Parents know that children often say something that is obvious; they are also remarkably inventive and come up with fresh ideas without every seeing any negatives.
Yesterday, my son Elliot and I were watching the news on the TV when the newsreader looked down at her laptop computer. “That’s silly,” he said, “she should keep looking at us.” Then he added, “Why don’t they put a glass screen in front of the camera and have a projector that shines the words on the screen. Then she could see the words and wouldn’t have to keep looking down.” In an instant he had invented Autocue. Not bad for 7-years-old.
Often adults reject ideas from children, suggesting they don’t know enough, don’t have the right experience and so on. However, it is adults who have the most self-limiting beliefs; children are convinced that anything is possible and never put up any barriers. So, I was interested to continue the conversation with Elliot about his idea for a device that newsreaders could read and still be able to look at the camera.
Our conversation moved to seeing the news on the Internet and how blogging was a form of news. I then said how difficult it was for the TV news channels and bloggers to come up with fresh ideas each day. “So get someone else to write it for you then,” said Elliot, with that child’s “this is so obvious” look.
Bloggers the world over find it difficult to come up with fresh content each day; it’s a struggle. Yet, all the “gurus” on the Internet will tell you that if you don’t blog most days, your blog will not get enough traffic. And if you are using your blog to promote your business that’s a problem.
Thankfully, there’s a great article on 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic – and guess what one of the main ways of doing that are? Get a guest blogger – Elliot’s idea of getting someone else to write for you when you are stuck for ideas. Children eh? Don’t they have the best ideas?