20 July 2022

Is It Okay To Write About The Same Stuff As Everyone Else.

By Rahul Garg

So this is how it goes…

You’ve hit a creative brick wall and can’t think of anything to write about so you start looking for inspiration.

According to many blog posts I’ve read on writer’s block the sequence now follows this pattern:

Come up with a fairly broad but relevant subject;
Consider using a content generator to get your headline;
Do some keyword research;
Locate popular articles on the same subject by any means at your disposal;
Write something in your own words but in more depth and longer;
Feel good about yourself that you’ve leapfrogged up the rankings.

Sound Familiar? Great.

You’ve met your goal and made sure you’ve published something new on your blog.

But if you stop and think about it, is it all that great?

Table of Contents

LOSING THE CREATIVE EDGE

One of the things that attracted me to blogging was the opportunity to be creative and to inspire others.

That is, of course, as well as the promise of untold wealth! Joking apart, I’m sure that’s a similar story to you.

I love reading too but what I’m finding more and more is that there’s a lot of rehashed stuff out there.

Rehashed stuff that’s aiming to be just that little bit longer and deeper than articles of the same ilk.

Yet, it doesn’t offer anything new.

And this is being encouraged as a way to get ahead.

The trouble with this strategy is that not everyone is skillful enough to get away with it, me included!

There’s little or no thought behind it and if you’re not careful you risk losing your creative edge – your whole blogging identity.

That’s if you ever had one of course!

WRITING FOR THE SAKE OF IT

I understand the school of thought that you should stick to a rigid writing schedule.

What concerns me about it though is that you start writing about stuff for the sake of it.

You become a lazy blogger in order to meet your self-inflicted editorial calendar.

Working on things which don’t require much thought becomes the norm and you start to blend into the blogosphere.

Eventually though, this will start to show in your writing if you’re not careful.

Perhaps the motto should be instead, only publish when you have something useful to say.

OVERUSING LIST POSTS

Hmmmm, list posts. Bandied about as something that everyone loves, they’re pure link juice heaven.

Me? I’m not so keen.

Everyone’s doing them and their usefulness is becoming compromised.

They seem to be a particular favourite of multi-author blogs and people who write guest posts.

One person writes about 9 ways to stand on your head then someone outdoes them with 10 ways to balance on your little finger and so on.

How about breaking those lists up into separate posts and looking at them in more detail instead?

HERE’S WHAT TO DO INSTEAD

Danny Brown talks about “The Non-Original Approach to Originality” in his latest newsletter.

And there’s something he says in the newsletter that particularly caught my attention:

“There’s no such thing as real originality anymore – but there are ways for you to be originally non-original. Others have already done the hard work for you – use it.”

Now, here’s the thing…

There may be nothing wrong with writing about the same stuff as everyone else, particularly if it’s successful.

But you need to be mindful that people are interested in your own ideas and opinions.

As Danny puts it, “Take the best of what’s relevant for you and refocus into what’s best for you to move forward, on your own terms and with a structured map in place”.

He’s not specifically talking about blog posts but I think it’s equally relevant to those too.

You can write about the same stuff as everyone else but you need to make sure you have your own take on things and be able to add value.