Down and dirty tips & tricks for battling blogger's block

Sorry to veer off a wee bit from the usual kid-stuff, but I just sent this list off to another blogger I know and it struck me that others might find it helpful. Especially those of you who are still in the running for all the excellent prizes on Nablopomo (I'm not).

1. Set up Google news alerts for relevant keywords (only do this for highly relevant keywords or your mailbox will be full of crap)

2. Keep a small notebook handy to jot down post ideas -- I have them all the time & it always mucks me up when I forget to make a note of it.

3. Keep a list of *evergreen* posts. Items that aren't time sensitive.

4. Keep track of holidays and major events. You can outline and schedule posts in advance that will be timely.

5. Make use of the theme days if you contribute to collaborative blog (what we're reading, weekend projects, photo-booth Friday, etc.)

6. Identify blogs that post on your topics. Subscribe to them and bring attention to especially insightful posts, or write when you notice running themes across blogs.

Remember, people aren't expecting feature-length posts on a blog (unless the blogger has established him/herself that way), but rather quick snippets of content that are relevant, interesting, or fun. So relax, and have fun with it.

Hope this is helpful -- please make good use of that nice comment space below and share your tips and tricks as well!

Comments

[Kim]

Excellent advice.

Though I cringe when my parents do this, I'm going to print it out and post it near my computer.
Thanks!

[Veronica]

Great tips! My problem is that I get bloggers block from having too much to blog about. haha!!

[Shannanb aka Mommy Bits]

Great list. Thanks for sharing.

I find that I get great ideas for posts at work. Since I don't have time to post then, I just email myself a quick note. It works really well for me.

[Jazz]

Nice job! I just went in and posted a funny picture that I'd been saving in my "evergreen" file! I'm going to rename it that in your honor :)

Happpy Thanksgiving!

[Ali Manning]

Great tips - much appreciated by a new blogger. Thank you.

[chickadee]

great tips. i need to remember them because i have blogger block quite often.

[Chris McElroy aka NameCritic]

Another tip; Browse through your own archives. There are tons of posts you can comment on and expand on. Maybe those posts were made at a more creative moment and maybe there are some new developments or ideas you can add to them.

Then trackback to the original post. It creates more pageviews and helps google put relative results together. it also helps your readers get to more than just your latest post.

[Veronique]

This is excellent advice, and I'll certainly follow up on it!

Thanks!