Now that you have an idea about possible topics and sub-topics
that may appear within your guide, it's time to start doing some
research. During this particular segment of the
IDEA stage of the DISTILL
process, it's about collecting the information and resources that
you'll need to flesh out your ideas. This is the part of
the process that most refer to as the research stage, but it's more
of a collection stage than a research stage.
It's time to hit up Google, and start clipping content that's
interesting and useful. Build a list of resources you can reference
throughout your Guide. It's also time to look through some videos
on YouTube, and start collecting fantastic media that illustrates
some of your key ideas.
Important Things You Should Consider Doing:
- Use search engines to find websites that cover similar
topics.
- Collect links to external resources like online stores that
feature gear, or other resources your readers may be interested
in.
- Collect images that match your Guide topics on stock image
websites.
- Find video content, audio content, or other types of online
media that lend themselves well to your content.
- Do keyword research. What are people looking for answers to
when it comes to your topic of choice. How many people search for
your keywords on Google? Are they searching for your sub-topics
specifically?
Now that you have a ton of information and resources built up,
and answers to the questions we've outlined in previous sections,
you can start to group your ideas together and determine what
groups, or buckets, your content falls into naturally. Is there a
common theme between the information you've begun to elaborate on
during your brain-dump? If so, it's time for us to head to the
Selective section of DISTILL. We
may be on the verge of a natural outline for your Guide. The only
way to find out is to start figuring out what points are key for
your Guide.