Today, we’re going to discuss the importance of generating ideas for our Web sites or online businesses. 

What kind of ideas? Ideas for new content, ideas for titles of pages, ideas for new offerings, ideas for the wording of content, ideas for generating more traffic, ideas for increasing conversions . . . you name it.  

We each generate ideas in different ways. Some of us have the best ideas when taking showers. Others have earth shattering ideas while driving in four lanes of traffic.

Me? Put me in front of a western on TV and my ideas begin to flood.

Some people can come up with ideas on their own. They can take a walk, relax in their office chair and look at the “things that make them smile,” or they can play with play dough and come up with a whole list of ideas.

Other people do better with an idea partner, someone to bounce ideas off of. In fact, even if you can come up with ideas on your own, you may want an idea partner to help you take your creation to new levels.

Let’s look at qualifications for an idea partner:

1. Your idea partner must be someone you can easily talk to who won’t give you negative feedback on your ideas. We’re going to talk about brainstorming in Day #8, but during brainstorming, you can’t have negative feedback. All ideas should be allowed to flow. No ideas are “bad.”

2. If your idea partner keeps saying, “That won’t work” or “We can’t afford to do that,” get a different idea partner. You MUST have a positive idea partner. “No,” “can’t,” “won’t,” and similar words aren’t allowed.

3. Idea partners must be positive people. They don’t have to be in your own industry, but they need to be positive.

4. Idea partners must be good listeners, and they must be willing to add additional twists to your original idea to give it strength, when needed.

5. Who can they be? They can be significant others, grown children, parents, best friends, business associates, etc. I’ll be your idea partner here on this blog. We’ll have brainstorming sessions here. Be sure to participate.

Idea partners can help you make your Web site a living, breathing entity. With the influx of new ideas, your Web site will become sticky. Visitors will take notice. So will the search engines. Isn’t that what you’re after? You should be.

(more…)

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit

Some people are “naturally” creative. They seem to be able to pick up a paint brush and paint masterpieces. Of course, we forget that they’ve studied and trained for years to hone their skills.

We appreciate the skill, agility, and beauty of dancers, who also spend years practicing to be able to perform the intricate dance moves that we so admire.

What about musicians? How many of them sit down at a piano and begin to play without any training? How many of them can read music without training and serious practice? And it’s not just training and practice. They have to feel the music inside of them to really create the sounds that touch us all.

The same goes for any creative endeavor. It takes practice and training to create. Like anything worth doing, you have to understand the process and feel it inside you. If a singer doesn’t feel the song, the song won’t touch the hearts of the fans.

Do you have to be an artist, singer, musician, or dancer to be creative? Of course not. You just have to appreciate some of the art forms and have an open mind.

Do you like to read books, magazines, etc.?

Do you like to listen to music . . . any music? Do you remember the Charlie Daniels Band singing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”? I could listen to that song over and over again.

Do you like to dance or watch others dance? Do you remember what a phenomenal dancer Michael Jackson was in his prime? I loved to watch Michael dance.

Do you appreciate art? Do you like to paint yourself?

Do you like scrap booking? Decorating your house for the holidays?

Do you play a musical instrument?

Do you enjoy writing stories or articles?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you’re creative. You don’t have to create in order to be creative. You just have to appreciate what others create.

To learn how to think creatively, you have to change your thought processes a little, which is what we’re doing with this 12-step program. You have to learn how to think with the right side of your brain, the fun, illogical, creative side, rather than the left side, which is the logical, rational side.

The creative side dreams and comes up with ideas galore. The creative side doesn’t worry about how something is going to get accomplished–it simply bounces ideas around until the ideas shine like the brightest light on a Christmas tree. Then the creative side passes it off to the left side of the brain, the logical side, to determine how to implement the idea.

Without the creative side, there would be few ideas, and certainly very few ideas that truly shine. And without the left side of the brain, there wouldn’t be the logical, rational aspects to implement those ideas. Working in tandem is what’s truly necessary in a company.

(more…)

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit

If I were to visit your office, what would I see? Would I see a desk, file cabinet, phone, and other functional items from a typical office, but nothing that would give you that creative spark?

If you have children, do you have something your children have drawn for you in your office? Something that makes you smile when you look at it?

Do you have a picture on the wall that is special to you in some way?

I collect little animals that open up, and there’s usually something inside. They’re collectible boxes, normally by Harmony Kingdom. I have a whole curio cabinet full of them in my office. They’re just one part of my inspiration. The hippo in today’s picture is part of my collection, and his tummy opens up and is full of baby alligators.

At the end of one of our workshops, we were all sitting around talking. One of our students wandered into a gift shop. He bought two little Disney pins, the type that the heads wiggle. He told me that he had no idea what he was going to do with them, but they just made him smile.

I couldn’t agree more. When did you last buy something that made you smile? Put it in your office. That could be your creative inspiration.

Do you have candles in your office? An oil lamp? Treat yourself to the new bamboo oil reeds. A relaxing scent can certainly make you smile . . . and help you relax. (more…)

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit

So far in the process of tapping into our creativity, we’ve learned how to appreciate the world around us by looking at life through the eyes of a child. We’ve learned the importance of appreciating the people in that world. And we’ve learned that if you take time to build something . . . to create . . . you can often come up with ideas or solutions to problems that you might not ordinarily have discovered.

Today, we’re going to tackle another obstacle to creativity: the problems that life throws at you. It can be difficult–almost impossible–to tap into your creativity–when your world is falling apart.

This may seem like a very strange topic for a creativity post, but please bear with me. It will eventually become clear.

Maybe your business isn’t as strong as you want it to be and your finances are suffering. Maybe one (or more) of your children have serious health issues. Maybe your aging parents are having health problems and can no longer take care of themselves, and it’s up to you to decide whether or not to put them in a nursing home. Maybe you or a family member was just diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

Maybe your best friend just committed suicide and you think you could have stopped it. Maybe you lost your life’s savings in the stock market. Maybe your daughter has run away from home. Maybe your kids are doing drugs. Maybe they’ve overdosed, had a car wreck, or are in jail. Maybe your husband is having an affair. Maybe you’re getting a divorce. Maybe . . . maybe . . . maybe . . . You fill in the “maybes.”

The bottom line is: we all have problems.

Now here’s the thing. When you were reading the paragraphs above, how did you feel? You didn’t feel very creative, did you? You probably felt rather depressed and ready to hit the back button to get out of this supposed-to-be happy place.

In other words, when life hits you between the eyes, it’s difficult, if not almost impossible, to feel creative. Yet, we all have problems. How do we get past the problems to reach the creativity inside of us?

With me, I “compartmentalize” the problems to where I can create. I’ll be totally honest, though. Sometimes life hits me so hard that I can’t. But most of the time, I’m able to put the problems in their own compartment so I can reach the creative side of me.

I call it “Looking at Life Through a Dirty Window.” I have the choice of looking at life through a clean window or a dirty window.

If I choose the dirty window, I don’t get to see the vibrant yellow of the sun or feel its glow on my face. I don’t get to feel the grass tickle my feet or smell it after it’s been freshly cut. I don’t get to appreciate a majestic mountain range or a little boy playing in his front yard. It’s as if I’m anesthetized to life itself and I don’t feel anything.

Life is meant to be lived to its fullest. We have one life . . . just one. One chance to live a happy life–a life full of sunshine, flowers, and bumblebees. That’s what I get if I clean my window.

In order to create, I believe you have to try to set aside your problems for a while. Put them in a Problem Compartment. Then, allow yourself to be happy. Give yourself permission to clean the window of your life, then step outside and enjoy the sunshine. You deserve it. Life is meant to be lived.

Your problems aren’t going anywhere (regretfully), but you will feel so much better if you’ll just let them go for a while.

Please understand that I’m not trying to take a Pollyanna approach to the horrific problems of life. My own life is full of crippling problems that aren’t going anywhere for a long, long time. I’m simply telling you to detach yourself from your problems and allow yourself to live. Don’t lose years of your life to your problems. Give yourself permission to live.

(more…)

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit

After Day #2’s thought-provoking lesson, we need to have some FUN. So, let’s continue with our 12-Step Creativity Program by creating.

As I explained in an earlier Creativity Pioneer post, I consider Google to be a pioneer when it comes to creativity for a number of reasons. If you haven’t read the post, please do so.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin don’t make their workers sit in boxed off areas with nothing personal surrounding them. As you can see by visiting the links in the above post, Googleplex is a virtual play ground for their workers and techies. They have discovered (by personal experience) that playing and being creative allow their people to think more clearly–to have more ideas and to solve more problems. Sitting behind boring desks just doesn’t do the trick.

Larry and Sergey have always played with Legos themselves. During business meetings, the table is full of Legos. How cool is that?

In today’s picture, you’ll see the house I made out of Legos. It’s a polka dot house with an English Bulldog (named Oscar) on top of the house with a flower pot. Why don’t I have the flower pot behind the picket fence? Two reasons. It won’t fit, and because I like it on top of the house. It looks cool up there.

You might question whether this is really a polka dot house. You don’t see the dots. Instead, you see square blocks. This is where your imagination comes in.

Does the dog really look like my English Bulldog Oscar? Using my imagination, yep. That’s Oscar, and he’s guarding my flower pot on the roof.

My middle son has already taken one of my houses apart so HE could build a house. Since I bought the Legos, we’ve had a war going on about who gets to play with them. He’s 22.

My oldest son, 24, wanted to know if they still come with car parts. I said sure, so he started making a car. This is now a family thing. I have two BIG boxes (around 1100 pieces, but that’s not nearly enough).

Why am I doing this? When you stop and do something fun and creative, you’re allowing your brain to relax. It’s amazing the ideas you can have when you’re not trying to have them.

Think about it. When do you have your best ideas? When you’re in the shower? When you’re driving down the road? At 3:00 a.m. when you get up to go to the bathroom? You often have your best ideas when your mind is relaxed and you’re not thinking about work.

That’s where the blocks come in. Blocks are fun, creative, and colorful, and they help your mind relax. Plus, they can be very stimulating. They can make you think and focus on something else. While you’re concentrating on something else, you may end up solving a work-related problem that has been nagging at you. (more…)

Digg It | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Reddit