Thinking Out of The Box
Today, blogs have to be creative to make it and become successful. There are many elements that deliver the success of a blog. Search engine optimization, increasing backlinks and daily traffic, working towards increasing Google PageRank, etc… But there is one element that people can overlook. And I think this is a huge factor that needs to be considered. It’s called, Thinking Out of The Box. This morning I read two articles. One, from Darren Rowse titled, “How to Think Outside of the Box and Develop Attention Grabbing Content“. The other, from George Manty titled, “Teens Get Rich with smart ideas“, which lead me to read USA Today’s article titled the same, “Teens get rich with smart ideas“. After reading these articles, and discovering that teens have a natural ability to be successful online. I soon realized why.
Everyone has heard of this expression: Thinking out of the box.
What does that mean? Well, it has many meanings. But how this relates to teens and their increasing success Online, to me… seems pretty understandable and something that older folks in their 30’s, 40’s and so on should take a moment to reflect on.
Teens are young and unconditioned to living their lives in the world as we know it. We have rules, schedules, and systems that we have grown to live by. 55MPH speed limits, 3000 mile oil changes, purchasing low wattage light bulbs to save money, etc.
I am not saying that teens are rule breakers (well, they can be) but what I am saying is that teens operate on a system that has no cache or indexing history. They haven’t yet been conditioned to the life style older folks have become conditioned to.
What does this mean?
Teens have a natural ability to be different, unique, and most importantly… the ability to think out of the box.
The question to ask you:
What can you do to be different. What can you do to make your site unique and successful by thinking out of the box?
One last thing to mention:
Teens can be pretty persistent, bold, daring, and typically don’t worry about risks, cause and effect, and tend to do things without worrying about potential failures.
Teens have a natural ability to think out of the box due to their age, where older adults tend to lose that ability because of environmental conditioning and general life experience. You have to be different. If you can’t be different then your blog, site, or other Onlnie project will be doomed. An article that was just published that might interest you titled, “Be Different or Be Damned“, written by a very nice and extremely knowledgable friend of mine, Jason Drone should prove to deliver some very helpful advise on teaching you how to make your site different.
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Date/Time: 1-24-2007 23:02:10 Comment #393
just a quick clarification - the post was written by Glen whose doing some guest posting for me at the moment
Date/Time: 1-25-2007 06:20:17 Comment #394
Hey Gary.
It seems that being unique is one of the keys to creating a successful blog. So to be unique (and successful), it seems only logical that we need to ‘think outside the box.’
It’s easy to get bogged down with what the already successful blogs are doing, so thanks for reminding us.
Date/Time: 1-26-2007 11:03:32 Comment #395
Wow, great advice Garry. I wish I had seen this before I made my last post. I will have to write about it next week.
PS. Thanks for the link to my article.
Date/Time: 2-2-2007 15:01:40 Comment #397
Thinking outside the box gets harder and harder all the time, because the box gets bigger. No better time to start than today, right now, this instant. If you wait, your great idea might just become mainstream.
Date/Time: 2-2-2007 15:26:18 Comment #398
No man… It’s all good. Thinking out of the box is also KISS. Keep it simple stupid!
I am a dumb guy! I really am… and I try to keep it simple!
Leroy, your site is actually a great example of a site that is “Thinking out of the box” quite well. And also more likely I will be covering a story on your blog tomorrow in The Successful Blogger, Volume Two.
Keep up the great work! Your blogging efforts and long hours of work do pay off. I like your site, like your writing style and love the new theme! A + + +
Best Regards,
Garry Conn
Date/Time: 2-2-2007 15:34:39 Comment #399
Garry,
I’d love to show up in a post here - let me know if you need any help or have any questions for me.
Date/Time: 2-2-2007 15:42:26 Comment #400
Hey I am enjoying having things to write about. I get worried sometimes that I wont be able to find sites to talk about.
Leroy,
I think the leading cause for people to fail at blogging is the fact that they present their content very poorly. Viewers first impressions are poor and people tend to feel like they are good for only one thing. Bustin’ out that wallet and buying something.
I have learned a lot over the past two years. My sandbox site was BTI. That is now a money maker… a good one too!
That is because I keep business as business and personal as personal. I don’t advertise anything on this site. Why, because I have achieving my goals on another site. My other site is designed to link people to products that they want to buy. People look for things they want to purchase in Google, Yahoo, etc… when they search for it… they find my site and find information about the product and a way to purchase it. Now that is simple! Nothing else and nothing more… and it works.
My site here is different. I have experience with being successful. I am not rich… but I am successful. It’s not about money. It’s about achieving a goal. And that is what this site here is about. Teaching people how to become successful bloggers.
Without sites like yours… I can’t give folks any visual references. Without visual aids, it makes my job teaching people very difficult.
Best Regards,
Garry Conn