The web is filled with meaningless “me too” bullshit. It’s true. With each day that passes, there is more noise and copycatting passing through your broadband line and onto your screen as more “I want to make money online” hopefuls are copying exactly what they are seeing on other blogs. While they start off with good intentions, they are nothing but trash that clogs the web and eventually fizzles out.
It all starts with one blogger sees another blogger with success and decides to make a run at it the exact same way. This blogger ends up failing and making excuses why they didn’t make it, but…in reality…they didn’t make it big because they lacked original thought. Some even go as far as ripping off designs or scraping content. Once the dollars don’t just start flowing in on autopilot, these same leaches claim it can’t be done and move onto the next project.
Innovate Or Die: Are You Prepared To Make It Big?!
Successful businesses…online or not…make their biggest strides with original thought. Even in heavily saturated markets, new blogs and businesses can rise above the rest by bringing a new and different idea to the table. While it may seem that all of the new ideas have run dry, the world and web is constantly evolving, and this opens the doors for the new guys to capitalize on the changes.
When you go to create a blog or generate new content and products, you need to take a close look at your progress and make sure you are not just copying the success of others. This all stems from one easy to understand theory…
Why is someone going to come to your site if they can get the real thing down the street?
If you are just copying the success of others and not generating your own original thoughts and products, why is anyone going to take you seriously and consume what you have to offer?
They aren’t.
Think about the content that you consume on the web. Are you following a bunch of Darren Rowse or John Chow wannabe’s with the same designs and content, or are you following the real thing? Chances are…you are following the real thing. So why are you going to go against your own intuition and expect your readers to do something completely different than your own natural habits?!
Where I Found My Success Online
I found 99.9% of my success online through original thoughts and ideas.
- Bike198 found its success by providing original, in-depth product reviews and riding tips in a market that has been saturated with glorified advertisements that publications were tagging as reviews.
- My blogging reputation online was catapulted skyward when I started teaching others how to get in free products to review with Ramped Reviews…something that no one had created a product around before.
I looked at my target audience and market and brought something different to the table. Not every idea is going to be a home run. I actually have more failures than I do successes, but it is the willingness to step outside of the box and try something new that separates the successful from the could have been’s.
Are you even giving yourself a chance? Or are you just being lazy?!
The easy route is to copy the success of others. You can read through your rss reader and reword everything you read that day, or you can actually take the time to bring your originality into your writing and products to jump ahead of the pack. I would much rather be the guy being copied than the one copying others.
- What is your competition not doing?
- What can you improve upon and provide real value?
- Are there problems your audience face that have not been solved?
- What can you do to enrich the lives of your readers?
- How are you different than the rest? And how can you bring that original voice to the screen?
It’s time to innovate or die…which side are you going to be on?
9 comments
Dang that’s a hard hitter.
At times it feels tough to innovate and find a new, undiscovered nugget of online entrepreneurial success because at times it feels like it’s all been done before.
I know personally, I’ll come up with an idea and think “Hey, that’s something that could work and become a great blog/business/whatever.” I’ll then research it, and discover that someone has independently from me had the same idea, only about two years before me and has already come to dominate said market/niche.
So saying “innovate or die” may be very truthful, but to make it sound easy or even POSSIBLE may be dumbing down the topic, if you know what I mean.
I know what you mean. But it is the willingness to keep coming up with ideas and testing them that separates the successful from the ones that just copying things over and over again.
I have had a lot of ideas that have come and gone, but the 5% that hit is 99% of my income. Not every one of them has to light the world on fire…just a few.
In this era of them web, if one does not innovate, they are not going to have any long term success.
In another blog I read today, the blog owner was first worried and annoyed about copycats of his blog (his content, his design etc), so he asked his followers about the problem.
Their answer was don’t worry about the copycats. Your time will just go to waste. Instead focus on providing great innovative content that gives value.
Nabeel
You must be talking about Alex over at Bloggusion! We have been thinking along the same lines a lot lately.
Time is wasted on worrying about the copycats out there when you can better use that time to focus on growing and innovating.
If we stay in touch with our own life experiences, our chances of being innovative go way up, and no matter what happens, we’ll be authentic. Too often, people get their noses stuck so far into the blogosphere that they end up sounding like parrots.
That does help out a lot Jean. By staying true to ourselves…we can prevent becoming a carbon copy of someone else.
I always say that if you do not do it better or in a new way, why the hell are you doing it at all?
Spot on! Great content, great way to pass the message! Keep it up.
good questions,
I fall prey to a bit of copying in the beginning, but it’s all over now. I have found the major part of my voice, and the ability to help people with my own unique and kick-ass style. It’s fun, it’s awe-some, and it will rock the world.
pretty sure about that 😉