Hit publish more often

Choosing a topic, picking the perfect headline, and writing a post your audience will enjoy can all feel a little overwhelming, especially when you’re a new blogger.

Worst of all, it’s hard not to get caught up in the fear that maybe you’re writing just isn’t good enough. That somehow, before you even write your first word, your work doesn’t deserve to make the internet cut.

Navigating post ideas, creating click-worthy headlines, and trying to get your content to stand out in the sea of thousands posts already written about the same topic can be a daunting task, but here are a few simple tips and tricks to help get you writing more often.

Things I’m not going to go over in this post are grammar, sentence structure, and all that stuff. You know to keep your writing clean. This is more about building your writing confidence, and understanding the mechanics behind creating a simple blog post that people will click on, read, and share.

1. Headlines Matter

A not-so-good post with a great headline will get more clicks than a great post with a bad headline.

I’m sorry to break it to you, but that’s just the nature of the internet.

Spend a little time, especially in the beginning, writing clean and polished headlines that describe what your post is about. Keep them simple and clear. Most readers tend to favor simplicity over long, drawn-out headlines with hidden agendas or meanings.

Come up with a few examples, and use a free headline analyzer tool, like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer, to see how well your headline will rank in search engines.

If you feel like you need a little more help creating compelling headlines, check out Jon Morrow’s Smart Blogger Headline Hacks. A great resource for creating click-worthy headlines for all your posts.

2. Do Audience and Topic Research

Get out there and see what other people are clicking on.

Use different platforms, such as Pinterest, Facebook, Medium, or just a good old-fashioned google search, to gain more insight about your audience, and to give you a better sense of what direction you want to take your writing.

The more you get to know your audience, the more you’ll be able to write for them.

When researching, if you see a lot of posts already written about your topic, don’t let that discourage you. This means people are already interested in what you are writing about, so add you voice to an already growing conversation.

3. Don’t Wait for inspiration

Inspiration comes in waves, so don’t rely on it as the foundation of your writing strategy.

Flex your writing muscles and practice writing when you feel uncomfortable, or when you feel like don’t have anything interesting to say.

I’ve gone through periods where I’ve felt “inspired” to write, and I’ve also gone through periods where I literally thought I’d never be able to come up with a good idea to write about again.

Some of the things I wrote in my so-called writing “dead zones,” ended up receiving a lot of positive feedback from my audience, and some things I wrote when I was on an “inspiration high” fell flat.

Sometimes, you never know what will take after you hit publish, so don’t over-rely on feeling inspired, and don’t completely shrug off times when you feel the least connected to your work.

4. If You Can’t Free-Write, Use an Outline

Outline seemed to have gotten a bad rep these days, but there actually pretty effective writing tools for writing clear and coherent posts.

Their especially helpful if you oftentimes get lost in your writing, or feel as though you don’t know what to say. They are great for generating ideas, and take a lot of the work out of having to create on the spot.

I know some writers who are free-flowing writers and only feel encumbered by outlines, and I know others writers who use outlines as the blueprint for creating some of their best masterpieces

I myself use a combination of both. Some posts are a little more formulaic, like listicles where an outline helps me write a concise and focused post in good timing, and some are personal testimonials that are easier for me to write from a free-flowing space in my mind and heart

Try a combination of writing tools and techniques until you get comfortable. The more you write, the more you’ll be able to determine the type of writer you are and the tools you’ll need to write productively.

5. Develop a Consistent Writing Schedule

A solid writing schedule is the foundation of producing blog posts consistently.

Set aside a few hours a day to write and stick to it. Whether it is in the morning or evening, find a space in your day that works best for you and your lifestyle.

Having a consistent writing schedule will help you to build confidence in yourself and improve your writing skills so you get more posts done.

6. Use “You”

Talk directly to your reader. Writing is in many ways a one-on-one conversation between you and your reader, so use works like “you”, “we,” “us,” and “ours,” to help emphasize your point and connect with your reader.

Remember, one person is reading your post at time, so it’s okay to write as if you are talking to them.

7. Write It Simply

There is nothing wrong with a simple writing style with a simple message.

I use to spend so much time trying to make every sentence bigger and better. It was almost as if there was a director behind me yelling, “great, now let’s do that even bigger, and better.” I would end up spending hours working on just a single post.

I wrote like this in part because somewhere in me, I use to believe that good writing was all about being able to convey complex ideas in complex ways.

The best message is the one your audience can easily understand and relate to, so don’t overcomplicate your writing.  You’ll end up losing your focus, and if you feel lost in your message, your reader probably will too.

8. Include Some Personal Touches

I use to struggle with how much to include about myself in a post. I didn’t want my posts to feel like a vanity piece, but I also didn’t want my writing to come off as hollow and generic either.

Don’t be afraid to talk about you. Sharing your personal experiences is a great way to underscore the point you are trying to make, and deepen the connection with your reader.

You don’t have to share everything. You decide what you want to keep private and what you want to be open about.

I’ve read some awesome and powerful pieces that were solely about the writer’s experiences. They stood as strong pieces of work because they walked the reader through their story, and wove the lessons seamlessly throughout each personal experience.

Make it easier for you audience to get to know you, and include some personal touches if it applies.

9. Stop Worrying so Much

The more you worry, the less you’ll write.

There’s a part in writing where you need to let go. Let go of the fear that no one will like your work, that you’re not good enough to write, and that no one will care what you have to say on a particular topic.

The only person who thinks your writing is bad is you, and that’s not necessarily a big audience pool.

Your writing is probably better than you think, but you’ll never know that until you put your work out there.

10. Don’t Be Afraid to Hit “Publish”

Hitting the publish button is one of the most rewarding parts of the writing experience, yet it’s the piece of the process we as writers miss out on the most.

This is because we too often get an idea, start a draft, and never finish it.

I am guilty of this too. Right now, I have at least ten unfinished blog posts on my laptop. That’s ten pieces of potential going to waste.

It’s easy to get caught up in the fear of whether or not your work is good enough to publish. Even if your post doesn’t turn out the way you want it to, clean it up, proofread it, and put it out there anyway.

Every unpublished post is a missed opportunity to gain a new audience member, so hit the publish button and see where your writing takes you.