Just a few short days ago, ShortlyAI released a new suite of tools giving you brainstorming and outlining superpowers. I've hinted at a capability in Frase to find questions around your niche/topic.
Today, I want to show you how they fit together to give you a powerhouse of creative inspiration. You will see how this is an entirely different way to approach brainstorming article ideas than other tools out there.
Update
I no longer recommend Shortly AI. Instead, check out Chibi AI. It's the next generation of AI writing apps that will give you better results.
Think of a General Topic in Your Niche to Write About
Right away, you'll want to think about a general topic within your niche. Here are some questions to help you come up with some ideas. Don't try too hard; come to a good, defined general topic in your niche.
- What are some of the most popular topics in this niche?
- What are some of the least popular topics in this niche?
- What are some of the most controversial topics in this niche?
- What are some popular opinions on these topics within this niche?
Thinking of these, perhaps I'd think something like "dining in Tokyo." It's not fully thought out; it's very basic. There are a lot of sub-topics within it to tackle. We're going to jump into Frase next to find some questions about it.
Find Questions About Your Topic in Frase
Within Frase, you'll use the broad topic term you thought of above to create a new document. Use the topic as the search term and then wait for Frase to work its magic.
Once the research has come back, review what the other sites discuss to understand what a reader will expect when they use this search term. Don't dwell too long here, though; you won't be targeting this term specifically — we're just getting ideas for future articles here.
Go to the topic score tab, pick a good topic keyword, then click on the related topics tab. Here you will see a bunch of questions related to your search term and selected topic.
Pick a question you feel is interesting and on-topic for your site. Copy it and then head over to ShortlyAI.
Brainstorm Article Ideas in ShortlyAI
Armed with the question from Frase, it's time to start finding more ideas to write about — based on the question. This is where Shortly's new /brainstorm command comes in handy. Paste the question from Frase into the brainstorm command like so:
/brainstorm [What is izakaya-style dining?]
And when you run it, you'll get back something like:
- Japanese styled pub or restaurant
- Pub-style food with an emphasis on beer
- Casual dining restaurants in Japan that offer a wide variety of dishes for a moderate price
- Service style where the chef leaves the kitchen to cook izakaya-style dishes at the table
- Food and drink served nightly, often tapas-style small plates
Now think about the output for a moment. It's a list of content expanding upon the question. Are there things that jump to mind you could write about from this? Or perhaps could strengthen your articles in some way?
Just at a glance, I see some topics such as what pub-style Japanese food goes with beer, the moderate price of casual dining, tableside cooked izakaya dishes… all things that could be developed into quality articles helping you discover more about the dining scene in Tokyo.
Okay, that's one question — let's crank this up and create a ton of ideas quickly, back to Frase.
Make a List of Questions
Back in Frase, you'll want to start a list of questions. Luckily Frase makes this super easy. As you're reviewing the questions on the related topics tab, click the clipboard icon to paste it to the content brief to the left (in the Frase editor).
Just keep on clicking the questions that look interesting to you, move to more topics, repeat… until you have a list of questions you want to use. Copy them all; then it's back to Shortly.
Quickly Generate Article Ideas From a List of Questions
Paste the list of questions into Shortly, and then in front of the first question, start your brainstorm command /brainstorm [your question here — notice I stopped in the front and haven't closed the command yet.
Copy the "/brainstorm [" part and then paste it in front of all the questions you pasted from Frase. Then go through the end of each question and add the ]. Finally, one-by-one, carefully — don't rush — run each /brainstorm to produce the results.
I say don't go too fast because I don't want you to trigger Shortly's spam protection accidentally. 🙂
Summary
That's it… quick content idea generation based on question research from Frase. Another big reason Frase + ShortlyAI is a killer content creation combo.
As a closing thought, why don't you also try the /outline command here? It could find ideas for you too, in a slightly different manner.
I hope it helps! Take care.