Posts Tagged ‘importance’

Why Originality doesnt come easy – My effort to be an ORIGINAL Blogger

Thursday, February 19th, 2009
The need to think out of the box

I have been trying desperately for the last couple of weeks to come up with an original idea for my next post. The result is that I have ended up with just one post in the last 15 days. That’s when I thought of writing on the very concept. ‘Originality in the blogosphere’, now that’s not something that you read everyday.

What made it so difficult for me to come up with a post was that I wasn’t merely trying to write on a popular subject. I was trying to find a subject that has never been dealt with (God, help me). Oh, it’s so easy to find a popular article, rehash it and then post it as your own without even crediting the original writer (For example, How to make money blogging, 5 tips to get back links to your site, etc).  These are topics that have been beaten to death.

Even though every writer tries his/her best to add a different perspective to it, the article effectively is, on the same subject. If a reader were to search for the topic on a search engine, he would end up with 10 to 15 different links to articles that all talk about the same thing. It might be more variety for him but does he really have the time to browse through all of them?

Coming back to the topic, I had boasted in one of my earlier posts (in case you missed it)that it took me just 120 seconds to come up with an alphabetical list of ideas for topics. But creating ‘original’ articles out of them…hmmm…if only it were as easy.

Originality? Say’s who?

I began the futile exercise last week by creating a list of ideas that I would like to develop an article on. The list was as follows.

  1. 5 tips to improve your writing productivity
  2. How to write an article in 10 minutes
  3. Getting stuck thoughts and words to flow again

‘Impressive’, I said to myself!

And after doing my bit of mind mapping and creating a plan for the article, I start working on the first one of them. I am a fluid writer like most others in the profession and once I get into the flow, it hardly takes me a few minutes to come up with a rough draft of an article. Within 10 minutes, I had jotted down an 800 word first draft which I was highly impressed with. I was sure that this was going to be one of my better posts in recent times. So, I close the word editor and decide to take a break before getting back to the article for a second look.

I either surf or plug in my Ipod during my breaks. This time, I started surfing one my favorite blogs and suddenly, I find an article called, ‘Want to Boost Your Writing Productivity? Have a Baby!‘ by Michael Stelzner at Copyblogger. It’s a fantastic post! Even better than what I have managed to scribble down so far.

That was the end of my self induced originality bit and I decided to scrap my post. I mean, I loved the article so much that it would be an atrocity to post something on the same lines.

But I wasn’t going to be beaten psychologically. I am one of those stubborn-as-a-leech types and thought that well, two people from a population of 6,706,993,152? That aint bad at all. The very thought that only one person besides me, thought about the subject, was enough to cheer me up for a while. But wait, could there be more ‘rehashed copies’ of the same article floating around the internet? I had to be sure about that and so, I googled the topic. Bang! I got about 15 articles on the same subject in about 0.27 seconds (It’s fast, huh?)! I didn’t bother to check who wrote it first.

Here I was with 5 measly tips to improve productivity and there was one guy who had thought of 50 ways to do it. (It topped the Google search results). I didn’t dare search for the other topics but I am sure that there might be multiple versions of them existing as well. So, I realized that writing original ideas is not easy.

Is Blogging about being original?

But is originality really necessary? Are we committing a crime by giving our own perspective to a topic that has been written about by people who have a deeper understanding and a larger fan following? And if we are trying to come up with something completely original, does the bar become too high to exceed?

No, I feel that it isn’t a crime to give your own perspective to a topic. A lot of people do it. That’s the very essence of a blog. It’s a place where you can blurt out whatever you feel like and nobody can question you.

I mean, if someone has written about 100 ways to find happiness and you have found ways 101 – 110, then why not write about it? It would be wrong to scrap the idea simply because it was a popular post on a famous blog. But at least, you can make an effort to treat the post in a way that nobody else has. Give it a new heading, add a picture, change the flow, do something that the earlier writer didnt do.

A cloned article with different words and different headings (but has the same pitch, tone and thought process) is what you can ill afford. Not to forget that you are not really helping your blog by doing it. A reader would always prefer to read a better established blogger than you. (Imagine 10 different versions of Harry Potter doing the rounds of book stores. Would you prefer my version or that of J.K.Rowling?)

But originality, that’s something different altogether.

Think out of the box or in it? Originality is energy consuming

A lot of people advise to think out of the box to come up with innovative and original ideas. But, how does one think outside the box? For that matter, how does one think inside the box? What is the damn box?

Charles H. Duell said way back in 1899 that, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” That, I think, is thinking inside the box.

Similarly, are all original ideas for articles taken already? No. Not at all. All it takes is a serious rap on the grey matter for new thoughts to start jumping out, but, hey, it’s you who must give that rap. In Charles H. Duell, there is a clear unwillingness and fear to go beyond the obvious. The thought process is limited and it is the mind which sets these boundaries. As a writer, we have to try and break free from those boundaries in order to conjure up originality. Originality that stems from imagination.

The problem with a lot of writers on the World Wide Web is that they have been limiting their thinking and trying to blindly ape, ‘the best’ out there. (Even I have been guilty of doing that in the past) But what we do not seem to realize is ‘the best’, have reached that position because they did not follow anybody. They set their own rules, unconventional at times. And the rest simply followed them. That sir is thinking out of the box. The question that we need to ask ourselves as writers is, ‘Do we wish to be followers or leaders?’

The simplest definition of thinking outside the box is thinking unconventionally and it is far from easy. It requires a desire to explore, an ability to diverge from the conventional well-trodden path and the passion to live from your imagination.

I have decided to try and think outside the box in the days to come. I know that it’s far from easy. But at least, I will make an effort no matter what. I will do whatever it takes to go through more creative exertions. I will keep you posted on how I am faring on my effort to be original.

On a closing note, I would like to quote a famous aphorism.

‘If you only do what you always did, you will not even get what you always got’

Notes: Image Courtesy Flickr:  – Originally uploaded by Orangecrazy

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“Why Britney Spears would love my content” – The importance of good titles

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

Aah…See, I managed to pull you in purely on the basis of the title of this document. The topic that we are discussing here is ‘the importance of good titles in drawing readers to your article/blog post’. And while this is a great example to emphasize the importance of good titles, this technique should itself never be employed while writing actual articles/blogs. Your Blog post title should always be connected to the content within the article and this article has little or no relevance whatsoever to Britney Spears, which I presume is the keyword that drew you here. So, learn what you can from it but never use it.

Coming back to the importance of good titles, let’s pick up an example from a newspaper advert. What prompts you to go through an advertisement or actually read its content? It is either the title in bold letters or an absolutely stunning image that captivates you instantly. The title of your blog post or article is just like that. It is an advertisement for the rest of your article. The reader or visitor is not interested nor does he/she have the time or patience to read through your entire article. But if the title is interesting enough, then who knows. You might have found yourself one more loyal reader and the more the better.

So what defines a good title?

Now that, is a million dollar question that has a few too many answers at the moment.Dave Taylor has written some great tips about this when I was still an infant content writer (about two years back). You can read it here.

A good title can be defined as something that is captivating, can initiate action (click or read through), describes your blog/article, is short and sweet, is search engine friendly, is an ambassador for your blog etc etc.

See, there is a lot to do in the 5 to 8 words that make up your title. Now let’s look at some of those things with that magnifying glass.

•1) Captivating: Captivating means something that can grab the attention of the reader almost immediately. And hey, the captivating element better be in the first four words because readers usually scan through titles too. So, the first four words of your title have to be magic. And do not write an essay of a title. There is nothing worse than an enormously long title.

•2) Should Initiate action: The title can initiate one of two different actions from each visitor who reads it. He/she will either click on the title to read the rest of the article or will scan through it and move on to a googol other blogs awaiting his/her attention. Your title has to fall in the first bracket.

•3) Be descriptive: The title should be the best and smallest description of your article or blog. Think about it. If you click on a title like ‘Why Britney spears would love my content’ and then see that there is nothing in there about Britney, and then you would feel deceived. The feeling might just be too miniscule to make a huge difference to the rest of your day, but you might just remember me and my blog for the rest of your life. And you will most certainly avoid linking to me. It’s about building trust and credibility.

•4) Avoid Clichés: How many times have you come across titles that are commoner than mobile phones in the world if not more annoying? They are all over the internet. ‘Click here now’, ‘How cool is this’. Avoid these titles. Not only do they clearly avoid all of the three previously mentioned extremely important points, but they are also sore to the sight.

•5) Think out of the box: If you are a good writer, then all it requires is a little rap on that grey matter and you can churn out damn good titles for your blog. It can be bold, fun or plain outrageous. But as long as it serves the purpose and gets traffic to your blog, you can stick to it.

So, have you managed to convince you to put in a little more thought to the title of your next blog post?

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Why most people are unable to learn the guitar: 5 Don’ts while learning Guitar

Monday, December 8th, 2008

You are on a weekend getaway with your friends and it’s time for some music. One of your friends has brought his acoustic guitar along and he starts to play it. Almost instantly, the evening comes alive, the atmosphere is magical. His fingers move faster on the fret board than yours move on the computer keyboard. He is the toast of the evening and clearly steals the show. You, on the contrary are left wondering, ‘Only if I could learn to play like that.’ The question is ‘Why can’t you play like that?’ What does it take to play the guitar? Does it require extremely fast fingers? Or maybe a musical ear is what you need. Is your friend gifted with some special powers that the ‘guitar genie’ from the lamp bestowed upon him? Not really. The fact is that just about anyone including you can play the guitar provided you are willing to put in the time and the effort. However, the reason most people are unable to do it is because they pick one of the ‘five golden don’ts’ of guitar learning. These are mistakes that almost every one of us can make and yet, they can very well end your aspirations to be a good guitarist. Wouldn’t you like to know what they are?

Number 1: Trying to self learn: Are you bitten by the do it yourself bug? I love the do-it-yourself bit too. But there are certain things that require the special and skilled hands of a teacher and the guitar is one of those things. There have been and will be self learners. But these are the naturally ‘gifted’ guys or girls that we spoke about earlier. For the rest, there is the safer and saner option of finding a tutor. All the literature floating around the internet cannot replace a good guitar tutor. So, if you have been dabbling with the thought of self learning, then drop it and find a tutor unless you are gifted of course. 

Number 2: Trying to learn too fast: I must have heard this a million times. ‘I want to learn fast.’ Now why would you want to do that unless you have a trip to mars coming up in the next couple of months? If you feel that the guitar doesnt deserve too much time or is as unimportant, then you shouldnt be learning it in the first place. And thanks to the demand for ‘fast learning’ courses, there are hundreds and thousands of websites and books that are dedicated to such learning techniques. ‘Learn to play the guitar in 7 days’, ‘Learn to play basic guitar tabs in 3 days’. Why I have even seen the extreme in which you can learn to play the guitar in two hours! Absurd is the word to best describe such courses and websites. Do yourself a favor, stay away from them. Go slow, go steady and you will win the race. 

Number Three: Lack of Practice: The guitar is an instrument that requires immense patience and resilience in order to master. If you learn a new lesson, then it must be practiced ‘at least’ once everyday until you can play it blindfolded. This is the technique that I successfully used. I have seen people practicing the guitar once a week. Believe me, you are going to find it very difficult to learn it if you practice in that frequency. Another common problem is that people only practice what they are good at, easily avoiding the rest. The reason is very simple. If you are good at something, then it obviously sounds good when you practice. But you are limiting your progress by avoiding the difficult parts. So start practicing the worst part before anything else. Slowly, you will learn to play it with equal ease. 

Number Four: Jumping to chords: Another trait that is commonly seen in the ‘fast learners’. Chords are the mainstay of guitar music. Yes, they certainly are very alluring. But most people want to jump to chords and start playing songs as soon as they start to learn the guitar. This is extremely difficult, almost impossible. You have to master playing the scales first. Not only will the scales help you to build a musical ear, but it will also help you to spread out your fingers. Finger exercises are an extremely important part of building a strong foundation. And yeah, don’t forget to use that lil pinky. 

Number Five: Give up too soon: You are going to be miserable at it for the first 5 to 6 months. Admit this fact and get along with it. It is human to produce those dead sounds at first while learning to play. But do not give up. You have to stick to it. Most people quit when they are nearly there. It’s up to you whether you want to make it or quit midway. It’s different strokes for different blokes. Do not be flabbergasted if your friend is learning faster than you are. Work hard, keep practicing and you will definitely be a good guitarist one day.

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A few tips for writing the right content

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Getting loads of traffic to your website is one thing and getting traffic that converts into loads of business is another. I am sure you are looking for the later. Every web user who reaches your website via a search engine is looking for something. It might be a product or just information regarding it. Now, if you are successful in providing the user what he wanted within the first few minutes of him landing on your website, then chances are that you have got yourself a loyal visitor who will return or in some cases, a customer who will give you business. Either ways, the content on your website plays a very important role in making the user feel comfortable and like your website. Spare a moment to think about the websites that you frequently visit on the internet. What makes you visit those websites again and again? Ease of use, quality tutorials, helpful links and quality information are some of the factors. So you see, compelling content goes a long way in making or breaking your website. 

Write the right content 

The user should be able to find the content easily. In other words, it should be rich in keywords or keyword phrases. If you are a freelance copywriter and have a website that doesn’t use the words ‘freelance copywriter‘ anywhere, then the chances that search engines will list you are highly unlikely. Secondly, the content on your website must be evergreen. In other words it must not be outdated. I have seen many websites on the internet with content that dates back to 2003. No wonder they are languishing at the bottom of the SERPS. The mere thought of going online with such content is scary. Other than this, it is very important that the user is able to find what he wants using minimum number of clicks. You can try this out yourself. Log on to the main page of your website and then try to find your way through and keep a track of the number of clicks it takes you. Anything that takes more than 4 clicks of the mouse is placed too deep in the website. Chances are that the user will close the website and opt for another one. And remember there is no dearth of competition online. 

Present it to the user 

Patience is a very rare virtue on the internet and web users are the perfect example of this. They do not have the time or patience to read through every webpage on the internet. They will simply scan through the page looking for interesting lines or phrases that may prove to be helpful. So ensure that the content is split into small scanable paragraphs with interesting headings. This way, the user can easily scan through the whole page. If I have managed to get you to read this article till this point, then I have been fairly successful in writing a readable as well as a scanable article. And take a look at the words that are highlighted in bold. These are keywords or keyword phrases. 

Let’s sum it all up once again. 

  1. Quality updated content
  2. Short and sweet sentences
  3. Broken up into paragraphs
  4. Smart headings and titles
  5. Easy to find and scan through
  6. Keywords in the right density

So you see, I have tried to write an informative article with keywords and the keyword density is also acceptable. This is a perfect example of SEO content.

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SEO Tips and Tricks: The importance of a sitemap and submitting it to search engines

Monday, December 8th, 2008

Let’s start with a small exercise. Pick up any random term and search for it on the internet. Now when the search results come up, visit the top 10 websites on the page and see if you can find something in common. Most people will look for similarity in design and colors or images. Try and look beyond the obvious if you can. It isn’t that easy to find or locate but it is one of the most powerful tools that will help you get listed on the first few search results pages. Yes, I am talking about the sitemap. It might be hidden amidst banners and links and text and flash. It might be right at the bottom of the page or it might be right at the top but it surely will be present on each and every website on the first search results page. What is it about the sitemap that makes it so powerful? Does it mean that a website without a sitemap will never get indexed? 

What a sitemap is all about 

An XML sitemap is a guide for search engines. It tells the search engines about each URL in your website and when it has been last updated. This gives the search engine robots a pretty good idea about how frequently a page is updated and how frequently, they should be scanning it. It is almost like helping the search engines with a more precise and intelligent approach towards scanning your website. 

Recent developments 

In November 2006, the three top search engines (MSN, Yahoo! and Google) joined forces to create and support a new industry standard for website sitemaps. This version is called sitemaps 0.90. Any webmaster, who wishes that his website be indexed frequently by all major search engines, must follow the protocols as per sitemap 0.90. 

How to create a sitemap 

This isn’t very difficult. All web hosting providers have a section in their user control panel which allows you to create an XML sitemap. If you have any doubts about it, then you can always get in touch with your hosting provider. Other than this, there are tools on the internet which let you create a sitemap for free. Xml-sitemaps.com is one such website with a wonderful utility that creates a sitemap in as less as one minute. There are other tools as well on the same website which will help you with sitemaps. 

Submitting to search engines 

Each search engine has a different portal for webmasters willing to submit a sitemap. I have covered Google in this article. The others also follow a very similar methodology. Firstly, you need to have an account with Google. In case you do not have it, I recommend that you sign up for one. It hardly takes a couple of minutes but it gives you access to a huge load of webmaster tools that will prove to be crucial in the long run. 

Once you have an account with Google, log in to your account. Then click on a link called webmaster tools on the main account page. The rest is pretty self explanatory. One important point that needs mention is that Google will first ask you to verify that you are the rightful owner of the website that you have submitted to it. This can be done by adding a Meta tag that Google will give you or adding an HTML page to your website. Once again the process is very easy and should hardly take a few minutes of your time. 

Other than submitting your sitemap, you can also use the webmaster diagnostic tools to learn about any potential problems with your website. 

Good luck!

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