10-Minute Touch Up: Brainstorm a Project
The 10-Minute Touch Up is a quick, weekly challenge to get you DOING, not just reading about doing. Consider it a way to touch up your blogging just 10 minutes at a time!
Brainstorm a Project
Challenge: Brainstorm a new project for your blog. Do a brain dump of the ins and outs. The who. The why.
Why: One of the best ways to grow your audience is to expand outside the world of writing blog post after blog post. Tackling a project will pull you out of your comfort zone a little (or a lot), but you’ll reap the benefits.
Some type of project ideas you might want to tackle:
- New weekly series
- Revive an old weekly series
- One-time series (like my blogger business card series)
- Special link-up
- New blog page (New Here page, Resources page, etc.)
- E-book (small or big)
- Email series (such as a newsletter or special series)
- Collaborative project with multiple bloggers
Now don’t spend a lot of time picking out WHAT to tackle. If you want an easy one, go with a one-time series that you can run over the span of a week. If you’ve been wanting to write an e-book or do something equally as intense, now’s the time to brainstorm about it!
How to Do It
1. Grab a Blank Piece of Paper and Markers.
Just printer paper will work. Then colored markers, pencils, crayons, whatever. Color helps you feel creative. Seriously, it works.
2. Start with the End in Mind.
What do you want to get out of the project? More traffic? A stream of income? Increase your authority about a topic? Write that down. If you know where you want to go, you’ll have an easier tip doing the next step.
3. Jot Down Your Ideas to Make Your Project Happen.
Don’t worry about if your ideas are good or bad. Brainstorming isn’t a time for evaluation or feasibility. It’s a time for ideas. Some questions to jog your mind:
- When would this project launch (ideally)?
- Would you do it solo or with other bloggers?
- What does the project entail? (i.e. topics you’d include an e-book, what you’d want to cover in a weekly series)
- What do you need to accomplish the project?
- What questions do you have about how it would work? (i.e. “which link-up tool should I use?”)
4. Sit on It for a Day (or Two).
Once your ideas are down, walk away! Clear them from your mind. Once you return, you’ll be able to start taking steps to make your project actually happen!
How’d It Go?
Did you get some ideas down? Are you excited about your project?
