Writer’s Block: What Can I Do If I Cannot Blog About Something Right Now?

Introduction

When you pump out articles on a regular basis, you will eventually hit a wall or lose some steam if you do not have a pipeline of articles to write in the future. This is common and is the result of spending so much time writing articles that you went through your list before you could add more article topics to it. If you are spending every day on your blog like I am trying to do when I can, then this will more than likely happen to you sometime. The goal of this article is to help you deal with writer’s block and know that your dedication to your blog means that you come up with stuff to write about again. Maybe we just need to take a step back and reflect about where we are at now.

What Is Writer’s Block?

Writer’s block is the result of not being able to write articles because you have either run out of ideas or you are concerned that you might write about the same topic again. I think that the idea of duplicate content affecting SEO negatively is more of a concern than it should be. I would consider an article to be duplicate content only if it is literally the same exact article, just paraphrased to conceal it. We will obviously have the same topics show up in different articles because everything that we write will be related someway or another. If this is the case for you, then just write about the same sections again in terms of how it relates to your article’s topic. This means that you should be able to give some additional insight when relating topics so your new content does not come off as duplicate content.

Why Do We Get Writer’s Block?

When we get really excited about starting a new blog and feel like we have a lot to say, we become so eager that we just start writing and see no end to the limitless articles we can produce. Blogging is a very long haul that can extend into years depending on how active you are and how successful your articles become. This is why we sometimes cannot but have writer’s block because we can spend every day planning all of the articles that we will write but eventually we will have to start writing. There is no way that we will ever start our blog if we spend all of our time planning a list of articles to write about. So just a list to keep you occupied for a while and just start writing already. You cannot spend your entire life preparing for something and then never do. We will just never be prepared for what comes. Just do what you can.

We Feel That We Have Exhausted Our Niche

Losing steam can be a pretty strong demotivator when it comes to blogging. People tell us all of the time that we need to stay within our niche and not venture out when we exhaust it. Let us face it, we can only write as much about our niche as we are knowledgeable in the topic. Even then, unless the niche is super tiny and small, there will be others we are competing with for traffic. So in this case we will feel compelled to expand outside our niche when we find ourselves stuck in a rut. No problem, lots of people venture outside their niche and explore new topics all of the time. The goal here is to connect your topics together and find something common among the new topics you explore.

Is It Time to Expand Our Niche and Look for New Related Topics?

Only you know the answer to this. I know that writing articles is important to keep your blog alive and prevent it from stagnating. I would be more concerned about your blog losing life if your articles are not getting any decent traffic. If you are getting good traffic, then the rush to write articles so frequently is not really there. If you have the traffic, then you can slow down writing articles. This is a good state to be in. Then you can test the waters and try going beyond your nice and see how your audience reacts to it. We cannot be afraid to explore and try new things. If anything, you can always return to your niche if the exploration fails. It is better to have tried than to have not at all.

What Can I Do When I Get Writer’s Block?

When you get writer’s block the first thing that you do is just remain calm and accept that an article is not going up today. This is perfectly fine. I know that competition compels you to write more. However, if you find yourself being forced and pressured to write, then it is no longer enjoyable or fun. The competition is always out there and it will still be there whether you have writer’s block or not.

Here are some things that you can do when you have writer’s block.

Take Some Time Off Writing

Just stop blogging for a while and do something else today. Enjoy life and do not feel that you have to spend every single day and every waking minute on your blog. Again, the beginning will be tough because we are starting out with nothing. Later on as we grow, it will get better. Hopefully, the blog will be able to sustain itself for a while without having to constantly check on it. This is where we want to be. Not today, someday though. Just keep going at it and we will both get there someday. 

Once you take a break, you can come back when you have some new ideas to write about. Just sitting there all day and pushing through it will not work because you are too preoccupied with having to publish something right then and there. The worst thing that can happen is the pressure to publish overwhelms you and you feel like quitting. I know that we have competition but you cannot let them get to you. You just need to follow your own path with your website and know that staying in it for the long-haul means having some downtime sometimes.

Writing Is About Quality Over Quantity

When you return to writing, remember that it is better to produce quality over quantity. Do not just churn out articles for the sake of getting stuff out there so that your blog does not become old and forgotten. If you feel that you will run out of ideas soon, then place more days in between your articles. Do not feel intimidated from all of the competition that you must publish an article everyday. When you find competitors in your niche, choose those that rank around the same place that you currently do. Do not expect to tango with the big boys on page one so soon. You may never, it is okay. Right now, you are just gaining experience running a blog, especially if you are flying solo. If you are going at it alone then things will take longer. Always revisit your expectations and goals, adjust accordingly so you still feel hopeful that your blog succeeds someday.

Slowing down the rate that you publish articles gives you more time to produce quality content. You have more time to fully flesh out your ideas from the start instead of having to update it later. Nothing is wrong with updating articles after they are published but it is better to have it as complete as possible so that your audience reads as a complete article as possible from you the first time.

Do Some Other Stuff For Your Blog

If you are up to writing today then there still a ton of things that you can do to maintain and keep up your blog. I have a list of things that you can do so you do not waste a day if you are not taking the day off from your blog. I will pick a few different things from that article and discuss them here.

Spend Time Analyzing Traffic

This is really fun and can really give you a boost when you are feeling down about not being able to get an article out. Seeing your traffic go up is always exciting, especially when it comes to seeing what keywords you rank for. You should check your traffic regularly because it is the gauge used to determine how well your blog is doing. If your traffic is on an upswing, then you already have some good traffic coming to your blog. You deserve the day off, your blog is doing well. This is why I mentioned earlier that it is more important to spend more time on writing those quality articles over articles that quickly get pushed out and have no substance or personality. Nothing feels worse than writing a whole bunch of short underperforming articles and realizing that all of that time spent was for nothing.

Update Your Existing Articles

We tend to always go forward when writing articles because once we publish something, we feel that we are done with that topic. However, having writer’s block for a new article topic does not mean that you have it for your existing topics. Revisiting older articles is a good way to make sure that you are not just leaving them and never wanting to ever look at them again. We all know that if we just spent a little more time on some of our articles, we could have written more. This is especially likely at the beginning because we have to get our content out there quickly so that we have a base to work with. As we publish more content and start to slow things down, we can revisit old articles and add some more thought into them. 

If we could, we would keep writing articles forever and never think that they are ever done. Eventually though, you will need to just stop and publish. If you have more to say, then finish it. You cannot sit on an article forever and never publish it. Google is hungry for that content for its search engine and you need to get some traffic to your website.

Perform Keyword Research and Find New Topics

As you check your traffic, you will notice what keywords are performing the best based on impressions and clicks. See if you can find some new things to write about. Or, at the very least, update your best performing articles with some new content. Keeping an eye on traffic means that you will know if your changes to an article have had a positive effect or not. Perhaps this is a good time to see if you can push your article up higher in the rankings.

Summary

Writer’s block can be tough to overcome when we keep writing articles and never come up with new topics to write about. This is why even though you will spend the majority of your time writing articles, you need to step back and plan your next set of article topics for the future. This becomes difficult as your blog grows and you run out of topics to write about because you have written so much already. Take some time off and find some new things that you have not explored yet. Or, just take time off your blog completely. The best part about success is that we measure it in our own terms and no one else’s. Set your own realistically achievable goals. You are in this for a long time, so do not burn out so quickly.

There are a lot of things to do when you are not writing. Checking your traffic and looking for new topics to write about based on keywords is one thing that you can do. Updating existing articles so they get attention is important too.

Writing articles can be tough without repeating yourself and talking about the same things over and over again. We try our best but it is bound to happen when we have written so many articles. What I can say about that is to make sure that you bring up old topics again and relate to the topic of the current article. That way, you are drawing new connections and conclusions that have not been made yet.