How do you create killer content every time without fail? This question resonates so deeply with the most of us. As they say, there's nothing new under the sun. Running out of ideas is frustrating but the point isn't to offer completely new wisdom, it's to offer it from the point of view of what is happening this moment. That's what sharing content on the internet is all about. It's not creating brand new content every time that gets businesses sales and leads, it's about modifying content to the changing perspective of the reader. What do I mean by this? What you wrote about last year may not appeal to your audience the same way it did then, today. Let's talk more about how this can be tackled:
Get the vacuum out
What? Yes, you read it correctly. Whilst the common advice may be to get yourself into a quiet cafeteria, try doing the opposite. Getting yourself out there in the public surrounded by lots of people, puts you in the position of never knowing what to expect or who will be crossing your path – listening and talking to people will really help to trigger your thinking and you'll be sure to get lots of ideas coming your way. Or, if going out is not quite what you fancy, there are three apps listed below that use ambient music proved to help you focus on your writing:
- Thunderspace: There are two factors that set it apart from other "rain sounds," of which there are hundreds. First is that the storms were recorded in stereoscopic 3-D, designed for headphones at an impressive 256kpbs AAC. Also, despite the high-quality sound, the app comes in under a 50mb download, a sign the developer was deliberate with the design and resources.
- Coffitivity: The website and app with sounds of a coffee shop, was actually primarily based off the ambient noise research. Meant to re-create the coffee shop experience and the creativity boost many get from working in that environment, Coffitivity plays different coffee shop scenes such as "morning murmur" or "lunchtime lounge."
- Ambiance: The biggest advantage it has is the diversity of the sounds it offers through its sound store. In terms of creativity-boosting sounds, the category "Urban Sounds" offers almost any location you could imagine. From a restaurant kitchen, airport lounge, or shopping mall, all the way to a community pool or high school setting. If you’re someone who needs a specific type of ambient noise to get your work done and be your most creative, this may be the right choice.
Kill your comfort zone
Do things that you wouldn't normally do. Read a book that you wouldn't normally read, watch a movie that you wouldn't normally watch, listen to music that's not typically your taste. It will give you new perspective. Don't put too much thought into trying to get the right ideas instantly, give yourself time. Just create without censoring, editing or judging and give yourself permission to be messy. Once you've done this, don't go back to it immediately, wait and come back to it to see what you can use. Use article to help you leave your comfort zone: 10 Ways to Leave Your Comfort Zone and Write!
Strike while the iron is hot
Don't give yourself the chance of losing out on any of your brilliant ideas. Keep multiple notepads with you at all times, you never know when that great idea might hit you and if you don't get it down, you never know you may lose out on that number of leads forever. Inspiration can't always be repeated in its same form, so it's always valuable to write things down there and then so you can always come back to them.
Google It
The following techniques can be great additional ways to generate ideas when you're short on content. The bonus of these specific methods is, by using these, you're giving both your audience and Google what they want.
- Go to the Google Keyword Planner Tool: Type in a seed word and see what keywords and search phrase the tool requests. This is such a great way to find inspiration for blog posts because the tool generates the exact language people are typing into Google everyday.
- Use the Internet itself. Google has a great auto – suggest feature whereby you start typing in a search query and Google will complete the search query for you. This is based on real search history and you can literally get headlines for blog posts just using this technique.
- Again using this technique - the Internet itself - when you type something into Google, scroll to the bottom of the search results page and Google will tell you what related searches are for the keyword or phrase you entered in Google.
Try putting some of these ideas to the test and leave a comment below about your experience. If you want to learn more on how to bring more creativity and personality to your writing, the team at JDR are always available to help. Call us today on 01332 343281.
Article by Yasirah Fatimah
