Great Ways to Find Content for your Blog

Writer’s block can hit even the most prolific of bloggers.  It’s a horrible experience, sitting down at your editor of choice and simply not being able to get anything of any note down.  So when you get struck with the dreaded writer’s block, what can you do?  Where’s the inspirational light at the end of the tunnel?  Let’s take a look at some techniques.

The Airy-Fairy Approach

I’m no psychologist, so your mileage may vary with the following tips.  I do however feel that on many occasions writer’s block is brought about by the author.  It’s not something that just happens.  It’s something we cause.  As wise people seem to be sold on the whole “prevention is better than cure” approach, I thought I’d share some preventative medicine with you.

• Write when you’re feeling inspired,
• If you start to force it, stop,
• Vary your writing,
• Limit the pressure,
• Take breaks.

All pretty straightforward stuff, really.  I find the third tip works particularly well.  If I’m writing a blog post and start to feel myself lagging, switching to another topic, blog or project often helps me boost my energy and enthusiasm just enough.  I also find that to feel truly comfortable writing, I have to be free of deadlines and external pressures.  In many ways this enables the other tips to be followed.

Of course, it’s not always possible to follow the tips above.  This may lead to fatigue which I believe is a big factor in the onset of writer’s block.  So once it’s on you, what can you do to get rid of it?  A good place to start may be the list above.  Try taking a break, or switching to a different type of writing for a second.  It doe work.

If that doesn’t work (you’re clearly not doing it right), there are some other options.  Essentially, to overcome writers block you need to do one of two things.  Either do something to regain your energy and enthusiasm or get some inspiration from somewhere.  The way you choose to do either is very personal, and you’ll need to figure out what works for you.  But of you keep those goals in your mind, you can’t go far wrong.  If you’re really stuck, try going for a walk, or reading the work of your competitors/peers, or free writing.  I’ve found that people watching works well.  Head down to your local mall, coffee shop or park and watch people going about their daily lives.  You’re bound to pick up on some personality trait or action that will jolt you back into life.

The Scientific Approach

The first half of this article is sort of reliant on you having a starting point.  It’s all about you getting back into the swing of things.   But what happens if you don’t have a starting point?  If you’re completely out of ideas?  If that’s the case, it’s worth taking a scientific approach.  There are plenty of resources available to you as a blogger that can be used for content ideas.  Let’s take a look at some of them:

• Your readers - Either just come straight out and ask them what they want you to write about, or thoroughly check your comments for common questions or topics.
• Your competitors - The last thing you want to do is steal ideas from your competitors.  But you can take a smarter approach that will benefit you even more in the long run.  If they make the information available, have a look at the broad topics their most popular posts cover (to find out what’s working for them, look for a “Popular Posts” section).  Try to target these areas as they have been proven to work.  You can also go through the recent content and pick out any holes, anything they’ve missed out.  Try and build upon others work.  Stand on the shoulders of giants, as it were.  The comments can also be a rich source of information, treat them the same way you would treat your own comments, mine them for information.
• Your statistics - Many bloggers are signed up to complicated and comprehensive statistics/analytics packages but don’t really utilize them.  While knowing how well you’re currently doing is important, you can also use these statistics to grow your blog.  You should be looking for two things.  Firstly, search queries.  If people are getting to your site through search queries that don’t quite match the content they end up reaching, pounce on it.  For example, you may write a post about walking and end up getting visitors who were searching for “dog walking”.  That should be your cue to write a post about dog walking.  Secondly, you should be keeping an eye on your referrers.  Every time you get a new referrer, go through the steps outlined in the competitors section above.

Hopefully you’re now prepared for the two types of problems that may strike you when your blogging.  Have you got any tips?  What works for you?  Let us know in the comments.

» Read the other articles published in Issue 1