Adam Croft

A writing blog can be a great way of promoting your work, connecting with fellow writers, and improving your skills as a writer. But what can you do if you find your writing blog becoming a little bit lifeless or a something of a chore to update? Luckily, there are plenty of ways to re-inject life into your writing blog. Here are some of the best.

Start a new series of blog posts

A great way of re-injecting interest into your blog – for both you and your readers – is to start a new series of blog posts. The topic could be related to what you already write about on your blog, or it could be significantly different, but the important thing is that it’s a topic you find interested and engaging, and that you want to write about. A series like this can be a good way of getting a regular post up on your blog, even if it’s just once a week or once a fortnight, helping you keep the new content coming while adding a new angle to proceedings.

Re-launch alongside your new book

If you are an author with a new book out soon, it could be a great opportunity for you to refresh your blog. For instance, you could consider changing the design of your blog to reflect the design of your new book, as well as using your blog as a prime marketing tool for the book.

Do something completely different

Sometimes, the best way to improve something is to do it completely differently. If you feel like you’ve got to the stage with your writing blog where more of the same or only small changes aren’t going to make any difference, it might be time to try something entirely new. If the things you used to write about on your blog aren’t as compelling anymore, think about what you do find compelling at the moment, and work out how it could be built into your writing blog.

Get a regular guest spot

If your writing blog is well-established with a good number of regular readers, you could consider adding an extra draw with a regular guest spot. For example, once a week, you could give your blog over to a writer you admire to write about a topic of their choosing. You could consider having just one regular guest writer, or if you have loads of contacts who are willing to write a guest post, you could use different writers. Just remember that the people who write the guest posts need to be getting something out of it too – think about how the exposure will help them, as well as how it could help your blog.

Start a new marketing campaign

Starting a new series of promotions for your blog can be a good way of looking at it through fresh eyes. Think about how you’d market it if you had just come across it for the first time. What marketing tactics haven’t you used before? Not only can this be a good way of boosting your blog, but it can also be a useful way of learning about new marketing techniques that could come in handy the next time you publish a book.

Create a calendar of actions

Coming up with a plan for what you want to do with your blog can help you to focus; it will make you think about what you want to achieve through the blog, and can be a good opportunity to think of different themes and topics you want to explore.

A writing blog can be a valuable part of an author’s brand and marketing, but if you want it to be as useful as possible, you need to invest in it. This doesn’t necessarily mean spending money on it, but it does mean making an investment in time and attention so you can get the most out of it. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Define what ‘regular’ writing means to you

We’re always told that if we want our writing blogs to be successful, we need to make sure we update them regularly. I definitely subscribe to this view: it’s pretty hard to make your blog successful if there isn’t anything on it. But ‘regular’ writing could mean different things for different writers. Work out how many posts per week you have the time to write, and take into account issues such as how many ideas for blog posts you can think of in that time.

Take your time to build your presence

It’s said a lot, but it’s said a lot because it’s true: it takes time to create a successful, well-visited writing blog. It can take a while for your work to pay off, but it’s definitely worth building up a good back catalogue of blog posts (see another reason why below).

Consider your keywords and SEO

This one relates to the point above – a good back catalogue of blog posts can be useful for your SEO. Think carefully about the keywords and phrases you want to use on your blog and don’t forget to work them into your blog posts (but don’t force them to fit if they won’t go in – a well-written post is better than a keyword stuffed illogical ramble any day). Another tactic here is to make sure your blog is part of your main website so readers can easily find out more after reading.

Use it to develop your writing discipline

We all know that writing requires discipline, and your writing blog can be a good way to help you develop this. Writing blog posts regularly can help to get you into the mind-set you need when you’re writing your novel. When you’ve finished your blog post for the day, don’t let go of that discipline – stay with it and carry on writing something else straight after.

If you’re into independent publishing in any meaningful, it is more than likely to be worth you having your own writing blog. That blog could be on almost anything related to your writing, from the process of publishing to the projects you’re currently working on. Whatever you decide, it can be a hugely useful tool to have. Here are five reasons why.

Build readership

Probably one of the most obvious reasons for having your own writing blog is that it can be a good way to build your readership. Of course, this doesn’t happen overnight; it can take a long time and serious commitment to your blog (and independent publishing), but the rewards are more than worth it.

Develop writing skill

A blog is also a good place for you to develop your writing skills and techniques. This is particularly true if you find yourself in a stretch between projects where most of your time is spent on the publishing side of things rather than the writing side. Your blog gives you an opportunity to carry on writing no matter what and it can be a great place to explore new ideas.

Hone expertise and goals

You can also use your blog to develop your writing goals and your expertise. Even if you don’t know much about independent publishing when you start your blog, as you go along, you’ll undoubtedly learn much more – and your own insights will add a touch of personal style to proceedings.

Build author platform

As well as building readership, a writing blog can also help you build your author platform more generally. It can be a good place to promote your work and also to link to other platforms that you have, such as your social media presence.

Network with others

Finally, a good blog can be a brilliant networking tool. It can lead to guest blogging opportunities, as well as connections with people with influence and impact. Again, this is something that takes time to build up, but it is definitely worth putting the time and effort in to make sure you make your writing blog as good as it can possibly be.

Having a writing blog is great, but there is no getting away from the fact it can sometimes be hard to think up ideas for posts. Particularly when your blog has been running for a long time, the initial inspiration that was there can start to dry up and you have to start getting more creative about what you do with it.

Still, we’re writers, and so with any luck there will always be something to write about, even if some days all you manage to post is a few brief lines. When it comes to keeping your blog ticking over, it’ll be better than nothing. Here are a few ideas to help give you inspiration for posts for your writing blog.

1)      Write about what inspired you to write in the first place.

2)      Write about what you might be doing if you weren’t a writer.

3)      Write about your worst ever writing experience – what’s the worst thing you ever wrote?

4)      Write about when you first realised you might actually be good at this writing lark.

5)      Write about why you love writing. What is it about it that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling?

6)      Write about the worst piece of writing criticism you ever got and what you did about it. Writers love to know they’re not alone when it comes to getting bad reviews or feedback.

7)      Give your blog theme weeks (or months, depending on how often you update it). For example, you could have broad themes like ‘novels’ or ‘independent publishing’, or smaller themes such as ‘things that bug me when I’m writing’ or ‘stuff I am bad at writing but wish I was good at’.

8)      Write about other writers. Which writers do you admire and why?

9)      Write about your favourite childhood books. Reread them and then write about how they compare now you’re an adult.

10)  Write updates to old posts. That post you wrote last year about how you’re still really sceptical about e-books that you’ve now completely reversed your position on? Write about it, and why you’ve changed your mind.

What are your ideas for interesting writing blog posts?

I’m not sure how many writing blogs there are on the internet, but I’m willing to bet it’s a very high number indeed. There’s a lot of competition, and it can be hard to get noticed, especially when there are already so many well-established, quality blogs out there. Still, people are always interested to read something new and good and clever, so if you have a great idea for a writing blog – or any blog – the sheer volume of other stuff out there definitely shouldn’t put you off.

Plus, there are lots of things you can do to help promote and boost your writing blog. Here are some of them, and do feel free to add your thoughts and ideas in the comments.

• Be good. A large part of creating a successful writing blog is as simple as that. Write something good, that people want to read.
• Do your research. A large part of knowing what people want to read is knowing what’s already out there, and what’s popular. Do some research of different writing blogs and have a think about where yours might fit. What’s going to make people interested?
• Write regularly. One of the best ways to promote your writing blog is to write your writing blog. There are plenty of other ways to promote a blog, but if there’s nothing to promote in the first place, the task will be much harder. It can be hard to find the time write 5, 6 or 7 times a week, but if you’re serious about making a go of things, it’s worth it.
• Utilise social media. Probably one of the most popular ‘promotion tips’ is to use social media, and it’s popular for a reason. Facebook and Twitter can be very useful for tweeting blog links, but they can also be used to grow your profile in other ways – which, in turn, can bring people to your blog. Which brings us on to…
• Don’t just promote your blog. Think about what else you have to offer – the projects you’re working on, the comments you have to make, the wider goals you have as a writer. You don’t always have to directly promote your blog; sometimes that’s just a nice by-product of other work that you do.
• Don’t change it too much. It can be tempting to fiddle with the look and design of your blog, but if you change it too much, too regularly, the design will be a distraction rather than a positive feature of the blog. People like innovation and things that are different, but there’s also something to be said for consistency and a certain amount of familiarity when you’re trying to boost the popularity of something.
• Target keywords. Work out the keywords you want to target in your blog – do a bit of research into SEO if necessary – and make sure you don’t forget about them when crafting your blog posts. This is something that can take time to build up, but hopefully if you’re in it for the long game, your efforts should start to pay off at some point.
• Do guest posts. Writing for other blogs is a good way of getting experience and getting your own blog out there; if people like what they read, they’re more likely to visit your site in the future. And don’t forget to respond to comments. A little interaction can go a long way.