BellaOnline Forums Career Nonfiction Writing For those that write for the web - google trends?

I was wondering, for those that write about topics that may not necessarily be mainstream, do you find sites such as google trends helpful? Any others sites?

Google trends can sometimes be a flash in the pan I find.... good seasonal stand bys like particular anniversaries are perennial and regular traffic bringers. Web readers are so fickle and move on to other topics almost instantly so its difficult to keep up with them!

If you're writing on current events it can truly be helpful in finding material ideas.

I agree that google trends often throws up some crazy way out topics that are gone as quickly as they appear. It can be good to keep an eye on trends and news threads and merge the 2 together for some worthwhile topics :)