It’s hard to be original these days when you consider the hundreds of thousands of blogs out there, covering every topic imaginable. Despite the crowded playing field, there are several strategies that bloggers can use to inject some personality into their work and be different.

If you truly want to create something that’s not just useful but remarkable as well, take a look at some of these suggestions:

1. Break your content down into sub-niches

If you see several other blogs covering your niche, you may want to break your content down to even small sub-niches, narrowing your focus to better establish your authority. If you are having difficulty writing substantial content on a regular basis, the scope of your blog may be too broad. You don’t want to spread yourself to thin when it comes to content development. Examine and analyze your niche and the blogs that currently cover it. How can you break it down further? Will it still have an audience after you streamline it?

2. Have a different tone or style in your writing

Even if you are discussing the same niche as numerous other blogs, a different tone, style or attitude in the writing itself may be enough to set your efforts apart from the pack. If your niche is full of journalistic, objective-minded blogs, you may consider a more casual or personal tone. While others in your niche may blog in hastily written rants, you could be the one blog that has a more comprehensive and patient approach. Sometimes, it’s not what you say but how you say it that matters most. Finding your own voice is just as important as knowing your topic.

3. Have a different type of post structure

Other blogs in your niche may have a well-developed format for their posts. Trying to emulate them may be an empty and unfulfilling gesture. Look to see how different post structures can make your blog stand out. If others in your niche write long, detailed posts, you could be the blog that breaks everything down into clean, concise summaries, making it easier for beginners in your field to understand. If you see countless ‘review’ posts on other blogs, you can go a step further and add instructional steps when discussing the products. Take the time to play around with the presentation and organization of your content. You may find that are more intuitive or direct means of getting your message across, and that just may be enough to make your blog distinct.

4. Write from personal experiences

This is probably one of the easiest ways of making your content original. There is only one you, so relaying your own experiences into your content will truly make it your own. Storytelling is one of the most effective ways of making information memorable, so tailoring your content with this in mind can make for a more relatable and intimate blogging experience. Readers don’t just come to a blog looking for information; they also want to know a little bit about the author as well. Look for unconventional ways of inserting your personality into your posts to make it more authentic and authoritative.

5. Use old content in novel ways

Cleverly reusing the material of others is an intriguing way of developing unique content. As long as you include proper citation, quoting other sources in unconventional compilations or collages can reveal stunning contrasts or similarities within your niche. The entire postmodernist art movement is centered on creatively composing eclectic elements together to create a new synthesis of ideas. To borrow an example from the film world, Quentin Tarantino’s movies borrow elements from a diverse array of genres, from westerns to gangsters to kung-fu flicks, and combine them together in incredibly original and entertaining stories. You may want to consider similar tactics when creating your own content.

6. Make your post a response to something else

Often, your blog can be original by directly responding to the efforts of others. You can provide a unique perspective on an issue by building on the discussion of others. Take a stand on the subjects that concern other writers or bloggers. Providing a contrasting opinion or further elaboration in tandem with another source can establish and distinguish your own views.

7. Give yourself time and plan accordingly

Being original takes a lot of hard work and will involve outside research, brainstorming and an analysis of other work within your field. If you don’t leave yourself enough room to fully explore your topics, you will be limiting your creative process and may end up feeling rushed when it comes to posting your work. The result? Forced content that is still too close to your competitors.

Plan ahead and set aside some time to carefully develop and articulate your ideas so you can incorporate the strategies listed here. Rome wasn’t built in a day after all. That being said, taking too long to formulate your original content can be counter-productive as well. You never know when somebody else might beat you to the punch.

So create a schedule for your brainstorming needs and have a general idea of when you want your work up for the world to see. When it comes to crafting original content, you need to strike a delicate balance between freedom and discipline. Too much of either thing can throw you off course.

I hope this post has been helpful and hope that you can use these points to inspire some outside-the-box thinking. Have any of these tips worked for you? What strategies have you used to craft unique or original content?