Every mom has a repertoire of easy dinners she can pull out of her pantry when she’s out of groceries or out of ideas. You know the ones – those easy, never fail, always please family favorites you can throw together with a can of this and a box of that. Great for those busy nights or when you’re feeling tired.

When it comes to blogging, it’s also a good idea to have some blogging “cheats” for those inevitable dry spells. Here are a few ideas that have worked for me and other bloggers:

• Recaps. This might look like a “week in review” roundup of excellent blog posts you’ve written or read in the last week. This one is great for establishing goodwill with other bloggers you admire. You might like this one so much you decide to do it on a regular basis.You can also publish your greatest/most commented on/etc posts on a particular topic. This is particularly valuable to your new readers who may not have read some of your best work. It allows them to see some of your archived content.
• One year ago… Similar to a recap, this one is a list of some of the popular posts you published one year ago. It’s easy to simply search for all the posts you wrote a year ago inside your blog’s control panel. Find the best ones and spotlight them.
• Twitter roundup. Consider copying and pasting some of the best, funniest, or most interesting Tweets that are relevant to your market.You could also ask a question of your followers, and paste their answers into your blog. Lynn Terry, Kelly McCausey and our very own resident Sweetie Alice have all done this with success.
• Ask a question. Oh this has got to be the easiest of all the cheats! Simply ask your readers a thought provoking question and leverage the power of your blog as a survey tool. Let THEM do all the work creating content for a change!You can also publish a question your subscribers or readers have emailed you. Get their permission first or publish it anonymously. People love to feel like they’re helping others. Let them be the experts.
• Memes. Participate in memes like Wordless Wednesday (and Tell Me Thursday), Thankful Thursday, Monday Motivation, and others. If you’re feeling a bit of blogger’s block, these are great for keeping things fresh.
• Interview someone. Have you read a great book lately? Email the author some questions and post the interview on your blog.Is there a reader who leaves great comments on your blog? Introduce them in your post. Publish success stories, case studies, etc… these again create goodwill but also give you interesting content that you don’t have to work really hard for.
• Be an editor. Instead of always being a writer/blogger, consider serving as editor from time to time. Accept content and publish it if that makes sense for your market.For instance, on a parenting blog, you could accept parenting tips and advice, funny stories or photos, embarrassing moments, birth stories, product reviews, etc. For a wahm blog, publish wahm success stories and press releases.

Even the most prolific blogger occasionally runs out of ideas. Keep these ideas in your virtual pantry and pull them out to create something tasty for your readers.

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