Five Things To Try When You Hit A Blogging Slump
We all hit blogging slumps from time to time. Whether it's because you've hit a creative wall, or things are a little quiet in terms of traffic, growth, and readership, they can really leave us feeling a little uninspired and lost. Our blogging journey, in my experience, comes in waves. There are times when we feel on top of our game and 100% happy with everything we're sharing, and then there are the days when we fear we're not good enough and aren't fulfilled by the content we're creating.
If you've hit a blogging slump, I want to share five different things you could try to help bring some life back into your space and your creative process. I've experienced a few slumps over the past couple of years but the most poignant one was last spring when I realised I was feeling so uninspired because I just wasn't enjoying the topics I was writing about anymore. That's where my refocus from beauty content to creating for bloggers and creatives began, and since then I've felt so much more inspired by this online space.
Try something new If you've hit a slump, switching things up a little and trying something new is the perfect way to kick start your creativity. Whether it's a brand new feature or column, or maybe taking a risk with a different style of writing or visuals, stepping out of our comfort zones is a good way to flex our creativity from time to time. If you're starting to feel like you've hit a wall with your blog, trying some different and adding something new in the mix is an awesome way to bring some life back into your space.
Explore your analytics If traffic and engagement are low and you're starting to panic a little, my first piece of advice is to remember that worrying gets us nowhere. There are always quiet periods from time to time online, and you'll probably notice specific days in the week when your traffic is highest and lowest. If you want some clearer answers though, your best bet is to head over to your analytics dashboard. Find out which content is connecting with your readers the most, which platforms are driving the most traffic to your site, and how long people are spending on your blog before they click out. Knowledge is power after all, and once you can really get to grips with the analytics behind your blog you can feel more equipped to move forward. I'd recommend always remembering to take into consideration engagement and social shares as much as you do traffic so you can get a clearer picture of where things stand. Remember though - You Are More Than Just Your Traffic.
Figure out how you feel When you find yourself in a blogging slump and completely uninspired to work on any upcoming content, taking the time to figure out how you really feel about your blog (and what you really want from it) can be super helpful along the way. Exploring why you're feeling so disconnected from your online space and what it is that is getting in the way of your creativity means that you can then tackle the issue head on. Maybe you're itching for a new challenge, maybe you've been spending too much time comparing yourself to others, or perhaps you've allowed your view of success to become distorted along the way. We all lead busy lives outside of our blogs and there's also a huge possibility that a blogging slump can be brought on by burnout - there will be times when we just need to step back, relax, and recharge. Getting to the bottom of how you really feel and what you really need can help keep you focused and steady along the way.
Make it fun again If your blog has stopped being your happy place, if it no longer feels like a space to express your creativity and connect with likeminded people, the best thing we can do is to step back and focus on making it fun again. Whether you blog as a hobby or as a business, if we're not enjoying ourselves, we can't expect our readers to either. Fun looks different for everyone, for some it will be how much creative freedom they have with their content, for others it's the excitement of hitting traffic targets and making an income from their space. Whatever it is that makes you feel crazy in love with your space, prioritise that above anything else.
Raise the bar If things are a little quiet and you're itching to push yourself creatively and raise the bar of what your blog can be, my best advice is to do just that. Think outside of the box, bring something exciting and fresh to the table, and create the content that scares you a little. We grow, adapt, and change with our blogs along the way and I think the worst thing we can do is stay stagnant. We want to feel challenged and motivated by the work we put into our blogs, and our readers wanted to be excited, engaged, and entertained by the content we share. Sometimes when we hit a slump we need to take a step back to find some perspective, but when you jump back into your process my best advice is to leap in with both feet and give it 100%.
Have you ever hit a blogging slump? How did you overcome it?
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