Digging Out of a Writing Slump

One of the ways to improve your Alexa ranking and your search engine results is to blog and to blog frequently.

Why add content regularly?  Each new web page (aka blog post) added to your site sends a signal to the search engines that you’re worth visiting again.  It means that there’s another potential entry point for a searcher – for your target market.

For many bloggers, publishing content frequently is an easy goal to accomplish: “Add more content?  I’ve got lots of it!”

But there may be times when life happens and you get in a writing slump.  Topics don’t come to mind and you sit for hours (well, it seems like hours) staring at a blank page, trying to squeeze the words out.

I’ve been there too.  And those times are really challenging for me, because in addition to my own two blogs, I write for two national social networking sites and they depend on me to deliver content regularly.  I can’t afford (literally) to have a writing slump.

So I had to develop a solution, an effective method for digging out of a writing slump.  And what I landed on has saved me many times.

What I discovered is that there are topic ideas all around us.  Almost everywhere you go, you can find an idea for a blog post.  Here’s how it works…

While in the grocery store checkout line, take a look at the magazine headlines (as if you could miss them) and note the article titles that stand out to you.  Which words do they use that grab your attention?   If you have a homepage on your internet browser that displays news articles, what are the titles that entice you to click on it?

I started keeping track of the titles that stood out and created a continuous list of title “shells” that I could later turn into a blog post or article on a different topic.

Here are some sample fill-in-the-blank titles I have in my notebook:

1. The Six Worst _____________ Blunders
2. What Never to Say to Your __________
3. 5 Things _________ Should Never Do
4. 5 Mistakes ____________ Make
5. Quick Ways to ____________
6. 8 Reasons Why _____________
7. 10 Painless Ways to ____________
8. Top Ways to _____________
9. Tools for ___________
10. 10 ___________ Habits that Ruin ___________
11. 9 Ways to Avoid _____________
12. A Passion for ______________

And I have about 60 or 70 other title starters to choose from.  When I don’t have a topic in mind, I go to my notebook and use one of these title starters and the thoughts begin to flow.

Along with this, I do create a content calendar so I plan my topics a few weeks out, and I utilize a content marketing plan to reach more of my target market.

So the next time you receive a magazine, are in the checkout line, or perusing the internet, take out your pen and paper and jot down some titles that capture your attention.  You never know when your list will help you dig out of a writing slump.

Your Turn: Have you ever had writer’s block?  If so, what helps you did out of a writing slump?