I am an analytical person. Maybe I was born that way, learned it, or am, because I’m a Virgo.
Analogies and analyzing go hand in hand for me.
Today’s Lesson
If you’ve been following my blog, or digging through my archives, you’ll find posts with titles like:
New Blogger Begins to Feel Like an Abandoned Dog
What Do Blogging and Dieting Have In Common
Does Your Blog Resemble A Soap Opera?
Could Feng Shui Help Your Blog
Photo Credit soham_pablo
When you look at life, and that which surrounds you, it’s easy to see how one aspect, can be tied to another.
In business, employees become extended family. Clients are like friends.
Computers equate to communication, as do blogs, websites, forums, and emails.
The possibilities are endless.
The glass of water you just drank, could inspire you to write a post about “how clean in your water”. A little research will reveal that most tap water is filled with lots of minerals and chlorine. But, is bottled water any better? Does it really come from “the mouth of the purest natural mountain spring in the world”?
Maybe you have been working with a computer program you can’t live without. Write a “product review” type of post. Give it 5 stars. Tell your readers what you love about it. Are there any pitfalls? How could it be improved?
Did you see an informative TV show? Do a recap of the show. Don’t forget to provide a link to the televisions program so your visitors can read “the rest of the story”.
Often other bloggers inspire us. Write a post, link to that blogger and tell your readers how they inspired you.
Do the same for a favorite food item. I wouldn’t suggest a product review on a sugar, fat ladened product. Think healthy.
Or, research and share what’s wrong with eating lots of sugar, fat, salt, etc.
If I just glance around my office, I can see at least 6 things that inspire as topics for future posts.
What are they? Sorry, but you’ll have to wait. 🙂
BTW: The inspiration for this post came from a comment that was left on this blog by Nez. Thank you Nez!
Today’s Assignment
Stop and look around you.
Based on the subject matter of your blog, do you see one thing that inspires you to write a new post? How about two? Three?
Start writing.
No time to write……make a note for yourself.
What or who inspires your posts?
It’s a great question. What inspires a post? I have often been lost for a topic.
I started a blog wanting to help people who are struggling in business. So I had an awful lot of material as we had just gone bust and started out again.
I have had periods where inspiration is lacking. I suspect my message isn’t reaching enough people struggling. It does get a few hits from people searching on terms to do with business struggles.
But I suspect I need to get in the mind of those who search – what are they searching for? Why aren’t I appearing higher than page 20 on Google etc.
I’ve seen people writing headlines that are great – they promise a good read, and I’m rarely let down.
But if I was to search on the same topic, that posting wouldn’t appear near the top.
So it’s not just finding the right inspiration and topic, perhaps it’s also figuring out the right way to write the article so your intended audience finds it.
I long for continued inspiration, and perhaps some serious changes in the way search engines work with respect to blogs!
The challenge is finding an automated way in which to find relevant articles from the many brilliant blogs I’ve found that are written for a human and incredibly relevant, despite the fact the author spends more time on content than they do on catering for search engines.
Ian Denny’s last blog post..Business Turnaround Ideas: 12.5 Things You Can Try Now
Hi Barbara – This is a great post. You come up with some brilliant titles and posts. I liked how you compared the abandoned dog to bloggers – that was an excellent story.
When I first started writing regularly, I was hopeless at coming up with ideas. But, once you get used to doing it, I think they come a lot easier. I draw inspiration from everywhere – talking to people, observing my surroundings, reading and thinking.
And I’m suppose I’m quite lucky as I seem to wake up when my subconscious is still doing my thinking for me, so ideas tend to just come out.
But, like anyone, I have days when I can’t come up with anything – then days where I have loads of ideas, so I just keep them in drafts until I have time to work on them.
Ian – like you, I’m guilty of not really optimising many of my posts for the search engines. You could try using wordtracker. If you get it let me know and I’ll give you a few tips on how to use it yet.
But, if you want to find a good way of getting excellent posts ranking highly without using SEO, use your stumbleupon account. Add more people who’s posts you enjoy to your fan list, then vote on the posts they’ve stumbled. And if they like your posts, they’ll stumble you in return.
I’ve found stumbleupon a bit complicated to learn but it’s persevering. And the good thing is, most people only seem to stumble really good posts because they don’t want to risk their reputation by stumbling rubbish. I like it a lot – it seems to work much better than digg.
CatherineL’s last blog post..Jumping On Customers and Other Deadly Customer Service Sins
I don’t go looking for inspiration per se, but I’m always ready to jot down a note when an idea comes to me. If your topic is something you care about, then you’ll probably find inspiration without too much effort (I know Ian will find his!). But then you see people writing blogs about law just because the ads pay well, when they don’t care about law at all. It must be awfully hard for them to get inspired!
Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..Are You A Gryffindor Or A Slytherin?
Ian,
With your personal blog, you definitely have a lot to draw from, for inspiration. And, I do know it is frustrating when you are globally trying to offer your help to others, but they aren’t finding you. I’m guessing it boils down to time, SEO and that sore subject of ours, “page rank”.
Catherine,
Isn’t it amazing how you can find inspiration all around us? Then it’s just a matter of being inspired to write your thoughts. Sometimes, that becomes a chore. All the more reason to have several draft posts ready for editing.
Re: StumbleUpon, not only is that a great social bookmarking site, it is another great source for ideas for future posts.
Hunter,
Writing ideas down is a great way to create an “inspiration” journal. I find it interesting how one idea can spark several others.
Yes, many write blogs about law, asbestos or mesotheloma, just to get high paying ads, however, if people are smart enough, they soon realize, the blog is just a bunch of links and ads, and doesn’t offer value of any kind, on their search subject.
I would imagine, those are bloggers who are motivated by money, and really don’t care if they offer accurate information for their readers.
Barbara’s last blog post..Diets, Decorating, Dogs and TV Inspire Me To Blog
Hi Barbara – it is frightening that people could be getting the wrong information just because someone wants to make a heap from Adsense. But, I bet some people do it – they bang those sites out v quickly.
I have a mortgage advice adsense site, but I made sure the info was pretty decent. To be honest tho – I’m not really suited to Adsense ready sites and I don’t make them quick enough.
Isn’t stumble upon brilliant? I have found some excellent articles through other people’s stumbles. Unlike Digg – people seem to recommend v good stuff to read.
CatherineL’s last blog post..Jumping On Customers and Other Deadly Customer Service Sins
Hi Barbara,
I’m glad I was able to return the favor.
You’re definitely doing a great job with excellent, thought-provoking posts, including this one *takes some notes*
Warmly,
Nez
Nez’s last blog post..Locke and Demosthenes: A Thought on Political Blogs
Hi Catherine,
I’m sure there are many sites out there that aren’t worth a second visit, but a lot of those bloggers know SEO and use it to their advantage. I would guess those are the sites that you land on that are all links, and you click on one link, only to get to another page of links. It’s a vicious circle. I ran into many of those when I was trying to help one of our daughters plan her wedding.
I do like SU. I would like it more, if I had more free time to Stumble around and read all of the great blogs and look at all of the beautiful photos.
Hi Nez,
Thank you for the compliment. And again, thank you for the inspiration.
Barbara’s last blog post..How Keywords Attract A Larger Audience
Life inspires my posts…funny I just wrote a post called Why I Blog. Because it’s cheaper than therapy.
Natural Woman’s last blog post..Why I Blog
Hi Natural Woman,
I find it amazing how blogging does act like a type of therapy. We can rant, rave, or just share our thoughts with others and instantly begin to feel “better”.
Barbara’s last blog post..How Keywords Attract A Larger Audience