Breaking the Blogging Patterns

Most niche bloggers have definitely experienced what is called a “writer’s block”. It’s a natural reaction that comes along with writing to much on the same subject and can be induced by many other things, non-blogging related, like the lack of sleep.

Just as writers experience these blocks, readers are no exceptions. They too can experience what people call reader’s block.

The good thing is that writer’s block and reader’s block can be treated or prevented by using the same medicine: Diversity.

Diversify by breaking your blogging patterns

At one time, many of us felt that a certain writing style or topic is more appreciated by our community. The obvious choice was to expand that topic and create follow-ups, or write aticles on other topics, but use the same writing style.

For a period of time, that proves to be a good strategy, but in the long run, you and your community will experience saturation which will lead to a block. This is where diversity should step up and break your blogging pattern.

Blog post alternatives

There are quite a few types of blog posts and writing styles you could experiment with and even mix them up as you find fit for your next article.

• Pillar articles
  These are long posts, usually well above 500 words, containing valuable, in-depth information on a certain topic. Tutorials are good examples of pillar articles.
• Interviews
  If the right people are interviewed, your readers will love them. Further more, interviews are a good way to reach out to those people you wanted to get in touch, but never knew how. They are a great networking tool.
• Market Research & Statistics
  Doing a bit of research did not hurt anyone. It keeps you and your readers informed and could also help catch some traffic if the topic is hot. Take Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere for example. Many bloggers republished the study’s results, analyzing them from their own personal point of view.
• Link Round-ups
  Many bloggers do it, but only a few go beyond linking. Link out and share your those on the topic. If you’ve enjoyed it enough to link it, you definitely can write something about it too. Here’s a good example on Words Of A Broken Mirror’s Monday Reading Roundup. Linking too can prove to be a great networking tool.
• Lists & Resources
  Lists are fun and easy to follow. Good resources are always appreciated. So, why not writing some good resource lists once in a while. You can take my Domain Names for Bloggers Series or WordPress themes round-ups (here and here) for example.

There are, of course, more types of posts that you could consider, such as: industry forecasts (predictions), relevant reviews, rants and gossips (be careful with these), open discussion threads, group writing projects and many more.

It’s up to you which one will be your next post or how would you mix up these blog post types.

Some writing styles alternatives

Different blog posts require different approaches. A “positive” approach may prove a good choice some times, but not always. Consider alternating your writing styles, once in a while:

• How NOT to’s
  “How to” posts have always managed to attract a good community response, but how often have you considered writing about the down-side of things? How often have you made your readers aware of the things they should stay away from?
• Thinking outside the box
  Presenting things from another perspective can prove to be not only a well deserved mouth of fresh air but also fun to write. Remember my Are Bloggers Hollywood’s Next Big Shots? post or 10 Blogging Tips from the Top 100 Songs of 2007? They are a good example of thinking and writing outside the box.
• Getting personal
  Bloggers are people. People have emotions, expectation and preferences. Sometimes it’s good to let your feelings about things show in different posts. Back in April 2008, Daniel Scocco wrote a post about the old WordPress Theme Viewer. If you read the post now, you’ll see how his personal feelings and opinions on this website stick out of every sentence.  My post Top 5 Reasons Why Blogging Rocked Our World would be another good example in this case.

Conclusions

In order to prevent blockage, be it writer’s or reader’s, a good deal of diversity is required. You don’t really need to look for topics outside your niche, but rather take a look at your niche from the outside. Go around it and look from every perspective that you can connect to.

The results will be amazing and fun. Just remember to break the blogging pattern once in a while!

Photo credits to Vivek Chugh.

This article has 4 comments

• 

  Rarst

  October 13th, 2008

  I was always curious how come posts that are clearly off from usual blog topics are often getting awesome feedback from readers.

  My guess is that they provide both a change of routine and opportunity to speak up to those who are readers from another field and can’t always relate and contribute to main topics.

  I posted really simple post yesterday – long list of things that was suggested to me for fixing in design of my blog and how I handled it. My blog is not related to WordPress design in any way but I got great amount of support, suggestions and helpful links.

  Blogger is not his content, blogger should be a person first. I wonder what amount of great posts gets lost because authors are afraid that they won’t fit and/or offend their readers in some way.
• 

  Stu McLaren

  October 15th, 2008

  This article was a wonderful reminder that creating a regular “type” of blog post is an easy way to create consistent content.

  With just with the ideas you laid out above, a person could dedicate one day of the week to a weekly interview, one day to a link round up, another to a resource list and so on.

  That makes it so much easier than starting from scratch and plus it makes it easy for a writer to recognize materials they could use for each type of post throughout the week.

  Great stuff – thanks!
• 

  Alex, Blogsessive

  October 15th, 2008

  Indeed Stu, alternating content, writing styles, creating series, will definitely help you keep up with your blog’s growth.

  Have you read this article I wrote a while back, Planning Ahead to Maintain a Publishing Rhythm?

  It’s about what you have just concluded.
• 

  farouk

  March 17th, 2009

  interesting ideas, especially the “how not to” part

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