‘Content is King’. We’ve heard it so many times and we all know how important great content is. But what do you do when you’re staring at the blinking cursor, waiting for inspiration to strike? What happens when no number of coffees can get your brain buzzing?
When you do something on a daily basis you will at some point find yourself lacking inspiration for creative and innovative content. So what do you do? You try these ten tips for giving yourself that much needed boost!
1. Take a break
This might sound like the most counterproductive thing to do, but if you’ve been staring at your screen for the past hour then it’s safe to say you’re not going anywhere. So take a break – brew yourself a cup of tea, and stretch your mental muscles by focussing on something else for a few minutes.
2. Look back
Okay, break over – sit back down and take a moment to re-visit old posts, check the analytics and find out what worked and what didn’t, after all a little bit of pruning can make all the difference!
3. Plan
Now that you’ve figured out which aspects work for you, start planning a strategy. Decide on how frequent your posts will be, whether they’ll have themes, or whether they’ll be split into a series or categories.
4. Visualise
Imagine what your audience would want to read about, check out what the latest market trends have been and what kind of articles people shared. Think of what kind of end result you want your post to have – this will help you decide on your direction of writing.
5. Skip the title
Don’t confine yourself to a title before you’ve written a single word, it will only limit you. Try having a general idea of what you’d like to write about and then work around that. Adapt the title to your content – never the other way around!
6. Skip the intro
Seeing as we’ve skipped the title, why not also skip the intro and leave it for last? Get started with the main elements of the text and your intro will form itself…just don’t forget to actually write it!
7. Go back to basics
You’re obviously going to be writing your work digitally, but sometimes it’s easier to draft it out on a piece of paper first. Jot down a variety of points, drawing inspiration from different sources. This gives you a different perspective and makes adding ideas and notes much easier. Plus, it’s always rewarding to scrunch up the paper or rip it into shreds before tossing it into the (recycling) bin.
8. Ask for help
You don’t have to go it alone, ask a colleague or friend to read your work, suggest ideas, or provide helpful edits. It could be that you just need a fresh pair of eyes!
9. Prepare in advance
Sometimes you know you’re going to have a tricky topic to deal with. Start working on it in advance so that you can tackle it in stages. This gives you time to go back and re-read your work, change the layout, or add better images.
10. Go into isolation
We’re not talking about becoming a nomad – but if all of the above hasn’t helped then it’s time to sit down, block out all distractions (like e-mails, your phone, or Facebook notifications) and just get into the zone. Maybe music will help, or a big mug of coffee – find what makes you work and use it!
We’ve shared our knowledge with you, now it’s up to you to make it work. If you’re still completely stuck why not drop us a line and maybe we can offer some solutions.
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