We’ve all been there, whether we’re talking about blogging tips, games, gadgets or celebrity gossip! Content crisis is one of blogger’s biggest nightmares, making us lose sleep hours, jump meals and drink tons of coffee. Facing such a situation could be a daunting task especially for niche bloggers, since their topics are much more restrictive that those of a “all-about-everything” type of blog.
When starting a new blog, every blogger feels like he/she has lots of interesting things to share with the world. If you follow closely one such blog, you’ll definitely see a higher publishing rate in the first months, but as time passes, bloggers publish less often.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, as long as it is consistent, and consistency is one the greatest things a blog can achieve. With time, people get over that publish-everything fury and start dealing with more important matters, writing more insightful posts, in one word, they evolve.
But even when taking their blogging skills to a higher level, bloggers have to face the challenge of creative new, interesting and why not, intriguing content.
My Ways to Face the Content Crisis
By now, I guess you’ve figured out that I’m a blogger (surprise!), so why should I be an exception when it comes to this struggle on creating new content? I’m not, and these are my ways to face a content crisis:
- I get out. Shut down the computer, leave the blogosphere, jump on my motorcycle and take a ride outside the city. I’m not saying you’ll have to buy a bike to get over the crisis, just leave your everyday routine and simply enjoy life as non-bloggers do. You’ll be amazed how many topics for your blog you’ll find right there, on the streets, in the park, or simply by clearing you mind through a walk.
- I read the news. May it be a news website, or new articles on all those social bookmarking websites; it is always a good ways to generate fresh ideas by reading other people’s writings on topics of your interest.
- I read the comments on Blogsessive. As I always try to create conversational posts, I’m fortunate to have people leaving interesting comments. That’s always a great source of inspiration.
- I follow the discussions on some of the biggest and most active communities. Most times, going through the comments of a post on ProBlogger or Copyblogger is as fascinating as reading the post itself. You should try it too.
- I Google it. Whenever I have a vague idea of a topic, I Google it and try to get the most useful information out it. When reading what everyone else has to say about it, you might just be the lucky one to blog about something that others have missed, or simply share your own views on the matter.
- I write ahead. It’s always good to have one or two draft posts, ready to be published whenever you’re facing a crisis. If time is too short to write a whole post, at least write a good title and leave yourself some notes on the post’s structure and idea. As time passes, they’ll be useful, just so you don’t forget what it was about.
- I make friends. Making friends with bloggers in your niche is not only a good traffic and authority tool, but also a great way to secure quality content when in need. Having a close friend, willing to exchange guest posts with you in less inspired moments can be a God’s gift.
- Have you checked Wikipedia lately? Try searching for your topics of interest. You’ll always find useful information there and it’s a good way to back your affirmations as well.
- Take a short break. Spend one or two days away from your blog – you can even announce it – and come back with a fresh mind, motivated again.
- Although, I not a big fan of it, you can always hire a freelance writer to create a few back up posts, but be careful who you choose. The internet is full of so called specialists and article rewriters. Unique, quality content comes with a price and when you’re talking about your blog, losing your readers against a few more bucks is simply not worth it.
These are my tips on facing a content crisis situation and I hope you’ll find them useful.
Over to you
Have you dealt before with similar situations? What do you do to overcome them?
Photo credits to Cristina Chirtes.