Lately I been posting my articles around 11:30pm. Pretty late in the day to be posting articles. Mostly because I been working on other projects. So at the last minute I write up an article or click publish on an article I already wrote. I am so off my plan with this blog. I have not been writing all the articles on Sunday or Monday, I have not been doing much blog commenting, and the design is still yet to be done.
Ok, lets get into the details of this post. Sometimes I have no idea what to write on this blog but I seem to pull it off everyday. Before it was pretty easy to write articles because I would take one day to write them all for the week and set them to post one a day. That way I could spend my time on other things in my business from promotion to working on other websites. Now that I been spending my time working on other sites and promotion. I forgot about my writing articles for my blog.
When I sit here ready to write an article and have nothing to write. I like to write something personal. People like to read personal stuff because it reminds them of who you are, reminds them you are human, and most importantly it helps build the relationship between you and your readers.
So when you have nothing to say, you want to write something that is personal but at the same time is related to what your blog is about. Like my article Deneil Merritt’s top 5 favorite movies. I had nothing to write about so I went personal and made it related to blogging and internet marketing.
From the reaction of the readers, personal posts work better than normal posts. Everybody likes to relate with other people on some personal level. Keep that in mind next time you have nothing to write about.
What do you do when you have nothing to write?
as well.
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Deneil… it is definitely hard to come up with new topics everyday. Especially if you are running more than one blog and have all sorts of other projects going on. I am in the same boat as you, but somehow I usually pull it off too.
For me unfortunately… it is harder to post personal type posts as my blogs are very niche specific, especially my MMO site. Our goal is to create a different weekly segment for each day of the week so we know what sort of things we will be writing about. For example on Mondays we will be posting our business spotlight articles (even though we posted our first one today to see how it looked)… and we will post a new one each Monday. I think Thursdays are going to be called “Quick Tip”… and each Thursday we are going to post some sort of quick tip. Not sure on the other days… but we will have something soon and we are hoping that will help with coming up with post ideas for each day.
Seems like most bloggers are in the same ship,. Big big ship that is. I’ve run out of ideas many times and sometimes you just can’t get anything going. I will try your suggestion and link something personal to my blog articles but at the same time related to my blog topics.
Michael
If I’m stuck I go back over my last 4-5 comments and see if there are any questions that justify a full post as a response.
On top of that the Google Notebook plugin for Firefox is a life saver. I just jot down anything that interests me as I’m surfing and will expand on it in a post.
Finally I don’t really feel the need to post every day. My readers get bored of “nothing” posts. I’ve been running tests for 2 years now and posting frequency in no way influences how often your pages get spidered and updated in the search engines. For example I can go 2 weeks without posting anything, make a phrase specific post and find it in the SERPs within an hour. There is something else at play. (Hmm idea for a post there)
I think DoshDosh has the best idea, one cracking post once a blue moon.
This may work since my blog is about personal finance (and random rants) but I check out the news sources – WSJ, CNBC etc. I can usually find something to complain about or praise.
Otherwise, if I have nothing to say, I just don’t post vs. posting something that wasn’t good.
That’s great that you can write a post everyday! I’m currently busy with my day job and it was late once I reached home and I was tired, my brain was tired and I can’t think anything else at all, so I was able to write an article once 3 days. Anyway, rarely I’ll write about myself in a post, normally I’ll write a niche article and I will put myself in the article, perhaps write something about my life that related with the article.
Regards,
Lee
You just need to look at other sources for inspiration. You comment on a lot of blogs see what they are doing. You can look at news websites to see what is going on in the world. I will write on the day that I publish the article. I need to start doing this ahead of time. Greg Ellison
Well I normally have a list of topics that I can use but other than that I tend to look at old posts and do an update or a twist to them. In that way I can also get some link juice to older posts
I’m in the same boat as Doug…On tycoon blogger it is hard for me to get personal. I will write about stuff that is going on with my blog though, like a new plugin or traffic report or something like that. Those types of post are good for me when I am in a pinch.
When I have nothing to write then I spend my time mostly by blog commenting or searching for new ideas on web for writing on it.
Deneil I think it’s important to recognize when your working hard on other projects that some current projects may suffer a little bit, as might the writing creativity level. Thats only natural in my opinion, I use to have a guy that worked for me that would constantly complain whenever I decided to expand.
He hated the idea of any type of hiccup, regardless of just how much of a profit the new project might return in trade. After years and years he realized that I was right, keep doing what your doing there’s nothing wrong with expanding and getting bogged down a little on other projects.
Thanks Deneil for that idea. I also use that technique a few times a month if i can. Keep my blog is about this and that. Keep it a bit interesting so that others can read about my life and experiences.
I guess the niche sites have it a bit tough, I feel for you all
Thanks Deneil for sharing your idea that writing should be given a personal touch to maintain the relationship between you and your reader.
There are times when we have nothing on our mind to write about. But trust me on this: Tell your mind that you want to write then let go. Later, your creativity will take its course. Just believe, you are the master of your mind.
Not much for me to add here except that the comments above are all very good.When it comes to being personal,a pro blogger named Holly Mann [google or check out her RSS feed on my blog] wrote recently about that very subject.
From my own experience I cannot really show proof one way or the other since my blog is fairly new and I have been tied up with other projects.I do know however that my past writings offline have been well received when I add my own flavor of personality rather than “Just the Facts Ma’m” approach.
Deneil your writings always get tons of comments. Clearly your blog articles are very useful and get your readers to interact with the author and with one another. I wish I can do the same
The thing that works best for me is to write down any idea I have for a post as a draft post within wordpress. This way I can pick an idea from the drafts list and start writing. Currently I have 60 article ideas in drafts…just need to find the time to write them all…
Phil
The best method I know is to try to publish one big post every week. Every time I begin writing this post I come up with new ideas on posts I would like to link to within this big post. By doing so I will come up with several new topics each week simply because I’m trying to write a long and informative blog post.
You have to be a little more creative when making a personal post related to your niche. I like the fact you making a post plan. I been trying to think about what I am going to add to my post plan. I already have Flashback Monday. (Recap of my articles and link love) I am thinking about a weekly video to do on Fridays.
I also have my monthly “Income Report” and “Coupon Codes” posts.
More weekly posts would be nice for my post plan.
I agree with Michael, sometimes there is nothing that you can think of to write about. AFter a while you just run out of ideas. There is nothing else to write about that will be related to the blog.
lol, one big ship. Sometimes it’s hard for me as well. Just got to be creative with your articles.
I think that is a great idea. Answering questions always make for great blog posts. I have a few questions from readers I haven’t answer yet because I want to make it straight to the point and not have 800 some odd words. Seems I do that when I try to write it. I will get it short one of these days.
I never tried that firefox plugin. Sounds like it would come in handy.
I agree nothing should be writing “nothing” posts. You don’t have to write everyday but when you do post. They are good articles. I like posting everyday because I want to connect with my readers as much as I can.
Yeah, I heard about that one great post, once in a blue moon. Seems to be working for him but I couldn’t do it. It would bother me and a lot of my readers that I am not posting daily.
I think that is great. You can leverage news sources for ideas to write about. I guess you could never run out of things to say.
I agree with that. I prefer not to post at all if my article isn’t going to be good.
Lee, as long as you are doing your best to make your articles great and promoting your blog. I think people will be use to seeing a post every 3 days.Everybody has their own style. I think that’s great you put your personality in your articles. People can connect with that. It makes people want to come back and read more.
Greg, I do that as well. I wrote about last month or the month before I don’t remember. Whenever I am commenting and come across an article, leave a comment, and feel I still have more to say. I make it into a post. As for news, its rare for me to write about news unless it’s related to blogging and making money online.
Nice way to internal link posts. Remember to go back to old posts and link them to new posts.
I totally understand. Some people prefer not to get personal. You can use personal things that aren’t that personal. Thing of a few questions that you don’t mind answering if asked. Simple things like “do you drink coffee to keep blogging when you tried?” “Do you find yourself thinking about blogging while watching a movie?”
You know simple things to answer as a post. It’s all related to your niche.
Yea, I’m still on the way toward success and well known, but I do have quite a few frequent readers in my blog this few days, I really think that commenting in others’ blog could bring in more readers to our blogs. Anyway, as long as we have our own styles and not copying anyone, then we should have more followers to our blogs.
Also Deneil, you’re good in this part.
Regards,
Lee
That’s always a good way to go. I did a few posts from getting the idea while blog commenting.
Thanks for your kind words John. Expanding is always a good thing. Sometimes I expand to fast then end up selling some of my websites because of it. The funny thing about the other projects I am working on, their going to help the long term success of this blog.
Lee, I think we all on our way toward success. Well a few of my readers are already there with affiliate marketing. Yeah, blog commenting is great. That reminds, I haven’t been to your blog in awhile because of the load time. I got to check out some of your lastest articles. Check out your style of writing.
You welcome. George I think as a personal blogger. We have the freedom to blog about whatever we want and grow from there. Even though most personal bloggers mainly blog about what they love or do the most.
Niche sites may have it tough but they make more money in the beginning.
You welcome, its all part of not only maintaining a relationship between you and your readers but to turn them into buyers as well.
Very well said Walter. We are masters of our own minds.
I am a reader of Holly Mann. She covers a lot of great stuff.
People love to relate to something they read. That’s why facts with a personal touch is always received so well. As for your blog, just keep writing the way you did offline and it will work out fine.
Well Michael, its from a combo of blog commenting, writing useful content with my personality in them, and my own experience. The combo attarcts people to read and voice their own views on the topics I cover.
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