How Blogging Killed My Creativity
Before Cogroll I was a successful freelancer and developer. I had projects coming out my ears, for both clients and myself. With so many website projects on the go, I had an abundance of excess ideas.
That’s when I decided to start blogging about my ideas. I had a good backlog of ideas to start up but it quickly got to a stage where my ideas ran thin, and for some reason I was not coming up with new ones as easily as before.
I tried to counteract this by expanding my focus. But as I tried to expand the blog to cater for ever wider audiences, I alienated the one person needed to make it a success, myself.
Problem 1: Categorization
By categorizing all my blog posts, I had inadvertently set my mind to only search for ideas in the given categories. This was a major problem because my idea process was like a wild horse and by taming it, it had lost it’s edge.
Solution 1: Narrow The Focus
To fix this I have narrowed my focus. The main focus of Cogroll was website ideas and it will return to that. There will be plenty of insight built into each idea that will help current website owners as well as beginners looking for their first project.
The category in itself has enough depth to keep me more than occupied: forums, blogs & affiliate sites to name just a few.
Problem 2: No Projects
By not developing my own projects, I lost the entrepreneurial edge. I was never searching for the next big idea, just for the next morsel of information for a blog post.
Solution 2: Resume Development
Instead of working solely on blogging, I plan to pursue side projects. This will open up my mind once more and should provide an almost unlimited resource of website ideas.
What does this mean for Cogroll
You might think that taking focus off the blog will make for less content. It couldn’t be more different. By removing my mental effort from Cogroll and trying to develop new projects, there will be more content ideas than ever before.
I will rewrite the about page shortly to encompass the changes, but in short Cogroll will:
- Focus more on website ideas.
- Keep posting available domain names.
- Target webmasters looking for projects.
- Include insight for current website owners (ideas that translate to your website).
More Guest Posting
Another major upside of doing this is that if I have any ideas that don’t fit my niche, they will become great material for guest posting.
I can get my name out there as an ideas man and bring new readers to the blog.
Final Tip: Think Outside The Box
Thinking outside the boundaries of your current project, can be a way to find that killer hook that you’ve been searching for. A lot of ideas can be modified and reformed to fit exactly with your current project, and improve it to no end.
What Did I Learn
I hope by reading this you can get some ideas for how to improve your blogging. An apt way to end would be a summary of what I have learned.
- Categorization can stifle creativity.
- As can trying to focus on too many categories.
- For me at least, only having one project can limit your ideas.
- Opening your mind to new projects can help improve your current project.
![[Post to Twitter]](/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
Interesting post James. You found me on Twitter, which leads me to think you’ve seen my blog, “Cool Website Ideas”. I haven’t updated it in over two years, though I just recently updated the template and finally upgraded the backend. I launched that site during a time when I had a flood of ideas racing through my mind, and I tried to launch new website for each of those ideas. As a result, that I didn’t have time to devote to Cool Website Ideas.
Hi Steve. I did indeed. I’ve been working on some SEO and noticed that you were top for ‘website ideas’ so thought I would add you and see what you were up to. Ideas definitely seem to come in waves and if you are not active in the development arena then all ideas seem to disappear.
+ You should get a gravatar to give some ‘personalization’ to your comments.
I really agree that categorization can really make you lose focus and also sometimes doing everything for your audience too can make you lose focus on yourself the blogger as you said.
My livelihood is based on my ability to think freely and spontaneously, but I too have found blogging to limit my creativity (especially in the ways that you mention).
That is why I devote time everyday to completely forgetting that I even have a blog to maintain; and instead, I will just act creatively as if I was a newborn entrepreneur, keeping my eyes open for the slightest taste of a good idea.
I share the same sentiment. By having this Make money online blog, my creativity was suppressed. My focus is limited to making money online tips. Having other articles with a different topic makes my blog a little bit unauthoritative.
However, I can more visitors when I write on a different subject other than affiliate marketing.