It’s not often that I’m truly bored. But when I am, my mind tends to wander off in unusual directions. This past weekend during my hellish return trip home, I was tremendously bored.

I learned a lot, which I want to share with you.

Before you discount this as something you don’t need to know, bear with me.

For example, when you’re standing in the security line in the Denver International Airport, you’ll see the typical poles with straps between the poles to direct traffic. You’ll see an example of the poles in today’s graphic. On the circle at the bottom of the pole, it says, “Property of DIA Security Department.”

Think about this for a minute. It was someone’s job to put stickers on the hundreds of poles through this huge security area. If the stickers begin to fade, someone will be needed to put new stickers on the poles.

My mind began to whirl. Why would the security department feel it’s necessary to put stickers on the bottom of these poles? Do they have a problem with someone stealing the poles? What could they be used for? (Hold your thoughts–more on this in a minute.)

During my lengthy stay at the airport, I frequently rode the underground tram system. Did you know that whirlybirds are all over one wall in the underground tram system between the terminals in the Denver Airport? You can only see them if you’re in the last car and if you look out the back window.

There’s a seat facing the front of the tram on the back window, so the chances of those people seeing the whirlybirds are zip.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Here’s the fun part. An airline pilot stood next to me on one of my tram rides. I asked him if those were whirlybirds out the window, and he looked out and was a little shocked. I asked him what was the purpose of the whirlybirds. He sheepishly smiled and said he guessed they were there for the kids to see and for aesthetic value.

Not a sole in the tram had noticed the whirlybirds except me, and I’d ridden on the tram countless times before I noticed them. Remember that you have to be in the last car before you can even see them, and you have to look out the back window.

Just think of the cost of those whirlybirds to the tax payers. Plus, it was someone’s job to put up the whirlybirds.

“Your job today is put whirlybirds up in the tram system. Don’t ask why–just do it.”

I wonder if anyone questioned the need for the whirlybirds. Whose idea was it to put whirlybirds up in the tram subway? Could the money have been better spent elsewhere . . . like for security? Maybe the whirlybirds were more important. Does the Denver Airport have that much extra money that they’ve resorted to spending money on whirlybirds? Something for a bored, observant person to think about.

Then, I told him about the stickers on the security poles. We started brainstorming on how we could use the security poles. His first comment:

“Don’t you have some of the poles in your house? We use them as baby doors.”

I nodded. This guy is on my wave length. I liked him.

Other ideas we came up with:

Place to tie horses in front of your yard (but you’d have to cement the round part into your yard)

Place to tie your dogs (same thing with the cement)

Pool stick holder (but only the small part of the pool stick would fit, so the pool stick would stick up really high into the air)

Coin holder, but the coins would probably be too big

Airlines are probably stealing them from security all the time, so the stickers are a deterrent

Other airports probably fly in and steal them from DIA, and it’s gotten to be a real problem

By that point, we’d walked together off the tram, up the escalator, and went our separate ways. But we’d had a great brainstorming session together. 

Here’s another thing I noticed in either Denver or Atlanta. I was on an escalator, and the guy in front of me was cleaning his boots on this little brush thing. They have boot cleaners on escalators! How cool is that?

So someone in maintenance has to clean the boot cleaners on all of the escalators in the airport. That’s his/her job. I guess you can buy escalators with or without boot cleaners. I wonder how much they cost with boot cleaners. I guess people in airports have really dirty shoes.

I don’t even know for sure if they are boot cleaners, but the brushes sure worked for him.  

You’re probably thinking: what on earth does this have to do with content, ideas, link popularity, motivation, etc.

Think about it. Any time you use your brain for idea generation, you’re exercising the right side of your brain. The airline pilot and I had a great time. We came up with all kinds of ideas for how to use those crazy poles that the security folks are so fond of.

How does that help my business? It makes me a better creative thinker. In order to use the right side of your brain more effectively, you have to exercise your creative muscles, which is exactly what I was doing.

I also asked myself a lot of questions. When you’re brainstorming either by yourself or with a partner, ask a lot of questions. Why is something the way it is? What caused it to be so? Does it have to be so? What would happen if you changed it? How could you change it? Who is responsible for doing something?

I’ve also just given you some content ideas for a travel site. What about interesting content about the different airports across the country?

Each airport is so different. The Denver airport’s main terminal looks like a snow covered mountain. It’s exquisite. Yes, it also has whirlybirds and the security stickers, and it may be the airport with brushes on the escalators, but it’s very unique.

The Orlando airport has elegant tile flooring in the terminals in various designs. Las Vegas has desert creatures growing out of the floors in one area. One airport has a round area with the most phenomenal graphics around the top, yet no one seems to notice. I often just stand in the middle for several minutes just to appreciate the show.

The airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, has wicker rocking chairs lined up beneath trees close to a grand piano in the food court. Talk about Southern charm.

Get your users to describe special features about various airports. They’ll enjoy doing it, and travel sites can use this content to make every airport experience a unique one. One important thing to remember about user-generated content is that the users are more apt to link to their own content, thus helping you with your link popularity.

When you travel, NOTICE things. As a writer, I notice people, my surroundings, and the little things that many people miss. But I can almost always make those things refer back to SEO.

What did we learn today:

1. Use every day experiences to exercise your creative mind.

2. Pay attention to every day experiences that can relate back to SEO.

3. Ask questions about everything, and then ask questions about those questions. One question will lead to another question. Be inquisitive.

4. If you have a travel site, think about how you can use these crazy observations to help you build content for your site. People are always telling me that they can’t think of something to put on their site that hasn’t already done before. Here’s your chance to do something different.

5. In your industry, think about what user-generated content you can put on your own site. User-generated content is so powerful. Get your users involved.

What have YOU noticed in airports lately? Let me know!

Robin