10 SEO Article Writing Tips – What To Do When Ideas Run Dry

If you take on an article niche, the day will come when you face the challenge of where to find new ideas. You will face the terror of all authors–writer’s block. It may be rumored that only novices experience this, but the truth is every author faces times when ideas run dry. SEO article writers are no exception.
How do you get past this obstacle? Work your way through the following tips.
1. Start reading competitor’s articles.
You don’t want to parrot articles written by others in your genre, but you will find that reading the work of others will generate ideas.
2. Use a technique known as free writing.
Choose one sentence in one of your competitor’s articles. Do a little research so you can write a unique paragraph about that one sentence. Look over what you just wrote and see if there isn’t another paragraph you can develop.
3. Try a technique known as clustering.
Look at the keywords you need to use. Are there any associated ideas you can group together around those keywords that you haven’t used before? You’ll discover this technique often generates new angles you hadn’t thought of.
4. Set some ideas aside.
You may find that you’ve written a great paragraph or sentence that you really want to use, but nothing seems to work with it. Extract the “great idea” that’s impeding progress and paste it in a separate file. Save these to come back to later. Just because something isn’t working right now, doesn’t mean it won’t work later. (I organize idea files for each SEO article client in a folder named “Ideas”.)
5. Establish a routine.
Don’t wait until you are in the “mood.” You’ll never get there. Set a time to work and commit to it. The same mechanisms that make setting a regular time for sleep beneficial will also work with putting your mind into a writing mindset ready to work for you.
6. Listen to music in the classical style.
As pumped as rock music may make you feel, it is actually counterproductive to energizing the writing center of your brain. You don’t have to listen to Bach or Mozart. Many New Age artists are essentially experts in classical style. This type of music fights depression, a common denominator in the inability to generate ideas.
7. Exercise.
Your brain is only as active as your circulation. If your blood is sluggish, your brain will be sluggish as well. Build a regular exercise schedule into your day. It will help to prevent writer’s block.
8. Take regular breaks.
If you aren’t making progress after half an hour, take a five minute breather. Drink some water. Take a short, brisk walk (or do some situps or pushups).
9. Focus on one article at a time.
You may need to write multiple articles for a client, but focus on one article at a time. As you are writing, if you realize that the flow isn’t going well, reread what you have written so far. Don’t erase everything because you don’t like it. Evaluate it. You may be trying to fit too much in at once. You may have the nuggets there for several articles. Jot these ideas down, and set these nuggets aside to be dealt with later.
10. Relax!
Your self-talk is very important. Don’t repeat negative statements such as, “I’ll never come up with any ideas.” “I’m just not up to this today.” “I can’t deal with this right now.”
Instead, reframe your self-talk so you stop the release of stress hormones (which shuts your brain down). “These steps will help me come up with idea.” “I don’t have to be a genius today. It’s okay to have a slow day.” “There’s no better time to deal with this than right now.”
I’ve learned that I need to quit focusing on how much work I’m producing each day. I’ve accepted that there are days when ideas flow generously. There are days when ideas run dry. Yet, I’ve never had these tips fail to jump-start my writing batteries. They work.