I am not a writer.   That may sound strange coming from someone who has written several books, numerous articles and a minimum of one blog post a day.  But that is the truth.  I am not a writer.  I sit down and look at the computer screen or paper and wonder where to start.

So when a small business owner tells me they have writers block, I can relate.  But the truth is the blog posts and newsletter articles are too important to your overall marketing to let that excuse stop you.  So how do you unblock your writers block?   Start by listening and reading what others have written  Look for hot topics and trends you can share with your readers.  Be sure to add your own perspective, and always credit the original source.

John Jantsch of Ducttape Marketing refers to writers block as Contentapation and offers the following cures:

1) Set up search alerts in Google Alerts or Tweetbeep so you get a steady stream of ideas related to search terms in your industry
2) Use an RSS reader – Subscribe to lots of related blogs in Google Reader or Bloglines and visit your reader to search for ideas that you could explore deeper, apply differently or simply pass on to your readers.
3) Get to know some Social Bookmark sites – Use sites such Digg or del.icio.us to find out what other people are bookmarking, find interesting or are hot right now. This is also great tool to use to bookmark and store sites and pages you might want to right about in a future post.
4) Use an idea notebook – Get a Moleskin notebook and create list of the top ten topics you know you need to write about often because consist of important keyword phrases for search and refer to this list weekly
5) Tap the FAQs – Your customers, prospects, partners, journalists, suppliers and employees ask you questions every single day. Get in the habit of answering these questions on your blog as I’m guessing others might want to know the answers as well.

Lately my Google Reader has been filled with information on writing and improving your blog.  So when the above suggestions relieve your contentapation, check out these links for ideas on how to build traffic to your new, interesting blog!

ProBlogger Blogging Tips for Beginners

Jason Falls SocialMedia Explorer

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