craft a headline from that.
For a new website that doesn’t have data yet, use related sources: sales inquiries, queries from client websites, competitor analysis, and your own industry experience. Once the site starts collecting data, you’ll refine the topics.
Beware of Topics That Look Good but Don’t Sell
High search volume isn’t automatically good news. Generic queries often attract people who won’t buy. A student is looking for a definition, a competitor for research, someone else just wants a quick answer.
For a smaller business, queries with lower search volume but clear intent are often more valuable:
- cost of a service,
- delivery time,
- an obligation or a risk,
- comparison of options,
- an error or a problem,
- choosing a supplier,
- what to prepare before ordering.
Such an article may not get thousands of visits. It only needs to bring the right person at the right time. That’s the difference between content for traffic and content for leads.
A Topic Must Become a Page with a Goal
Once you have a topic, write down three things for it:
- What question the article will answer.
- What service it will lead to.
- How we will measure its success.
If you can’t answer the second point, the topic might not be commercially ready yet. If you can’t answer the third, you’ll be guessing after publishing.
That’s why in our process, we first look for topics and only then write. A standalone proposal of 20 topics costs 4,900 CZK, but it often saves much more: you won’t pay for articles that lead nowhere.
If you want to start without debates, order an initial analysis. We’ll look at your website, your industry, and the first queries that make sense to turn into content.
