• Mikey Ryu
• October 6, 2023
• 0

Writers Block: How to Get Past It and Prevent It

How to Get Past Writers Block

In a world where content is constantly being consumed and created, it can be a challenge for marketers to be able to come up with ideas every time. This is known as writer’s block and it can be extremely frustrating when you just sit there and stare at the empty screen wondering how to start or even what to write about. Having an array of content ideas at your disposal is a great way to increase your efficiency and allows you to get more content out in the same amount of time. In this blog, we will discuss the many ways that you can avoid writer’s block and ways that you can prevent it.

Having a structured Writing Schedule

One of the most important things that comes to mind when it comes to writing is to have a schedule or set times of the day that you dedicate to writing or coming up with ideas. For example, if you start your weekday on a Monday then that day could be dedicated to generating ideas for the following week based on how many pieces of content you need to produce each week. While there are many different ways that you could come up with ideas here are a few:

Brain dumping:

Brain dumps have been proven to be a great way to come up with ideas or topics for what you could do for your next series of blogs or social posts. Brain dumps are meant to help you highlight topics or certain fields that you could tackle. Here are some quick tips for having a successful brain dump:

1. Set a time limit and stick to it
2. Have a set goal
3. Select the right tools
4. Write Freely and without judgement
5. Review and organise your notes after
6. Include more than one person in your brain dump (if you can)

All of these tips allow you to stay on track and have a successful brain-dumping session.

Content Repurposing:

This type of content generation is when you want to expand the reach of already existing content. A lot of your customers aren’t all on one platform and this means that it can be a problem if you only post a blog to your website. Repurposing of customers allows you to increase the reach and visibility of your content and ensures that no matter where your customers find themself. whenever you write content you must have your consumers in mind and what platforms that they engage on. Repurposing your content allows one piece of content to appear on multiple marketing platforms. Inbound marketing content is often the most repurposed content, here’s a list of some examples:

1. Blog to Social Post
2. Social Post to Blog
3. Long-form Blogs into many Short-form
4. Blogs into YouTube videos (both long videos and shorts)

Repurposing content is a great way to increase the visibility of most of your content and allow you to get your brand name out there.

Audience Research:

Many marketers seem to forget that they have a great content ideation tool right in front of them all the time. Your customers or rather the people who your writing your content for can be a great tool for coming up with content, after all they are who’s going to read your content. For any business having data on your audience is a great way to start creating content, asking yourself simple questions like what will my prospects want to read? Or what have I seen that my customers may be interested in? Many people get focused on what you can say about your company rather than what can help your customers the most. Taking an inbound approach to your marketing can allow you to create wonderful arrays of helpful content that gets interactions. You don’t have to write about your company, think of other companies as well and news related to your sector for example if you are a tech company looking for content ideas how about reviews on products, or blogs highlighting the features of the latest iPhone or Samsung. Businesses all around the world are constantly creating and consuming content a good marketer will be able to balance their content intake to be able to create helpful content that provides valuable information.

Trend Analysis:

We are constantly consuming content and so are your customers, this allows you to use the-wide-array of different analytical tools that are all at your disposal. Tools like Google Analytics (GA), Google Search Console (GSC) just to name a few. You can use software like these to see how your prospects interact with your website and content, enabling you to structure your next flux of content. Trend analysis doesn’t just mean watching what they do with your content but also listening out for other things that could be happening these can include anything relating to your business for example if you are a gaming-inspired tech repair company then you might make content highlighting everything we need to know about the latest game release.

Creating Your Content Calendar

Having an up-to-date content calendar is one of the greatest ways that you can assist your writing and stop you from being affected by writer’s block. Having a content calendar can benefit you and your business in many ways and allows you to be effective and efficient with your content creation. With a content calendar there are many different ways that it can assist you, some of these benefits include:

1. Boosts Organisation – By having all of your content ideas in a calendar format it allows you to have ideas and times and days that the post should go out.
2. Boosts Efficiency – By having all of your ideas already laid out in front of you and organised into a calendar, it allows you to just get writing rather than spending your time thinking of what you are going to write about.
3. Never Run Out of Ideas – Thinking of ideas is often the most time-consuming part of content generation but with a content calendar this can be easily ignored
4. Consistency in Content Delivery – By having all of your ideas in one place, allows for a consistent posting schedule allowing for your customers to be able to know when you going to post.
5. Strategic Content Alignment – This allows you to choose when your content goes live allowing you to post the right content when it’s most relevant.
6. Adaptability and Flexibility – The content calendar is flexible and adaptable to your specific needs after all, it is just a custom calendar. This allows you to change what you post based on what’s happening around you.

How to Create Your Own Content

Now that we’ve established the importance of a content calendar we will dive deep into how you can create your own to be able to make your content creation journey so much easier.

Step 1: Define Your Objectives and Audience

Before diving into the nitty-gritty of content planning, it’s crucial to understand why you’re creating content and who your target audience is. What are your content marketing goals? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, or boost engagement on social media? Knowing your objectives will guide your content strategy.

Equally important is understanding your audience. What are their interests, pain points, and preferences? The better you know your audience, the more effectively you can create content that resonates with them.

Step 2: Choose Your Content Platforms

Next, decide which platforms you’ll use to distribute your content. This could include your blog, social media channels (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest), email newsletters, podcasts, YouTube, and more. Your choice of platforms should align with where your target audience spends their time.

Consider the strengths and limitations of each platform and how they fit into your overall content strategy. Each platform may require different types of content and posting frequencies.

Step 3: Determine Your Posting Frequency

Consistency is key in content marketing. Decide how often you’ll publish content on each platform. Be realistic about your capacity and resources. It’s better to start with a manageable posting frequency and gradually increase it as you become more efficient.

Your posting frequency should take into account the platform’s best practices and your audience’s expectations. For instance, daily social media updates may be necessary, while a weekly blog post might suffice.

Step 4: Create a Content Calendar Template

Now it’s time to set up your content calendar template. You can use a spreadsheet, a project management tool like Trello or Asana, or even a physical planner, depending on your preference.

In your content calendar, create columns for dates, content titles, platforms, posting times, and any other relevant details. Some content calendars also include spaces for notes, keywords, and links to resources.

Step 5: Plan Your Content

Start populating your content calendar with ideas and topics. Refer back to your objectives, audience research, and platform choices. Brainstorm content ideas that align with your goals and appeal to your target audience.

Consider creating themes or categories to help organize your content. This can make it easier to maintain a diverse and balanced content strategy.

Create an Outline:

Before writing your piece of content make an outline of what your going to write about, this can drastically help you stay on task especially if your writing a big piece of content for a blog for example. Outlines are great for reminding you what you where going to write about and what you have planned allowing for you to structure your content before you even write it. Structure is also really important for helping you write content as if you already have your content structure written you don’t have to worry about how your content will look if you already have the structure. A basic outline for a content piece will look something like:

1. Introduction
2. Paragraph 1
3. Paragraph 2
4. Paragraph 3
5. Paragraph 4
6. Paragraph 5
7. Conclusion

Write Freely:

Writing can already be a challenging task that’s why we recommend that you write freely and don’t edit anything until you have finished writing all the content. If you are worried about perfection the first time you write something then it can make it harder for you to keep in the “zone”. Going back mid-sentence can also make you forget what amazing thing that you where going to write about and lead to more time spent thinking about what you were going to write rather than actually writing.

Change Your Environment:

Sometimes all we need to get those creative juices is a change of environment, if we are sat in the same room every day it can get a bit boring and as our minds are constantly looking for stimuli and information from the surrounding environment it can limit our writing ability if we don’t have a change of scenery everyone in a while. Sometimes even taking a break can be extremely beneficial to your writing, not just the flow of it but the quality of your content as well. You don’t even have to move to a different room sometimes standing up can be all the change you need to get your brain focused and ready to create.

Having a Break:

While your work is important sometimes all it takes for you to be able to write that amazing content piece is a little time away from the keyboard. A little break, doing something you enjoy for five minutes can be extremely beneficial to having a balanced and healthy work life. Thers was actually a science study done on the creative process and how we create those brilliant ideas it’s known as the eurika moment and it often occurs when your not even thinking about that topic. Make sure as your writing these content pieces you are also staying hydrated, eating well and getting enough sleep as these are crucial factors that can effect your creative ability in many different ways.

Eliminating Possible Distractions:

We live in a very “noisy” world where everything around us is moving and doing things no matter where we are, sometimes having a designated room and time when you can be left to create content is a great way to be able to help your creative juices. Being able to focus on one thing can be extremely beneficial not just for your work but for your mental health as well.

Remember That Writing is a Process:

This rule applies really for anything as you can’t expect everything to go correct the first time or even the second time. The journey of writing content can be a long-winded process and takes time to master it so don’t worry about you having mistakes or not being able to come up with those ground-breaking ideas straight away, remember, it takes time.

Conclusion

We hope that this blog has helped you overcome writer’s block and even prevent it from happening in the future, with so many people writing content every day it can be hard to stand out, luckily for you next week Hero Host will cover how to make your content stand out, allowing you to be your prospects go-to. If you are interested in having blogs on your website but don’t quite know how to start then you can contact us and we will be happy to help you start your blogging journey.