We all hit that stall in blogging where every post seems to run together, and we struggle for something unique. We’ve been through those blog posts ‘idea lists’ a ton of times, and nothing seems to hit us very hard. The problem is we get bogged down in writing so often our writing gets stale, and it seems we run out of fresh ideas.
That is kind of what happened on my first blog. After writing, writing, and writing I just ran out of ideas to blog about. I kept coming up with ideas, but after looking back at older posts, I saw I already had covered that topic. Sometimes ideas seem to pop into your head and other times you need to grind it out looking at the blank screen for quite a while. So, here are some blog writing tips to keep your blog content fresh for your readers.
Blog Writing Tips #1; Teach them something useful.
Useful tips posts usually encompass most of my blog writing. I try hard to provide helpful content for my readers and the best way I know how is to teach them something useful or give them useful information in the form of application of tips. (kind of like you are reading now) I try and infuse a little of my personality into the content, but the main idea is to teach.
These usually get the most traffic and offer the highest amount of engagement. My other blog is a technical blog, so that was probably the reason behind the highest engagement. These usually work best in lists or using a step-by-step approach. Many of these I mind map out to make sure I flush out many of the ideas before I sit down to write.
Blog Writing Tips #2; Offer an alternative viewpoint on a topic.
If there is a particular topic where you have a different point of view than everyone else has, you have to write about it. These types of posts are the ones that went viral for me in the past. I wrote a post one time on my other blog calling out a particular race car sanctioning body for some shenanigans they were trying to pull.
My posts automatically link to my Facebook page. At lunch the next day, I got some notifications that my post was getting shared ‘A LOT.’ On a blog where I was getting 200 to 300 page views a day, suddenly hit 9,000 page views for that day and I think close to 10,000 the next. That small alternative viewpoint and calling out a sanctioning body no one ever spoke about, went viral and got me a ton of traffic.
I did that a couple more times on different topics, and they worked reasonably well all the time, but nothing like that at first. I’m not saying you need to be rude or badmouth them, but if you see something differently, talk about it openly and fairly on your blog. I need to insert a word of caution here not to be slanderous or get yourself in a libel situation; I try to not mention names. I stick more to conditions and why I think circumstances are wrong.
Blog Writing Tips #3; Give them an honest review of a product.
Product reviews are another excellent way to spice up your posts. Especially if the product you are reviewing has few redeeming qualities. I steer clear of reviewing products I don’t like at all. I come from the school of, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” However, if a product has glowing reviews, and I see a small flaw, I don’t mind pointing it out. As long as I also point out all the high points of the product as well. Honest product reviews are one of the best things about the social media climate we live in today.
Bad products are no longer masked by tons of advertising dollars. This can also work in the opposite direction. If a great product doesn’t have the marketing budget of a big-name company, social media, and the blogosphere can push it into the limelight. The power we have as bloggers is incredible. Spicy reviews can add a ton of spice to your blog.
Blog Writing Tips #4; Help them see a way to a better position in life.
Sometimes people lose their way or are struggling to dig their way out of a rut. If you’ve solved a similar problem for yourself, it can be extremely beneficial to someone else if you help them find their way. These types of posts may not connect with a mass of people, but the ones they do connect with could become readers for life because you are connecting with people on a very personal level. If you connect with someone on an emotional level you may have a reader for life and if you are selling a product around that same sentimental value. You might have a customer for life.
The word of caution to this one is doing too many of these unless you’re writing a spiritual blog. People may get burned out on you continually trying to connect on a spiritual level. If you are running more of a spiritual blog, you may have to keep upping the ante with every post to keep people interested. This is one to do when you need to pump a little life into a dull content string.
Blog Writing Tips #5; Give them some tips to help solve their problems.
This is similar to the first, but I consider it a little different. This is usually a more big-picture type of instruction. You’ve probably heard the saying, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” This is kind of big picture, “teaching a man to fish.” I like reading posts like this because I resonate more with the big-picture thinking.
The problem is, in a rat race world time is scarce. People want the information they can directly apply to solve a problem. They want the easy button. And, big picture posts seem not to do the best on my blogs away way. I do like writing them though. Nothing suits me better than to break up the monotony of a blog stream with a big picture, ‘this is how I see the world,’ post.
I love helping people think their way to something better for themselves. All of these are great ways to spice up your blog. Just like finding your voice, you will probably resonate more with certain ones than others. Some will work better with specific niches and audience expectations than others.
I have my favorites, but they have all worked pretty well for me when my blog gets stale. The internet moves to fast for me to keep updating old posts with new information. So, the best way for me to do it is on my email list. If you’d like to sign up for my email list, I have several places on the site to make that happen.
Be safe,
Kevin