If you’re a freelance writer looking to increase sales, you may not have considered writing about trending topics. While writing evergreen content can and should be a key part of your content creation strategy, there are many clients looking to buy more up-to-the-minute content. Original content that addresses current issues, news stories, and trends in specific industries is highly sought after.

Writing about trending topics will not only help you stand out to potential content buyers, it will also improve your researching and writing skills. There are other advantages too:

  • Topical content is generally more popular on social media, so it often gets shared more.
  • In many industries, trending news content is seen as more valuable.
  • Publishing up-to-the-minute content makes brands look more credible, positioning them as industry thought leaders.
  • Many content buyers are looking for fresh, up-to-date content, so you can make quicker sales.
  • As a writer, researching trending topics increases your knowledge about specific industry topics.
  • Clients will typically pay more for content written by more experienced, knowledgeable writers.

So, the challenge as a writer is to find these trending topics and write about them while they’re still hot. While Twitter is a great platform for finding out what people are talking about, there are many other tools to help you discover relevant topics to write about.

In this post, we’re looking at five platforms you can use to identify these up-to-date content topics that are potentially more valuable to buyers.

1. Google Trends

One of the most powerful free tools to discover trending topics and keywords is Google Trends, which analyzes popular search queries in Google Search over specific time periods.

In its “Recently Trending” section, you can see which are the most popular stories online at any moment in time. And in “Trending Searches,” you can view search trends for the past 24 hours, by category, and by location.

2. Feedly

Feedly allows you to gather all your favorite content-generating websites together in one place. Simply customize your own feed by choosing from a variety of different topics. Your personalized dashboard will then display all the trending content from relevant blogs, online publications, and social media accounts, giving you a quick insight into what’s trending online and what people want to read.

3. BuzzSumo

Do you want to know which content topics are getting the most shares online? With BuzzSumo, you can search a specific keyword or website and the tool will display the most popular content according to social media shares and organic search traffic.

You can find out which content has been trending the most in the past day, 12 hours, or even one hour. You can even search by location, category, keyword, content type, and more.

4. LinkedIn Pulse

LinkedIn Pulse is a platform within social networking channel LinkedIn that features news stories and content from members and organizations. If you’re looking for content inspiration, the “What People are Talking About Now” section highlights key conversation topics on LinkedIn at any given moment.

5. Reddit

Reddit, which calls itself “the front page of the Internet,” is a social news website and discussion forum where trending stories are curated and voted on by users. Discover content that reflects exactly what people are finding interesting from one hour to the next.

Use the search box to find relevant communities – or subreddits – to subscribe to. Once you’ve added these to your account, your front page will be full of trending content suggestions.

6. Sell More with Trending Topics

Whether you’re stuck for ideas or you need to power up your sales, these tools will help you improve your skills and ultimately your reputation as a writer. Over time, you should find that your sales steadily rise and you’ll grow more confident as a writer.

Keep in mind that when you’re writing trending topics, it’s important to try to add something extra to the debate. For example, you could share your original thoughts on trending stories, or share interesting statistics you’ve found during research. This will make your content more interesting to readers, help you stand out as a writer, and ensure whatever you write is potentially more valuable to content buyers.

Where do you go to find out what’s trending online? Let us know which trending topics have helped you sell more as a freelance writer.

Looking to land your next freelance writing client? Constant Content makes it easy for you to sell articles and land writing clients.