Photo by gregwestfall
In today's blogosphere, creativity is a great asset to have. There's even a book that says right-brainers will rule the future. Great book, by the way.
The internet is getting more and more crowded with webmasters and bloggers looking to make money with their site.
To stand out from the crowd, you'll need creative ideas. But what about writer's block? It seems to come a worst times, right? The bloggers in your niche are publishing creative posts while you can only think of stuff to say that bloggers have already said many times over.
You want to come up with something conceptually new. You want to come up with something people don't expect.
Here is a simple tip for lazy bloggers looking for a creative spark:
Think of another niche that people can relate to and connect it with your niche.
Examples
Have a car blog? Connect your niche with Hollywood and write "The 10 Most Famous Cars in TV and Movies".
Are you in the saturated metablogging niche? This blogger connected blogging with haikus.
Do you blog about personal finance? Connect finance with travel and you can publish "25 Creative Ways to Save Money for your Next Winter Vacation".
Got a celebrity blog? Ryan, owner of a celebrity blog, wrote about his most successful linkbait. He connected his niche with sports and The 50 Hottest Women of Sports got over 1.4 million pageviews.
Why This Tip Works
The reason this tip works is because there's nothing really new under the sun. My theory about creativity is that most things we consider creative are basically connections that weren't seen before by the general public. Someone came around and said "what if we connected these things?"
Think about the sandwich. There was a time in history when the sandwich didn't exist. But someone saw the connection between bread, vegetables, and meat. And voila! Something creative that has brought a smile to the world :)
The guitar is an amazing instrument. Think about the connections someone had to make to create the first guitar. And then in the 21st century, you add electricity and you've got the rock and roll movement.
The Risk in Being Creative
There will always be risk in being creative, in making connections other people don't see. In your attempt to be creative, some of your posts will fall flat. However, the alternative to not risking out is being boring. Boring gets lost in the blogosphere.
Bonus Benefit
Because you're targeting another niche, these type of posts can get you links that you would not get otherwise.
Your Turn
What post will you publish that will relate to another niche?
First off all, i don't think
First off all, i don't think bloggers with bloggers block are lazy, just dumbfounded. Too much info, too fast, and crunched for time to process it all.
Having said that, your post has a refreshing insight into how bloggers need to continuously spice it up, and deliver the goods (info) with finesse. I personally want to incorporate more humor into my writing, but being the sap that i am, its isn't easy.
I might outsource some humor pieces. If anyone reading this, is good @ coming up with the funny in blog posts, please contact me.
I think HUMOR is really good for linkbait, and also just fun to read, especially on Fridays. Yes!
I didn't really answer your
I didn't really answer your question. Sorry about that. Let me try again.
"What post will you publish that will relate to another niche?"
I run several blogs, but lets stick with my NEW! Bloggers Search, for purposes of answering your question.
My blog is about the life and times of bloggers, and blogger news. So a related niche is the general topic of blogging. I recently wrote a niche piece entitled "The Top 5 Blog Directories on The Net".
http://bloggerssearch.com/2008/07/09/top-5-blog-directories-net/
I plan on referencing your article, on todays post. It ties in well. Let's see if i can add some humor into it. Arrggh!
Passion is key to online success
you really need to write about something you're really passionate about then you can easily post often.
Great stuff - connecting two
Great stuff - connecting two niche's is a great idea wouldn't it be harder to think of posts containing the two than for one niche?
I have a post idea that will
I have a post idea that will try to bridge one niche with another and it will be a future post here on Performancing. Good stuff and welcome back.
Blog with Creativity
When you blog on an almost everyday post you need to be passionate about your subject. There are so many niches out there ... be selective!
Denise
http://dubli-network.blogspot.com
Bloggers
the lazy way to be creative for your blog posts is to find some1 else that has a creative post and tweak it a little bit :S
-Mary
Thanks for the comments.
@Missy
Humor is a great way to do linkbait but I seem to always draw a blank when I try to be humorous on my blog posts. I make my friends laugh offline but somehow it doesn't translate online. I think writing humor is something you either have or don't have. I could be wrong. Maybe you can learn the skill of being a humorous writer.
I like your idea of outsourcing humorous linkbait.
Anyways, nice blog post on blog directories and nice blog design.
@Blog Marketing Journal
In experience if I only focus on my niche, then sometimes I get into a rut and start writing rehashed content (aka content that most other bloggers in my niche have written). By connecting to another niche, you have a good change of writing something conceptually unique.
@Jeff Chandler
Thanks! Can't wait to see your upcoming post.
@Data Backup
lol. You'll probably have to tweak it more than a little bit or people will see that you're copying someone else and think that you're not creative ;)
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