If you’re writing a blog, you probably know what ‘writer’s block’ is all about. Whether writing is your profession or you just blog for fun, you’ll know about that feeling that arrives when you sit down at your desk with so much to ‘say’, but just don’t know where to begin. Our minds are so powerful; you can have tens of stories, narratives, and article ideas flowing at once. Come to think of it, sometimes you have so much information packed up there, when you finally sit down, your mind decides to shut down completely becoming a placid scene where the ocean and sky meet in the horizon melding into one huge blue blanket of emptiness.
As usual I decided to search the Blogosphere for ideas on different ways to write that might help you get that reluctant first word on the page/screen. After sailing through a few massive white cumulus clouds of Blogospheric literature, I came to shore at this blog post at Problogger: ‘20 Types of Blog Posts – Battling Bloggers Block‘. This is a blog written by a self-professed professional blogger who claims to make much of his daily bread by blogging. There seem to be a lot of these ‘get rich quick’ blogging schemers out there, and I don’t know if he’s just in it for cash, but I found this post to be quite enlightening. No matter what his intentions, he has helped his fellow species.
The ‘Problogger’ says that there are at least 20 types of formats in which you can write a blog post. He also intimates that using a mixture of these structures and styles will also keep readers more interested, as well as giving you numerous ways to ‘spark’ your fingers on the keyboard. By the way (on a quick tangent), after watching my girlfriend touch-type; I really think that it could be a worthwhile venture for any aspiring writers, more on that later. Here are a few of Problogger’s ‘types’ of posts that inspired me most with their creative and fun possibilities.
• ‘Lists – One of the easiest ways to write a post is to make a list. Posts with content like ‘The Top Ten ways to….’, ‘7 Reasons why….’ ‘ 5 Favorite…’, ‘53 mistakes that bloggers make when….’ are not only easy to write but are usually very popular with readers and with getting links from other bloggers.’
Geez, how easy is it to make a list about something? Let’s see, what’s the first topic that comes to mind? How about, ’15 ways to relax when your Word program suddenly and unexpectedly quits before saving.’ 1. Drink 4 liters of water so fast that your brain no longer recognizes the concept of ‘I’. 2. Run around in circles in the backyard 50 times while smiling at the Sun. And so on…
• ‘Hypothetical Posts – A ‘what if’ or hypothetical post can be quite fun. Pick a something that ‘could’ happen down the track in your industry and begin to unpack what the implications of it would be. ‘What if….Google and Yahoo merged?’ ‘What if …’’
What if by the year 3,000 A.D. human society dictates that every person on Earth (and other interstellar habitations) has to keep a blog about their own life? Is this a form of Orwellian ‘Big Brotherism’, or is it the ultimate means for all people to get an equal say?
• ‘Inspirational – Tell a story of success or paint a picture of ‘what could be’. People like to hear good news stories in their niche as it motivates them to persist with what they are doing. Find examples of success in your own experience or that of others and spread the word.’
There are several people whose blogs have become so popular that they’ve crossed over into other media. Check out Wikipedia’s ‘Blog’ entry, and maybe you’ll one day join their illustrious club.
Here are the other 17 types of posts listed: Instructional, Informational, Reviews, Interviews, Case Studies, Profiles, Link Posts, ‘Problem’ Posts, Contrasting Two Options, Rants, Research, Collation Posts, Critiques, Hypothetical Posts, Memes and Projects.
Read about these at the link and give a swift kung fu chop to your frustrating ‘Writer’s’ Block’ of hardwood doubt and suffering!
Jesse S. Somer loves it when he comes across a new blog that has some new and individual style or identity. Keep writing humanity, and don’t be afraid of breaking out of the mould of your previous self-styled structures.
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