You ever have those moments when you're thinking like, all day, about what to post about and you still haven't come up with a good idea?
Yeah, me too.
So, I'm here with some solutions for you, and how to (hopefully) (somehow) (maybe) prevent this problem from occurring again.
First of all, ask yourself some questions: what's a category I haven't talked about in awhile? What are some things that I'm currently extra-passionate about? What has God been teaching me about lately? What are some questions that I've been asked recently that I can answer/explore?
Once you've narrowed it down to a generalization, it's time to pick a specific topic to ramble about. Sometimes, if the topic is big enough (or if you just have too many words to say about the subject than will fit in a nice-sized post), you can turn it into a series, not only writing a post for your current needs, but also having your next post planned out—and possibly even written—ahead of schedule! Then you can congratulate yourself on being a wonderful time manager.
Until your second post is past and you realize that you let time get away with you, and you're back to your old dilemma.
So then, you pick another topic. How to find the best topics? Well, for one, you can dig into your blog's stats and check out your most-viewed posts. But if you're like me, even this could be a problem. See, my father learned that every time he reloads the page (he's got this down pat—something like 20 times a minute), it puts another view on that post. So yeah, now his favorite post has over a thousand more views than any of my other posts.
Anyway, you could also visit other blogs to see what posts have the most comments, or maybe even ask some people you trust what their most popular posts are, or what they'd like to read.
Or, even better, you could write that post that you've been wanting to read/write. What's that little idea that's been stuck in the back of your head for awhile? (Orrrrrr if you're like me, you basically never have a little idea stuck in the back of your head and you improvise at the last minute.)
What are some more specific ideas? Let's brainstorm, shall we?
-Elaborate one a subject you're currently studying, whether you're actually in school or not.
-Share some thoughts about your daily devotional.
-Get political if you like; rant about something controversial if you want a lot of traffic.
-Share some photography.
-Host a guest.
-Compile a list of common myths and bust them.
-Give a demonstration of one of your hobbies and video it, or do a step-by-step photo tutorial.
-Ramble about a random topic like nicknames or bed bugs.
-Have a sense of humor? Do a comedic post!
-Share some favorites, whether it be music or movies or books or YouTube channels.
-Review a book or movie.
-Give some advice on a subject you know well.
-Post a poll on whatever you think needs it, such as where you should take your next vacation, what posts people like to read, or whether or not you should redesign your blog (I'm actually toying around with the idea of redesigning . . . any recs on a color scheme? Or should the blog stay the way it is?).
Annnnnd there's thirteen post topics for you to choose from!
How can you keep from scrambling to find a post idea at the last minute? The answer is simple, really: schedule ahead. But, I know better than anyone that it's super hard. There's so many other things I'd like to do rather than write blog posts in my spare time. But you really have to just do it. They won't write themselves. Something to keep you accountable is to have a blogging buddy to give you a prod in the right direction, and vice versa.
Another way to (kinda) stay on top of things is to make a post draft with the title of a random idea you come up with. Then, when you have time to actually write a post, just sift through your drafts and see if one of the titles catches your fancy. Then, viola! You're good to go.
I hope this whole post helps you . . . and if it doesn't, well, come back next week, and I'll (hopefully) have a special post for you. ;)
(No, Chow, you probably won't be interested.)
-Host a guest.
-Compile a list of common myths and bust them.
-Give a demonstration of one of your hobbies and video it, or do a step-by-step photo tutorial.
-Ramble about a random topic like nicknames or bed bugs.
-Have a sense of humor? Do a comedic post!
-Share some favorites, whether it be music or movies or books or YouTube channels.
-Review a book or movie.
-Give some advice on a subject you know well.
-Post a poll on whatever you think needs it, such as where you should take your next vacation, what posts people like to read, or whether or not you should redesign your blog (I'm actually toying around with the idea of redesigning . . . any recs on a color scheme? Or should the blog stay the way it is?).
Annnnnd there's thirteen post topics for you to choose from!
How can you keep from scrambling to find a post idea at the last minute? The answer is simple, really: schedule ahead. But, I know better than anyone that it's super hard. There's so many other things I'd like to do rather than write blog posts in my spare time. But you really have to just do it. They won't write themselves. Something to keep you accountable is to have a blogging buddy to give you a prod in the right direction, and vice versa.
Another way to (kinda) stay on top of things is to make a post draft with the title of a random idea you come up with. Then, when you have time to actually write a post, just sift through your drafts and see if one of the titles catches your fancy. Then, viola! You're good to go.
I hope this whole post helps you . . . and if it doesn't, well, come back next week, and I'll (hopefully) have a special post for you. ;)
(No, Chow, you probably won't be interested.)
Great tips! I'll have to use some of these!
ReplyDelete-Brooklyne