August 3, 2010

One of the toughest parts of running a blog is coming up with fresh content.

The writing part can be hard enough, and when you’re stuck with writer’s block, coming up with one more idea feels impossible.

Fortunately, there are a few tricks you can pull out when you’re tapped out and in need of some new blog content.

1. Invite a guest blogger to post.

Is one of your readers an active commenter with great opinions? Ask them to write a post on a topic they’re especially passionate about or familiar with. Do you have a friend with great advice or life experience to offer? Have them step in for a day. Tapping into others’ brains and voices gives you a break and gives your blog community a fresh point of view to read.

2. Revisit old posts and add something new.

Going back to old posts that were either especially useful, controversial, or involving a topic on which you’ve since changed your mind is a good way to come up with new content.

Have you touched on a topic that sparked a massive amount of discussion amongst your readers? You can always revisit it and add something you’ve learned since then, or how you’ve changed your opinion, or what other people have said about the same issue.

3. Make a schedule in advance.

Implementing this strategy keeps you from running out of ideas at the last minute. In a post on Pro Blogger, Darren Rowse points out that scheduling your posts a week or month ahead of time gives you the chance to really develop your ideas, so they’re better than they would have been if you came up with them at the eleventh hour. Try taking some time at the beginning of each week (or month) to plan the topics you want to cover in the upcoming days.

4. Add videos or images.

If you’re not doing so already, take this opportunity to add multimedia to your blog. Film a video of your employees chatting about their favorite things about your company or memorable office moments. Take photos of your workplace and show it off as an “Office Tour.” Keep everything light, and funny if possible.

Not only does it change things up for your readers, but it also makes your blog more personal by giving them an inside look at your company and your life. (If you’re not sure how to add in multimedia to your blog, Mashable’s Zachary Sniderman has a great guide on OPEN Forum.)

5. Write a bullet-point list of interesting things you’ve discovered.

Whether it’s a YouTube video, a controversial article making the rounds on the Internet, or even a photo you found on Flickr, collecting a few interesting links into a bullet-point post is a good way to keep your blog fresh without requiring a lot of time or energy.

Related Topics

• Marketing

Related keywords

Bianca Male, Article, blogging, content creation, Business Insider, Duct Tape Marketing, Mashable, Darren Rowse

Join the conversation ( 6 )

• Victor Cheng 1 year 9 months and 14 days ago

  

  Like the comment from Kaplan Copy, I too read other blogs to see what people are thinking about / talking about.I also:1) Read online feeds from newspapers - both business news and pop culture/lifestyle. I'd like to get a feel for what tomorrow's "water cooler" conversation will be about, and add in my 2 cents before that happens.2) I encourage blog readers to send me questions. I can answer questions all day long. Coming up with a dozen topics on demand is much harder. 3) Other times, I will write blog posts in a series. I'm currently writing one one financial and cash flow management and kicked off my first post Happiness is Positive Cash Flow the other day. The topic natural splits into 3 or 4 subtopics, so instead of one post with 3 ideas, I've opted to create 3 separate posts as part of a series.-Victor ChengCEO Coach

• JODI KAPLAN 1 year 9 months and 19 days ago

  

  A few more ideas:1) Read other blogs and use them as a starting point for a post of your own (don't copy, just get inspired)2) Have a regular feature. I've been running a series of posts on cool tools for freelancers and creatives.3) Ask a question (or take a poll) and write about the answers you got. Or, answer a question from a comment (or email, with permission) and write a post about it.

• Courtney Nelson 1 year 9 months and 20 days ago

  

  These are great tips to make your blog better. I know recently my company has been re-posting some old content through transcripts of our podcasts and it seems to be working well. I think this would pair well with a webinar we had recently about how to blog better. I believe it touches on a few of the points you cover here including making a schedule. Here is a link if you are interested: http://bit.ly/bSUF3q Let me know if you have any questions.

• Joseph Dowdy 1 year 9 months and 20 days ago

  

  I couldn't help but take your idea and run with it on my own blog. If you go there, you will see that I have a different approach to developing fresh content. http://meshmarketer.com/social-media/internet-marketing/internet-marketing/how-do-you-keep-new-content-coming-on-your-blog/

• JEANNETTE PALADINO 1 year 9 months and 21 days ago

  

  You can also develop fresh content by commenting on hot topics in the news. If you work in fashion, comment about Chelsea's wedding dress. If you work in health care comment about a new study that's getting a big play in the media. Make yourself part of the conversation.

• Dena Stern 1 year 9 months and 21 days ago

  

  These tips are awesome, at the WorkingPoint.com blog (www.workingpoint.com/blog) we love getting guest content it's often some of our most popular because the writers bring their own fans!Another tip that works really well for me when I need inspiration is monitoring "trending topics" in Social Media. This allows me to now with real immediacy topics that are of interest to my online community! Twitter and Tweetmeme are excellent for seeing what articles are getting reposted, so are news aggregator sites like Alltop (I browse their small business section every day!). I will also reach out to our Facebook page and ask them what they want to know about.