Pick Up The Paintbrush: 5 Tips For Creativity In Your Online Presence
January 17th, 2013 by
We all know those folks who just seem to always have amazing ideas — the ones that can look at a tin can and create a thousand different uses for it. These individuals seem to possess some kind of magic ability to conjure up an idea out of thin air. It seems as if everything is a canvas for them: the color of a living room, a blank wall, or even a cupcake.
What they possess is a creative mindset. And when it comes to online marketing, this magical tool can come in very handy. More than handy, in fact — it’s been the main force behind many dynamic projects, especially on the web.
Getting Started
The creative mindset is a way of approaching a problem with an open mind and weaving your details together. This thought process is important not just because it can make the task at hand more efficient, but because it fosters innovation as well. This is a key concept, especially in the SEO world. All too often, we do “what works” and follow “the best practices,” but fail to experiment on our own with tests, variations and new concepts. Next time you’re tempted to write a Facebook status in the voice and format you’ve always used, why not mix it up? Even borrowing someone else’s tried-and-true style can often lead to surprisingly creative results.
This mindset also opens us to developing an appreciation for art, design, and the way things interact. Regardless of what kind of job you hold, a creative mindset will create a new way of thinking that will make that job more fulfilling or inspire you to pursue side projects or hobbies that will liven up your life and inspire others around you.
Keep an Open Eye
It’s a common myth that some people are “born” creative. Quite to the contrary: this is an approach that can be developed. Creativity is not just about just producing out of thin air, but about your method of approach. If you are interested in developing a creative mindset, you must strive to always look at everything with an open perspective. This keeps the possibilities of discovering new avenues wide open. As we all have heard, it’s all in the details: the same goes for creativity and the way we view those details. Don’t be afraid of getting up close to that assignment and looking at it intimately. The more we know about something, the easier it is to figure out a new way of handling it. If a business decision has you stuck, a creative brainstorm with coworkers can often yield results. Research points to creativity fostering health, not to mention a thriving business environment.
Surround Yourself With Good Stuff
In addition, surrounding yourself with things that inspire you keeps the avenue of creativity open. The beauty of inspiration is that it can come from anywhere or anything. In a data-driven field like SEO, it’s essential to look for creative approaches to foster our sense of enthusiasm. Perhaps we should suggest a new approach for a project, or study the trends to see if the way people search is changing over time (hint: it is!). By changing up the formula on a regular basis, we allow our brains to “stay fit,” and breathe new life into what could otherwise descend into the doldrums of mediocrity.
Surrounding yourself with peers who will give you honest feedback is also essential. With their critiques, we can get the suggestions we need to grow and push the boundaries of our abilities. Once we have this strong group of peers, we then also have a reservoir to pull people from to collaborate with and lend our talents. The SEO community is a strong one, and we love to discuss our findings. Are you getting out there and joining the conversation?
Never Stop Learning
The best way to maintain a creative mindset is to keep up your passion for learning something new. This desire to learn also helps us to understand the process as a whole. The more we learn, the more we can draw connections between two fields of practice or between two seemingly unrelated things. In SEO, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the routine and forget that the field offers so many possibilities for new attacks and new growth. With a creative mindset, it becomes second nature to look at a problem or strategy from every conceivable angle.
Apply Yourself
Whenever we get a new toy, our immediate reaction it to play with it. We want to see what each button does, the hidden features, the secret compartments. This sense of exploration should apply to every day in the SEO world. The best way to find out if something works is to try it out! This testing process is essential to the creative process because it gives us more details about the task at hand. We can gather data on if the solution is working or not. This exercise is equal parts creative and data-centric, and smart businesses try all of the options.
Don’t Be Afraid To Take A Leap
Whenever there is play, there are also risks. However, taking a risk is not bad. In fact, in order to facilitate a creative mindset in business, we must learn to take a risk on our ideas to see how they work. If the idea does not work, this is still a gain. We learn more from what doesn’t work and can move on to the next solution and take a risk on the next idea.
