2009 Planning Guide - My Gift To You!6 Blogging Burnout Cures
Want to Learn How to Build a Business Not Just a Blog.. for FREE? CLICK HERE Now to Find Out How!
It happens to the best of us. One day you’re just gonna wake up and you’re going to be completely out of ideas to write about. You’re done for! The worst part? You’ll feel like you’re letting down your readers because you think you’re responsible for a couple of minutes of their daily entertainment. That’s when it really gets bad, you’ll feel obliged to write something and end up with a sloppy post which doesn’t make much sense to anyone. That’s how you really let your readers down! Don’t write ‘fillers’ for your blog if you really feel responsible, take a break and start preparing for dry spells like this…they’re bound to come by again.
How To Cure Blogging Burnout.
1) Recycle - This isn’t as bad as it sounds. Go through your archives and pick a couple of the articles you are particularly pleased with. Reading them might get you back in the zone where you were when you wrote them. Also, you might be able to update the article with new knowledge, creating a new article on it’s foundations.
2) Stock up - Rodents use most of the spring and summer to stock up on nuts. You’re a blogger, go stock up on articles. If you’re on a good run and posts seem to flow out of your fingers, don’t stop typing. Save all those articles in draft and edit these when the next dry spell hits you. Even if one hasn’t enough body for a good post, use it to merge with another post that on its own just didn’t make the cut either.
3) Look around you - When you’re going through our own archives, don’t stop when you reach the end. There’s millions of other bloggers out there with great articles that might inspire you to write your own. Having said that, this doesn’t mean you should blatantly copy and paste their articles. Pick one that interests you, focus on the keywords and try to spin your own post from this. If you do copy large quantities, be sure to credit the source.
4) Take a break - Seriously, Rome wasn’t built in one day either! If you can’t come up with anything, just don’t. Your readers won’t mind if you don’t post for a couple of days, once you’re back, they’ll enjoy your posts even more! If you’ve stocked up on articles, time stamp let’s say 7 of them, on for each day of the week. Your readers won’t even notice you’re gone and you can rest your brain!
5) Get help - Some of your loyal readers will probably love to get a shot at guest posting for you. Not only will you give them the chance to be heard, you also win some time and perhaps gain new insights from the guest blogger’s post. If everyone you ask has stage fright, go find someone that is willing to write articles for money. There’s plenty of good, original content writers out there, just be aware you’re not picking a cheap offer, they might sell you an article which has been sold to numerous customers before you. Duplicate content is bad m’kay!
6) Quit - Yes that’s right, quit. If your dry spell seems never ending, perhaps blogging isn’t for you. Loads of people start blogging out of curiosity or because they think it’ll make ‘em rich overnight. Well forget about it, not gonna happen. There’s plenty of other ways to make money on the Internet. Easier too. Perhaps your curiosity got satisfied along the way or it has started to focus on a new challenge. Don’t blog for the sake of blogging. Blog because you love it!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Some great tips here! I had a similar post a little while ago!
And I have read some of your posts and they are indeed on the mark. You’ve done a lot in the short time you’ve been online with your blog, keep up the good work man!
I like to drink some chocolate milk for a quick cure.
QUIT
thats a bit extreme don’t you think! i think persistence and good blogging is the key!
It’s not extreme, it’s the truth. All the reasons that were listed are valid, and you really have to have a passion for something if you want to embark on doing it full-time. If you don’t like kids, why go work @ a nursery?
true, but i think that is something for each person, to come up with on their own, they will quit themselves but i think its bad advice if they cant think of anything for awhile to quit!
Nah, not really, sometimes I don’t know what you’re saying. You say you agree but then you call it an extreme decision.
Maybe in summary, it would be extreme for you, but perhaps not for others. Remember that people are different.
That appears to be what he meant by it. That’s why they were listed in the order they were listed in. They seem to be just simple guidelines, not the Gospel of Blogging. In the end, everyone is going to have to make their own decision, that’s more or less the problem with a lot of people, they look outwards instead of taking an honest look inwards.
You have to find what works for you, that appears to be the whole point of the article. Actually, taking it further, that’s all blogging is really about: your point-of-view on whatever topic you choose to talk about. You can agree or disagree, like it or hate it, read it or not, but because it is on the internet, you have the final choice as far as what you do with the information. Seemingly there is no right or wrong answer.
yeah, my point exactly, but it just seemed an extreme decision to make, if you know what i am saying!
Check out my post that you guys might like:
10 Things To Do When You Have Nothing To Blog About
http://slyvisions.com/files/10-things-to-do-when-you-have-nothing-to-blog-about.html
That was a very quick read Sly. It’d be cool to see your explanations of each item…it’ll also have the side effect of making it seem like a more ‘full’ post. But they were some cool tips.
i enjoy post that are to the point!
Thanks for tips, blogging can make you burn!
I have started to use my Save and Continue button. I now think of things and just type up a beginning sentense so I can use it later. I think if you get ANY idea you type then save it for later.
I know one sure fire way to CAUSE burnout. Be a dippy blonde like me and try to run five blogs at once. Yeah, can’t think of a dang thing now most days! LOL.
Great tips. Thanks.
whoa, why don’t you consolidate all the blogs!
less money but better content!
When you are really in interested in prospering in this industry, you know and realize that you cannot be all things to all people. A blog that talks about hair care, and a blog that talks about the love of electronics would have totally different themes, and thus it wouldn’t make much sense to be consolidated.
The top bloggers manage to work on all of their different blogs, but only devote time to one every other day or so. It takes a while to get to that point, but all Jo has to do is emulate then and she could make it work.
by consolidate i meant to either bridge gaps in related posts! and maybe focus her thought on one blog rather delivering below standard quality on 5 and deliver outstanding content on one!
Well, that’s a bucketful of sensible cow sense to stay on track as a blogger. You’re dead right, passion is something you need to keep going. Should be good advice for young calves. And for some old bulls, too.
And passion is one thing that they don’t sell on eBay!
But you know, time will always separate the die hard bloggers from those who wanted to make money overnight. At some point, you will love what you write about, or give up trying to find another article to post in the niche you chose. Very few people come up with truly extraordinary or ground-breaking content these days. Well — except My New Hustle of course!
Thank you, this is most useful as I’m rather on a writer’s block, myself
Me having many blogs is just an ADD/OCD things. Can’t stand having my subjects touching AND if I combined everything I’d be a mess! lol.
My sites are pretty much only for fun anyway. I do a few reviews on books, games, etc that companies send to me, a couple paid posts when I need to pay for medication, alot of cursing, some homeschooling here and there, and as much fun and laughs as I can fit in.
So for someone like me, combining into one blog wouldn’t make it successful for me. I don’t have to ability to focus long enough to do what this site and others do but I’m also quite intelligent so I DO enjoy reading and watching everyone else.
Sometimes I start shaking and just have to tune the answer machine off for a bit.
Those are six really good points. Especially the last one - I don’t hear many people say that! Sometimes quitting is the right way to go, read Seth Godin’s book. I think it’s the Dip (he’s got so many books I forgot in which one did he talk about quitting).
Andre Thomass last blog post..Adding Depth To Your Content