If you aren’t motivated to create new content, but still want to do work that is productive and relevant to the growth of your blog, this post is for you.
When writer’s block hits, it’s easy to feel stuck and unproductive. But writing brand new blog posts isn’t the only way to do constructive and productive work for your online brand.
Yes consistency is key to having a successful blog. But if you feel like you’re pulling teeth to create new blog posts, you’re not going to be that successful in the long run. You’re going burn out.
Related Post: How Blogging (and Social Media) Destroyed my Self-Esteem.
So. Below, I’m going to share things you can do if you still want to do productive work towards the growth of your blog, but maybe don’t have the heart to actually create content. Some of these points focus on social media (which help direct traffic back towards your blog), and some have to do with your blog itself!
Note, a lot of these are great to support your long-term strategy, and are likely to pull you through your slump!
*Some of the links included in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on them and make a purchase, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.*
1. Re-purpose Past Social Media and Blog Content
Anytime I’m short on new content, but want to keep up with my online presence, I look to my past posts on social media and my blog. This might not work if you are super thorough with cross-promotion, but personally speaking, when I post to Instagram, I don’t usually post the same content to every other platform at the same time.
So there’s an opportunity there.
Every few weeks (or whenever I’m feeling uninspired), I’ll open up Hootsuite (a social media scheduling app) and schedule to Twitter all the pictures I posted on Instagram. To make my life easy, I’ll even use the same captions I used on Instagram, making them more succinct when necessary to fit within the character count.
(In case you’re wondering, I don’t use the “post to Twitter” function when I post on Instagram, because it doesn’t share the image, just the link… And people on Twitter don’t usually click through.)
In addition to sharing Instagram pictures on Twitter, here are some other ideas for re-using existing content:
- Post your Instagram pictures (and captions) on Facebook
- Post your Instagram pictures on Pinterest (Tailwind can help you schedule these)
- If you’re on Tiktok, download the videos and share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest!
- Not on Tiktok yet? I definitely recommend you get started. Take some videos you shared on Instagram, shorten them, and share them on the app!
- Bonus: Pull the key takeaways from a blog post, and share it in an Instagram Caption, Facebook Post, or Twitter thread
2. Share Blog Posts on Facebook Groups
Yes, I know Facebook is pretty low on the social media priority list right now. Yes, I know their algorithm is a mess.
BUT… I still get decent traffic hits from Facebook Groups. Find groups within your niche, and become an engaged part of the community. Share your content there, but make sure you read the group rules, and also give more than you take. Don’t dump your link and run. Make sure you’re adding value to the community.
Facebook Group Tip: Ask a question when sharing your link. This prompts engagement in the comment section, and helps boost your post towards the top of the group.
3. Design new Pinterest pins for old posts
The beauty of Pinterest is that you have a never-ending opportunity to breathe life into old blog posts.
No matter how old a blog post is, you can design a new Pinterest pin, schedule it, and get a brand new chance to reach a massive audience.
Whenever I’m feeling stuck with blogging I open up Canva and design a batch of new graphics for existing blog posts. Sometimes I’ll experiment a brand new design, sometimes I’ll look at at what’s been working, and try to replicate it.
While you’re at it, do an entire Pinterest refresh and audit.
Pinterest Pin Tip: Not sure where to start when it comes to graphic design? Canva has a TON of fantastic Pinterest Pin templates.
4. Refresh Old Blog Posts
Every day is a good day to refresh older blog posts! Anytime I’m feeling a bit sluggish on new content, I try to strategically go back through old posts, and refresh them if possible!
4a. Update with new information
Everyday we discover new relevant information, and cool fun facts. Take the time to comb through your evergreen blog posts (the ones that are always relevant) and update them. This keeps your content from looking dated, or worse, sharing information that is no longer correct.
Blog Post Refresh Tip: Make sure you check any outbound links these posts might have. You don’t want to point to a dead website.
4b. Audit for SEO
If you’re like me, you likely have a bunch of blog posts on your site with no real direction. Or maybe, you thought you wrote a really great, hyper-targeted blog post, but no one is finding it on Google. It’s time to figure out where the problem is by doing an audit.
Whatever the reason, we don’t want any deadweight on our site.
Make sure you have a focused keyword/keyphrase (and that it isn’t too competitive for you).
Personally, I use Keysearch and the Yoast Plug in to make this happen.
Keysearch has been a fantastic key word tool. It helps me:
- Figure out how competitive a keyword (or keyphrase) is.
- Find related keywords (so if the one I’m trying to rank for is too competitive, I can find an alternative).
- Find the keyword gaps between myself and my “competitors”.
- Analyze my content, and recommends words and phrases I should include in my content to help it rank!
- And honestly so much more.
If you have Wordpress, I would hope you have the Yoast Plug in. It allows you to type in the focus keyphrase you are hoping to rank for, analyzes your content, and provides recommendations to improve SEO and readability. Some of the recommendations are:
- Add internal and outbound links
- Have relevant alt attributes on your images
- Add focus keyword to subheadings
- Bulk up lean content (Search Engine’s like a nice long blog post. They assume it’s going to be more informative than a short post).
- And many more!
By doing an audit with these tools, you’re giving your content it’s best chance to get in front of the people who are searching for it!
5. Brainstorm future ideas.
Just because you aren’t in the mood to create new content this very moment, doesn’t mean you’ll feel the same next week.
Do future you a favour and start brainstorming future ideas. I usually do this by typing a topic in the keyword search bar of Keysearch and saving my favourite terms to a list. That way, when I’m ready to write again, I can pull up a topic and run with it.
I’ll also peruse Pinterest, Google, and Social Media to get blog post topic inspiration. Sometimes I’ll start a draft in Wordpress, jot down the topic in the title and a few notes in the body, and save it for later.
Sometimes if I’m stuck, I’ll read other blogs for inspiration, (don’t copy or steal content though!). Need some new bloggers to follow? Check out this list of 30 Black Canadian Content Creators.
Bonus: If all else fails? Take a REAL BREAK from creating content.
Okay, if you’ve tried every possible blog-adjacent task, and you just really aren’t feeling it, I think it’s time to check in with yourself more seriously.
Ask yourself why you’re stuck. One of the things that has come up for me is that sometimes feels shallow to be creating content when the world is in such utter chaos. Other times, I’ve just taken on too much, and I need a real breather. And sometimes, I really was just being lazy, and I needed to kick myself a little harder to get my butt in gear.
Pause, listen to yourself, then proceed. It’ll benefit the growth of your blog in the long run.
So all in all, I hope this post helped you get a bit un-stuck. Something to note is that every activity on this list should probably be done anyways. Regardless of whether or not you are actively creating new content.
All the above tasks are valid and productive work that will help you grow your blog, so if you weren’t doing any of these things, maybe plan to carve out some time to do them!
Incorporate them into your schedule, even if it’s on a bi-monthly basis!
Related Posts:
1 comment
I have been reading posts regarding this topic and this post is one of the most interesting and informative one I have read. Thank you for this!