Writer’s block can paralyze even the most experienced writer with fear. Don’t let blogging haunt you. Help your inner writer escape the confines of your labyrinthine mind.
Whether you are a professional blogger or someone who has been unwittingly drafted to write an article, these seven frighteningly simple blog post tricks will help you maintain a killer blog full of freakishly compelling content.
1) Answer chillingly common questions
Create blog posts that answer the most interesting (and frequent) questions you get from your clients and prospects. Social media is an excellent source for these tricky issues. Solicit questions from your blog readers. Ask your social media fans and followers engaging questions that prompt more queries in reply. Keep a handy list of questions you hear time and again when interacting directly with contacts. Reincarnate each question and related answer as its own blog post for the most widespread appeal and to maximize your spell-binding content.
2) Launch a spirited article series
As with frequently asked questions, article series are a great way to capture and maintain the interest and attention of your readers. Pick a topic that you are wickedly well versed in, and write a series of 4-5 short blog posts that each focus on one aspect of that subject. If it is easier for you to write one long article in one sitting, go for it. Then hack the article up into smaller, more digestible pieces that you can post as separate blog posts in a series.
3) Address clients’ worst nightmares
What keeps your clients up at night? What causes them pain? How does your service or product help resolve those problems? If you don’t know, take a poll or send out a survey and find out (and shame on you for not knowing what terrifies your target market). Address those ghoulish concerns on your blog – perhaps in a series (wink wink). Ask your customers what they want to read about and then write about it from a problem-solving perspective that inspires them with confidence in your organization.
4) Resurrect old posts and give them new life
Just because you’ve written on a certain topic before doesn’t mean that it should be buried for all time. Don’t squander all of the hard work you have put into previous blog posts – especially those that were well read. Shake the dust off of you more popular previously-published posts and breathe new life into them with a new twist. Tweak under-achieving posts to resuscitate them and turn them into fresh masterpieces. When deadlines darkly loom, this practice is particularly effective.
5) Astonish readers with a shocking perspective
A startling take on a common point can draw in substantial attention. Consider the success of click-bait posts (not that we encourage that particular tactic): shock and awe, with a little mystery thrown in, sparks the imagination. “Inquiring minds want to know.” Write a post from a unique perspective to garner a double-take and more social sharing. One of our posts about social media was written from a dog’s point of view. This kind of clever spinning can make your post go viral, increasing your visibility and opening the door for more business opportunities.
6) Record your feverish notions
Some of your very best ideas might come to you like an unwelcome apparition in the middle of the night, while you’re driving to your next appointment, or when you’re at a friend’s cocktail party. You don’t always have control over when your brain lights up with your most brilliant concepts. Fortunately, you no longer have to carry around a notebook (unless that’s your preference) since you can instantly record your inspiration whenever it strikes on your smart phone before it disappears into the ether. Go back and review your intriguing ideas when it is more convenient to bring them to life as fully-formed blog posts.
7) Tell a real horror story
You already know that testimonials and success-based case studies make excellent blog fodder. But did you know that there is another type of story that gets even more attention? Real-life horror stories, whether based on a true failure or the potential demise that could theoretically occur, are gobbled up by subscribers like brand name Halloween candy. Why? Because they play on our angst, making us immediately relate to the story while we hope to learn from other people’s mistakes.
Do you have any other simple blog post tips to share? Or – better yet – true marketing horror stories? Share this post and tell us about them.
