The Business-Blog Idea Warehouse: Where Next Postings are Born, Stored & Published
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"How do you manage to come up with business blog subjects and ideas on such a regular basis" asked a reader of mine who called me last week.
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"I’m a writer," I responded…"I guess it just kind of comes naturally. But…"
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The subject quickly turned to the unwelcome, frustrating curse of writers the world over…yes, "writers’ block." This phenomenon unexpectedly rears its ugly head in all writing venues: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and, yes, blogging. Without warning, it renders a writer helpless and devoid of ideas.
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"Does it ever happen to you?" asked the reader, herself an aspiring biz-blogger.
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"Of course!" I responded.
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Then she proceeded to pose the question…"So what’s the solution?"
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I hesitated…then revealed my secret. "It’s…"The Idea Warehouse"
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What is the Idea Warehouse?
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The Idea Warehouse is something which I developed and have used ever since becoming a writer. Whether for my literary pursuits such as fiction or poetry, or in the context of this article, for business-blogging, it has proven a very valuable tool.
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The Idea Warehouse is an incubator for the birth of ideas and subject matter and a storage facility to record thoughts for later use, in the context of this article, for business blog postings. The Idea Warehouse utilizes a form of radar which scans, acquires and uses everyday thoughts, events, occurrences, prompts, stimuli, stories, news events, etc. to form the basis for one’s next published piece.
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For me, it is something which even today is undertaken only with the assistance of a pen and a small notepad…yes, I am one of the last holdouts who shuns everything which even smells mildly of technological advancement. If you prefer, however, feel free to use your iPhone, Blackberry, or whatever it is the technology mavens are using these days.
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Simply keep your eyes and ears "tuned" to the world around you and you will pick up the following types of material to write about in your blog. When the idea hits you, however big or small, record it in the warehouse. Why is it a warehouse? Because you can store as many ideas in it as you like simultaneously…that way you can have subjects and topics for many blog posts ready to go at a moment’s notice; just choose the one you want to use at any particular time and develop it.
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Sources for Blog Ideas and Topics to Store in Your Warehouse:
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1) "Out and About" Material: Business blog subjects can begin from the minute you wake up in the morning until the moment you go to bed at night. Had a hard time sleeping last night? Alleviating job-stress in order to get a good night sleep is a great subject! Had a great or horrible interaction with a salesperson yesterday? Dissect and analyze the interaction as the basis for another great post. From taxis to busses, from stores to the workplace, from relationships to successes and setbacks, it’s all there for the choosing.
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2) "I’d Love to Change the World" Material. "I’d Love to Change the World" is a great song by the 60’s rock band Ten Years After and it’s a great source of blog material. Have you used a product which could be better? Are you using a status-quo system of your profession which could be improved upon? Have you found a method which is more efficient, user-friendly or less time-consuming? Rework and reinvent a better system, change things around and put it in your blog!
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3) "Tip and Advice" Material. Blog readers absolutely adore tips and advice. For me, it has proven one of the most effective blog tools and has resulted in quite a few readers turning into paying customers. Anything which you see during the day which you can offer as a professional tip or tidbit of advice is a coup-d’etat! Design an entire article around it.
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4) "Steps and Ways" Material. See something interesting at work? In life? Great! Break it down into steps. One of the most common formats for business blogs begins with something like, "7 Steps to…" or "5 Ways to…" It could be anything. "7 Steps to a More Informative Website." "5 Steps to a Better Relationship with Your Boss." "10 Ways to Land That Next Client." "Top Ten CEOs and What We Can Learn From Them." With this one the possibilities are endless!
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5) "Flashback" Ideas. Many of the blog articles I have received the best feedback on and many of those I most enjoy by other writers are of this variety. Close your eyes and think back to things you’ve experienced, people you’ve met and places you’ve been. You will soon find yourself coming up with things like, "Everything I Know About Business I Learned in the Army." Or "Everything I Know About Great Customer Service I Learned at Disney Land." My most recent of this variety was "Everything I Know About Business Success I Learned While Fishing." Again here, the possibilities are limitless!
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6) "Media" Ideas. As a cure for writers’ block, pick up the newspaper, turn on the television or think about the book you’re reading. A half an hour of reading, watching the tube or checking out a movie is usually enough time to come up with the seeds for an entertaining and informative blog post. Some of the great ones I have seen recently include "Damage Control Lessons Learned from the Enron Fiasco," "Agatha Christie on Researching Business Investments" and "The Jedi Knight Business Credo."
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7) "Trivial, Weird and Existential" Ideas. I remember hearing several months back that it would take the space shuttle 177,000 years to travel to our nearest star (I checked the math and it’s right!). I turned it into a marketing idea for a blog which asked how by this comparison, prospective customers could expect to find your business in the vastness of cyberspace, an entity with vastness comparable to real space?" It got me a few projects. Many interesting facts, pieces of trivia and existential principles can form a very nice backbone for a business article.
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One of the classic traps that I see business bloggers falling into is the belief that every posting or article has to be directly related to their business. This is simply not true! How boring would it be to read that? Would you read my blog if all I discussed were verb-tenses, correct usage of participles and how to list references on your resume? Blogs can and should be about life and business!
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Whether in your Blackberry, Palm Pilot, laptop, or like me, with good old-fashioned pen and paper, keep your storage instrument for recording your thoughts at the ready. You never know where you’ll be when that next big idea comes to fruition. Be constantly alert to little things around you. Even the seemingly mundane, trivial and barely-noticeable can turn into the catalysts for phenomenal articles.
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As always, "Thank You" for visiting my blog and for taking the time to read what I have written! .
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All images courtesy of photobucket.com
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Hello. My name is Yonatan Maisel. I am a professional writer, published author and business-blogger.
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