Wow, blogging is harder than it looks!
When I started blogging a couple of months ago, I envisioned myself cranking out one useful post after another: sharing deals and strategies, discussing relevant financial news, sharing financial moves I am considering, etc.
Well, the honeymoon is officially over. Some days it feels like I'm in a blogging rut, where it is difficult to come up ideas that will translate to useful content. This is hard work!
How do you actually come up with something worth saying without resorting to useless "Amazon.com Friday Sale" posts? For now, I guess I'll dive into the archives of a few established blogs to find some inspiration.
Well, the honeymoon is officially over. Some days it feels like I'm in a blogging rut, where it is difficult to come up ideas that will translate to useful content. This is hard work!
How do you actually come up with something worth saying without resorting to useless "Amazon.com Friday Sale" posts? For now, I guess I'll dive into the archives of a few established blogs to find some inspiration.
posted by Frugal Frugalson at
2:03 PM
9 Comments:
Just don't start ripping stuff off of other bloggers. I see that happening more and more.
By
Anonymous, at 10/27/06, 2:25 PM
I know what you mean. It isn't easy to produce regular meaningful content. Its hard to balance the frequency with orginal stuff.
I might suggest finding a niche for your blog, a focus that isn't readily apparent on other pf blogs - for example, you seem to be further along in your path to your financial goals (not sure, because I couldn't find them on your blog) - use that to your advantage - thats my $.02 worth.
By
Anonymous, at 10/27/06, 2:55 PM
I'm still in my honeymoon period, but I started banking my ideas. When I come across something I want to write about, I write it down, on a "to blog" list. That way I can give more thoughts to my topics and make them more useful. I'd rather produce useful posts than putting out more, but less meaningful content.
I'm also gathering my previous posts on other forums and trying to organize them into post topics.
By
Tom, at 10/27/06, 4:01 PM
I find that a post "series" helps to keep me motivated. Can you think of a collected group of topics that you can move through one at a time? It helps to keep you motivated to finish the series, plus it gives you a bunch of topics to write on. Right now, I'm churning out a biography of how I got myself into my financial debt, highlighting the mistakes... this has provided fodder for five posts (so far) with five more planned.
By
Anonymous, at 10/27/06, 11:43 PM
Hi! Saw your username and had to check you out.
As another commenter mentioned, I keep a list of article topics to help me think.
another tip I use is to whip out several posts when I am in a creative mood and save them for a rainy day. If you have some quick "tips" sort of stuff, you can write several of those out and save them for when you really can't think of anything.
Although just regurgitating what another blogger has written is boring, using someone elses comments as a jumping off point to your own thoughts is fine, as long as I am concerned. I have frequently read a post someone wrote where I have a different opinion and used that as a starting/idea point for me.
Occasionally, on a bad day, you can just do a few links to other folks.
And I do a regular feature where I link to the Festival of Frugality when it comes out on Tues and then highlight my favorite posts. There are several PF carnivals out there you could do that with. I have had quite a few folks say that they really enjoy that and that the link helps them to find the festival each week.
Good luck.
By
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate, at 10/28/06, 7:58 AM
Wow, thanks for all the feedback everyone. It's good to know that I'm not the only one that finds blogging to be a challenging endeavor!
Since my financial decisions cover everything from grocery shopping to asset allocation, I haven't really found a niche or specialty yet.
I have been writing down some ideas that I've had, but turning some of them from an idea into a useful blog isn't necessarily easy.
By
Frugal Frugalson, at 10/28/06, 8:59 AM
What I like to do every now and then is just brainstorm ideas into a notebook. Some of them maybe completely senseless but within those lists is definitely a few gems. Whenever I start hitting a rut I look over these notes.
By
Anonymous, at 10/29/06, 8:52 AM
So it happens with a lot of us bloggers. Just take it easy..don't push yourself too hard. Keep writing whatever ideas you have and save them as drafts...finish them at a later point...sort of what matt says in the above comment
By
GolbGuru, at 10/29/06, 11:16 PM
I've been trying to write about my own life too, but I guess it has gotten a bit boring lately. :)
After two short months on the job, I really have to tip my cap to the bloggers that have been doing this for a couple of years.
By
Frugal Frugalson, at 10/31/06, 7:57 AM
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