This post is part of the Bloggiesta, a weekend challenge where bloggers spend time on pesky blog tasks or work to get ahead on their blogging. This mini challenge is about thinking outside the box for better blog posts.
One of the biggest challenges for me as a blogger is staying motivated and excited about my blog. One of the ways I combat that is trying to mix up the types of blog posts I write. It’s easy to fall into a rut of constantly posting the same type of posts over and over again, especially for us book bloggers who write about similar topics all the time.
The purpose of this mini challenge is to brainstorm new ways to write about our favorite topic — books! — to keep blogging fresh and exciting.
Step 1: Review the (Many) Types of Blog Posts
I found several great resources that give suggestions on types of blog posts to write. You probably don’t have to read all of these today, but bookmark the ones you find helpful.
- 48 Ideas for Types of Posts You Can Publish
- 26 Types of Blog Posts
- 20 Types of Blog Posts
- The 5 Types of Blog Posts that Experts Write
- All 13 Types of Blog Posts
Step 2: Brainstorm
Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to brainstorm ideas for as many of the following types of blog posts as you can. If a post type sounds uninteresting, skip it. If it sounds too technically challenging, think of an idea anyway.
- A Link Post – share link (or series of links) your readers might find interesting
- A Short Post – less than 200 words
- A List Post – simple as it sounds, a list of some sort
- An Opinion Post – take an event, news, or another blog post and share your opinion on it
- A Poll or Question Post – post a poll or ask your readers a specific question for feedback
- A How-To Post – you’re an expert in something; big or small, share how to do it
- A Long Post – more than 700 words
- A Review Post – self-explanatory, I think
- A Definition Post – show your expertise about a topic related to your blog
- A Personal Post – something that’s going on in your life, related to your normal blog topic or not
- A Resource Post – you know a lot about something, share the sites/books/tutorials you go to on that topic. This is similar to a link post, except these links should be related in some way and be useful for other people who want to know about the topic.
- A Quote and Commentary Post — share a quote you love, or a quote from Twitter, and add some commentary
- An Infographic Post — make a chart or infographic (here is a resource for that)
- A Storify Post — use Storify to gather posts on a particular topic
- A Frequently Asked Questions Post — answer some common questions on a topic or solicit questions then answer them
- A Video Post — shoot a video of yourself, put it on YouTube, and embed it into a post
- A Comparison Post — take two (or more) things and compare them for readers
- An Interview Post — think outside the box for someone you could interview on a subject
- An Old Post Update — Find an old post you’re proud of and update it for today
- A Promotional Post — pick something you love and write a post promoting it (this does not have to be for compensation)
Step 3: Move on for Now
Take that list and put it somewhere safe. Then pull it out when you reach a point where you feel your blogging mojo going away and need some fresh ideas. Or, spend part of the Bloggiesta drafting and scheduling some of your new post ideas.
If you have any questions about the posts or have suggestions to add, please share them in the comments!
Comments on this entry are closed.
I absolutely adore this post because I’m definitely trying to do much more than reviews, but it can get hard to come up with ideas. This is going straight to my favorites – you already helped me come up with a few!
Excellent ideas…luckily, my theme allows for some of these types of posts already (which I need to use more), but it’s always good to have some “in the bank,” so to speak, for when I need more ideas.
I’ve wanted to do a few of the “easy” posts just to have ready to go, but never seem to get that far ahead in my blogging!
One of my goals for Bloggiesta was to brainstorm for April, so this is perfect!
I am bookmarking this to keep forever. Thanks for putting it together.
Best. Post. Ever. I am totally going to print this out.
It’s interesting that you posted this because I have been brainstorming NON-review posts for my blog and plan to put some of them into practice during Bloggiesta. I’m also pretty sure it was you who taught this to me years ago during a special blogging teaching series. I think it was you?
I think all book bloggers struggled, at one time or another, to think about how to write more than reviews. I hope this is helpful!
And yes, this was one of the topics I used during the Blog Improvement Project a couple of times — it was pretty popular then too.
Great post! The list gave me great ideas for posts. Thanks!
What a wonderful post! I love this. There are a lot of times I feel like I am in a blogging rut with just promos and reviews. Thank you so much. *actually saves list* Thank you!
Thank you VERY much for sharing your great ideas — I’ve done some of these, but now I have many more sources of inspiration.
Thanks for the great challenge. I am tempted to set up a book bingo challenge myself so I don’t loose the Bloggiesta momentum!!
I’ve thought about turning this into a month-long challenge some time during the year, but haven’t quite figured out the logistics of it. I’m glad it was helpful!
Thanks. I just filled an entire page with a colorful mind map of ideas for future posts. That’s going to be a great resource!
This is great!! I love idea posts like this. You are right… sometimes I do sit around and think… ughhh I don’t want to do another book review!!
My Bloggiesta Goals and Challenges
This brings back such memories! Some of my most clicked on posts were from my Blog Post Bingo experiences! 🙂
I came up with some good ideas during Bingo too — it’s fun to think outside the box on post ideas!
Thanks for all the great ideas. My blogging mojo has been waning for a while. I’ve been blogging for almost 6 years and I just feel like I’m doing the same thing over and over again and it gets old. Hopefully, this will help spice up my blogging life a bit.
I’ve been blogging almost six years too and I feel the same way — in the last year, especially, I’ve had to work hard to spice things up and find new ways to keep myself excited.
I did this mini-challenge last night. It was really helpful to sit down with a pen, some paper, and these categories. It really got me excited about new ideas. Thanks for the challenge!
Thank you for the inspiration! I’ll definitely be coming back to this for ideas over the next month or so
This post was so helpful and has been bookmarked for future use. Such a great list and there are many points after a day at work that I have no clue what to blog about and then on my days off the mojo is lost! Thanks so much! Checking through your social networks now 😀
I missed out on Bloggiesta this time, so I’m looking back now and catching up. This post has so many great ideas! I seem to have so little time for my blog and for reading, I need to figure out what else I can stop doing instead!