How to research and discover topic popularity and trends to determine topic selection for article writing?

I have been asked to write various technical and non-technical articles about computer usage, Windows usage (perhaps some Mac and *nix as well if they let me), Windows repair, and various other technology and computer centric topics. Unfortunately I have to choose the topics as well as generate the content.

I would like to write articles that are in demand and of interest, vs just pulling topics out of my butt that I think are interesting. With my background, I find that I don't (very often) necessarily think the things that others think are interesting to be very interesting or useful.

What can one do when looking into determining topics of large interest? Is Google Trends the pinnacle of available resources for such hunting & research or are there other options that will yield high value topics to create spot on market interest based content?

NOTE: The target audience are general readers of all types. It is for a periodical that is for general consumption in a mixed environment of generally less savvy consumers, but with some occasional more savvy readers. Most readers will appreciate more layman explanations to issues they may run into with general usage.

posted about 10 years ago

CC BY-SA 3.0

ylluminate‭

10 reputation 1 0 1 0