Do you get stuck for ideas to create content online?
This is how to search the web for inspiration.
It’s all there if you allow yourself time to look!
In my previous life, as a creative textile designer, it was part of my responsibility to be aware of future trends and to predict what colors, patterns, and styles would be in fashion years in advance.
To help work out this difficult challenge, every six months, I was sent to New York, Florence, Paris, Frankfurt, and London to do comparative shopping trips and attend trade exhibitions.
Today I apply the same principles to work in the digital world, only now I can do the research from the comfort of my home office without having to get dressed!
When you start out online it is easy to be totally stuck for inspiration and not know where to begin.
But if you learn where to look there is a wealth of inspiration at your fingertips if you allow yourself a bit of time to really search around the internet.
So next time you are stuck for ideas to create a social media post or at the beginning of a project to create a website or a new brand image, try this process.
1. Set aside some time to do some online research.
2. Start by looking online at your local competition.
3. Then check out similar businesses internationally. ( I recommend looking at Australian sites, just type in the subject you are researching and add Australia )
4. Look at businesses with bigger budgets than you can afford.
5. Try looking at completely different industries for original ideas too.
6. Every time you see an idea you like, take a screenshot and build up an ideas file.
7. Notice the things you don’t like too; it will help you to think about what to avoid.
Once you have picked out the best ideas you have found and think could work for your business, it is important that you then re-interpret them with your own personality and branding.
Copying is neither legal nor recommended, but taking several ideas from different sources, and changing them to suit your own brand is a legitimate creative process.
Like all other digital skills, it will take time and practice, but if you allow yourself time for research, you can cherry-pick the best ideas from around the globe without having to hop on a plane!
I rather miss the time when that’s what I was paid to do, but I also enjoy sitting in my P.J’s scooting around the globe completely free of charge!
I hope this helps you next time you run out of ideas, let me know how you get on or contact me if you would like me to help you.