A Few Strong Words…

I’ve worked in some design agencies before as a freelancer brought in on certain projects. One agency in particular had this awesome “ideas” room. Everyone meets in there, brainstorms ideas, bounces them off one another, and skims the best off the top.

But for the independent freelancer or business owner, this isn’t always possible. Here are the five basic steps I’ve found that will help anyone working on their own come up with awesome — and most importantly useable — ideas.

SEO is the Way to Go

The first thing you should do is pretend you are putting together a list of SEO keywords (perhaps you need to anyway…) Identify what keywords best describe your product/service/concept. Come up with as many keywords as are necessary, but try to keep them as relevant as possible.

For example, if you are coming up with a marketing plan for a horse stable, you might come up with horseback riding, scenic tours, afternoon picnic in the mountains, etc. However Purina Horse Chow, though relevant to the horses, likely won’t be relevant to your target audience.

Just Ask Roget…

Once you have a list of keywords, grab the thesaurus. Someone said (I can’t remember who — maybe Stephen King?) that the thesaurus is the last bastion of the lazy mind, but I think it has its place. The mind is an awful jungle sometimes, and following signposts can help you get to where you are going faster.

The thesaurus is like a collection of those signposts. Different words can trigger different ideas in your head. Best of all it lists different synonyms for different meanings, opening whole new pathways and setting you up for some nice double entrendres and other plays on words.

Google It, Baby!

Yes, your handy search engine can open up possibilities as well. Googling words, or better yet phrases can give you different ideas as well as show you what other people working with the same set of words have done before. This will help stir the imagination pot, and show you pathways through that jungle you may not have seen before.

Start Your Own Path

Once you’ve done a bit of research — or even in the middle of your research — start jotting down ideas. And then play with them. What if I said it this way, or what if we did it that way?

As you refine your ideas, keep in mind what your original keywords were and the goals you want to reach. Always keep your target audience in mind.

You’re Not As Alone As You Think

Once you’ve done some of the legwork, start bouncing ideas off your family and friends. See how they react. If they get excited about it and try to add their own ideas, you know you are on to something. If they say “Oh, that’s nice…” and leave it at that, bounce some different ideas off them. You’ll likely know what the person thinks, but remember they might not tell you what they truly think. Friends and family usually make the worst critics at face value (and that’s usually a good thing…!)

It really does take an intrepid soul to search the jungle solo. Luckily, freelancers and SOHOers tend to be intrepid souls to start with. Trust your ideas. Most importantly, trust that little voice inside of you. Even if consciously you are loving the turn of phrase you came up with, give yourself the chance to decide whether or not it is truly the path you should take.

~Graham

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First — apologies. If there is a recession, you sure couldn’t tell from standing in my office. Been running ragged as of late, and this blog has suffered the consequences. Hope to be back to a regular posting schedule soon…

Today, a bit of a departure from the norm — a book review (and my first since Grade 8, come to think of it…! Enjoy!)

I’ve been waiting a long time for this book.

When I first met Casey Hibbard (you know, in the cyber sense), I found out she had a book coming out. I was fascinated. Partly because anyone who puts out a book stirs admiration, awe, and yes a bit of jealousy in me. And partly because this is the first book that I know of that covers case studies.

I’ve written a few case studies in my time, but back when I was learning them I had to discover the formula the old fashioned way — by deconstructing other case studies. A book like this would have been an invaluable resource, if done right.

I’m happy to say that Casey has done it right.

If you are familiar with Michael Stelzner’s Writing White Papers, you’ll easily get into the rhythm of this book. It goes through the whole process of writing case studies from determining when and why to use a case study to gathering information and interview contacts to writing and polishing those studies.

Like Michael’s book too, it is aimed more at the business person than the writer. Don’t get me wrong — writers will get tons from this book including Casey’s little hints on interview techniques, follow-up etiquette, and more. I think that this approach opens her book to a much, much wider audience (a hint for all of us with a book or two in the drawer…)

I do take exception to one of her statements. In a section dealing with spelling and grammar, Casey suggests that you always default to American-style English regardless of which country you are targeting. The theory is that if an American reads it, he or she will assume that the case study is full of spelling mistakes whereas the non-American reader is used to American English.

I can tell you from experience that this is not the case — not completely anyway. Yes, a lot of American English makes its way into other English-speaking countries like Canada, the UK, Australia, etc. But it does look foreign, and it will likely undermine the credibility of your case study if you do not use local grammar and spelling. This is especially true with an educated audience.

Other than that somewhat minor concern, I believe that Casey has put together a solid book at exactly the time where customer testimonials and “success stories” as she calls them are gaining prominence. If you have ever considered creating case studies for your own business or for those of your clients, get this book. (And if you haven’t considered case studies yet, perhaps you should…!)

You can find out more about it here:
http://www.storiesthatsellguide.com/

~Graham

PS - For the sake of full disclosure, please note that this is not an affiliate link — I do not make any money off the sale of this book.

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Although I am a writer at heart, I also do quite a bit of web design for my clients. It is something I’ve always been interested since back in the day where websites were completely hand-coded.

Today programs like Dreamweaver certainly make life easier. But no matter what the tool, the question is always one of design.

Vandelay Designs has a great little blog that features, among other things, different ways types of web designs. One of my favourites is 25 Beautiful Minimalistic Website Designs, along with a few sequels. In fact I studied quite a few of the designs listed there before creating my own new website.

Vandelay Designs also offers other web designs in its other “25 Beautiful…” series, including Dark, Colorful, and Unique. There are some great Photoshop tips there too.

Now I realize that not all of us are web designers. But this is also a great resource for people looking for ideas for their own websites. You get your best results when you give your web designer at least an idea of the type of websites you like. Not only are there plenty of examples in these various series, the category breakdown will help you solidify in your own mind — and in turn enable you to communicate to your designer — what style of website appeals to you most.

Now don’t get me wrong, your web designer will certainly have ideas for you. You might even go in a completely different direction based on his or her recommendations. But this way you have a mutual starting point, which (trust me!) is always a big help.

If you have a minute, take a quick look at 25 Beautiful Minimalistic Website Designs and see what inspires you!

Happy Hunting,

~Graham

PS - I have no connection with Vandelay Designs, and I am not getting paid for this link in any way. It is simply a great resource that I use for inspiration, and I wanted to pass it along to you!

PPS - In the market for a new website? I can help! Contact me for more information about my web content and design services.

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