by Ben Francia |Last Updated: September 11, 2011 
You know what I think hampers productivity?
Writer’s block.
When blogging, it’s commonplace to experience writer’s block. Whenever you feel that you’re head’s not getting creative enough and the clairvoyant space in it is now just filled with clutter and disarray, you’re going to need to take a short break until you get it to produce again. This is an otherwise, passive approach to the problem that is writer’s block and it’s something I don’t normally recommend to anyone.
Of course, you’ll want to constantly keep writing to keep your audience and the search engines happy. If you’ve got a stable following of people who hang on to your every word, you might publish a post or two daily. So how do you get out of that unproductive space and keep writing even though it feels like you’ve no new ideas? Take a look at these few things and you might get a few ideas:
- Keep yourself updated – It’s safe to say that you’ll want to keep yourself updated about your niche. So get yourself in on what’s hot by subscribing to blogs and websites that feature news on specific topics that affect your niche.
- Listen to your audience – You blog to please your fans. So make it a point to give them what they want in terms of content. Take a quick look at your Google Analytics profile and find out which blog posts get the most views. This should give you an idea as to what they want and what they arguably expect from you. So deliver.
You could also ask them directly by posting a question on your Facebook wall, tweeting or sending out survey emails. Remember, this is actually all about your target audience and their needs – meet them, and you won’t run out of fans.
- Spin other articles – By spin, I mean get a really good article from whichever blog or website, write another version of it and publish. I understand that it’s cheating and, yes, dangerous due to duplicate content policies but here’s where the actual thinking starts: Approach it from another angle and link back to the original blog post.
An angle could be an opinion that neither sides with or against the blog post, or tips and best practices regarding the matter. You DON’T have to reword the entire blog post – that’s where the cheating begins.
- Take note of daily memes – Ever heard of Wordless Wednesday or Freaky Friday? Well, these are just two of a bunch of daily memes that the blogging community has created just to spark a little more life in the Interwebs. Take a look at your niche and find out how you can liven up the conversation a bit with your posts.
- Lists – Lists are very helpful especially for an online audience who prefer to do stuff quickly. How-to’s, Tips, Top 3 or 7 and other related kinds of articles help your audience out by making your content manageable in terms of understanding a concept.
- Take a walk outside – Sometimes, all you really have to do to get rid of your writer’s block is to put on those walking shoes, grab a small notebook and pen and take a walk outside. It gives you the air you need to chill and the ideas from the environment.
Of course, if there’s absolutely nothing popping in your brain relevant to your topic anymore, then there’s probably something wrong with the niche you chose. Then again, that’s another story that will be discussed as soon as the next few blog posts. See? I’m on a roll already. 🙂
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