How to Overcome Writer’s Block as a Blogger: 6 Strategies

As a blogger, fresh content is key to keeping your site relevant and generating income. However, it can be difficult to consistently come up with new ideas, especially if you find yourself having to overcome writer’s block. This happens to even the most experienced content creators, and the difference between success and failure is knowing how to work through slow periods.

Fortunately, there are several techniques bloggers can use to find inspiration for their sites. Once you know where to look, finding sources for your blog’s articles becomes much easier. As such, drawing from well also becomes easier over time.

In this post, we’ll discuss six stellar tips for overcoming writer’s block as a blogger. Let’s get right to it!

📚 Table of contents:

1. Publish updated versions of older posts on your blog
2. Use a keyword planning tool to find high volume search terms
3. Monitor trending topics and jump on the bandwagon
4. Provide answers to frequently asked questions
5. Research your competition and improve upon their posts
6. Incorporate an ‘auto blogging’ tool to curate content

How to overcome writer’s block and start writing again

1. Publish updated versions of older posts on your blog

One of the simplest ways to find new content is to look through your old posts. Chances are you’ll have posts that are less than ‘evergreen’ – outdated ones you wrote months or even years ago. While they may have been relevant when you published them, content can quickly diminish in quality and accuracy.

You can take these old posts and revise them, or even write entirely new posts with updated content on the same topic. A classic example is ‘annual’ content – if you wrote a post on new trends in web design last year, the topic is ripe for reassessing this year as a brand new post:

This will not only help you push through your writer’s block, but will also improve the overall quality of your content. By updating or improving upon dated content, you’ll appear more authoritative in your niche and knowledgeable on the topics your readers care about.

2. Use a keyword planning tool to find high volume search terms

Keyword planning is a smart technique for content strategy and search engine optimization (SEO) in general. However, it can also be particularly helpful when you’re trying to overcome writer’s block.

If you’re at a loss for topics, pop over to your preferred keyword planning tool – such as Google Keyword Planner or Moz’s Keyword Explorer – and do some keyword research for topics related to your niche. This should turn up a few ideas to help inspire you to crack open your writing software:

For example, running a quick search for “web design” turned up keywords including “web design tutorial”, “web design courses“, and “major facets of web design”. Any – or all three – of these could become your next unique post.

Choosing results with high search volumes will help improve the chances your new post will perform well, too. However, if your primary goal is to avoid writer’s block, it may be worth taking a more relaxed stance on only selecting from high-performing keywords.

3. Monitor trending topics and jump on the bandwagon

Internet users are bombarded with content practically by the second. Every subject has its day in the spotlight, and it’s not hard to find out what people are interested in at any given moment. As such, seeking out trending topics can help you stay relevant and overcome writer’s block.

You can try scouring sites such as Reddit, Buzzfeed, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms to find what’s popular and adapt the subject to your blog:

Alternatively, you can also check out tools that aggregate trending content, such as BuzzSumo:

This can be a way to perform more targeted searches, instead of scrolling through several platforms looking for ideas.

Even so, social media may be a ripe resource for content, depending on your niche. Ultimately, the method that’s best for you will depend on your specific situation.

4. Provide answers to frequently asked questions

It goes without saying that the best blog posts provide value to your readers. Producing content that solves a problem or answers a question commonly faced by your audience is a smart move from a strategy standpoint.

With this in mind, hunting for questions in need of answers can help you fill your blog with posts when you’re running low. You can look through question sites and forums such as Quora, perform dedicated keyword research as per the previous step, or even just take a look at the Google autofill suggestions for certain terms:

What’s more, if you have a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page, you could provide more detailed answers to those questions in a long-form post. This arguably brings you into the realm of developing a knowledge base, for which you may even have further ideas in mind. At the very least, your FAQ page will gain a few more internal links, which will help from an SEO perspective.

Finally, the comments sections of your blog posts are also ideal hunting grounds for queries you might be able to tackle in a separate post. Even asking your audience directly could be a fruitful endeavor.

5. Research your competition and improve upon their posts

A major trigger for a blocked ‘creative drainpipe’ is the feeling that you need to be constantly developing completely unique ideas and approaches. However, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, especially when it comes to writing blog content.

For example, checking out your blogging competitors can be a helpful way to spark ideas for your own content and overcome writer’s block at the same time.

In addition, keeping tabs on your competition can also help you make sure your site is up to snuff, while ensuring your blog is providing content of comparable quality.

Simply copying their approach and topic strategy isn’t going to see you stand out, of course. Instead, consider taking a look through your competitors’ archives and noting posts you think you could improve upon, and areas in which their blog is lacking.

The ‘Skyscraper Technique’ is your go-to solution here. It’s basically a way of taking pre-existing content and making it better. We’ve mentioned it across Themeisle on a regular basis, and think it’s one of the best ways to outpace and outshine other rival blogs.

6. Incorporate an ‘auto blogging’ tool to curate content

Auto blogging is the practice of aggregating content from outside sources and curating it for your blog. Installing an auto blogging plugin such as our Feedzy RSS Feed tool on your WordPress site can send new topic ideas straight to your site regularly:

While content curation is a skill you’ll need to practice, it can be a smart way to source content for your blog, especially when you’re low on fresh ideas.

Alternatively, you could also use an RSS aggregator to send content your way, then create your own unique posts on the same or similar subjects.

Mixing and matching this with other solutions we’ve mentioned is going to generate even more inspiration for your own topic ideas, almost without you lifting a finger.

Conclusion

In this post, we covered six different ways you can kick writer’s block to the curb. Let’s take a quick look at each of them:

1. Publish updated versions of older posts on your blog.
2. Use a keyword planning tool to find high volume search terms.
3. Monitor trending topics and jump on the bandwagon.
4. Provide answers to frequently asked questions.
5. Research your competition and improve upon their posts.
6. Incorporate an auto-blogging tool to curate content.

Do you have any questions about overcoming writer’s block as a blogger? Ask away in the comments section below!