I came up with the idea to challenge myself to come up with 100 blog post ideas in 30 minutes after I misunderstood the title a post I stumbled across called: How to Come Up With 100 Blog Post Ideas in 30 Minutes.

I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but I clicked in to that post thinking that they would show me how they had come up with 100 ideas in 30 minutes.

Instead, it was a video showing me the tools that he used (for 30 minutes, I assume) that he claimed help him generate “about” 100 ideas.

I have to admit, this was one of those moments when a clickbaity headline really let me down.

I was looking for some documentation, for some guidance as to how he had created so many post ideas so quickly, and instead was given a vague idea on someone’s creative process.

I was seriously disappointed.

But, where there is disappointment, there is opportunity, right?

I realized that if I were so excited to see something like that, why wouldn’t others be too? 

Why can’t I try to create that many ideas, in that time constraint, while also documenting the process and showing everyone the results?

Here’s what happened when I challenged myself to create 100 blog post ideas in 30 minutes.

Photo courtesy of Dooder – Freepik

Marketing automation is a fantastic way to ensure that you’re sharing consistent, relevant and valuable information with your customers, both new and potential. 

It streamlines a repetitive process so that you don’t waste your time.

Automation itself isn’t a particularly new idea.

We’ve been doing it for a while in the form of “lifehacks” or “shortcuts” in our daily routines.

Our parents taught us some of them: Setting your alarm so that it goes off at the right time every morning (but only during weekdays), for example.

Photo courtesy of Ludosphère(CC Attribution)

And as we got older (and technology got better) we began to automate other things too. 

Photo courtesy of seeveeaar(CC No Derivatives)

Quotes are a fantastic way to inspire you to work to the best of your ability, even when you’re not feeling the most optimistic.

We’ve all been there – You’ve put an enormous amount of work in, you think your idea is fantastic, you’ve tried to rally people to your way of thinking – but things just aren’t going the way you thought they would.

Suddenly, you experience what seems like a grey cloud hovering over your head, dampening your thoughts and spirits and making every movement, every thought seem worthless.

Very quickly, you can be drawn into the self-indulgent self-pity that is common in the aftermath of defeat, dejection, wariness or whatever other dark cloud has been hanging over your head.

But here’s the thing: You’re better than that, and deep down inside: You know it too.

Quotes are a fantastic way to rekindle the light inside of you. They act as a pin, bursting through the cloud to allow the light to shine down on you once more. 

I have a tendency to collect quotes, keeping them for days when the sun isn’t shining quite so bright. Here are some of my favourite quotes that I think will inspire and revitalize you and your business, followed by an aside by yours truly.

1.The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.

 – David Ogilvy

The marketing industry has a language all of its own.

The jargon can come to us in many shapes and form. Sometimes, complete fabrications, or words with “- able” at the end of it. Other times, they’re jumbled up English terms and confusing acronyms.

Whatever shape the jargon takes, there’s one thing that’s for sure: It doesn’t make marketing any easier.  

One of the biggest problems with marketing jargon is that the marketing experts will expect you to know them and will often throw them around as casually as they would the word “the”.

This gets confusing (and a little frustrating) for newbies (or even intermediates for that matter).

That’s why we’ve compiled a list of some of the most common online marketing terms you’re likely to encounter (and some that you might not) to make the introduction into marketing just that little bit easier for you!

Oh and you’ll see Spokey pop up now and then to let you know what the important terms are!

Thanks Spokey!

Photo courtesy of FindYourSearch(CC ShareALike)

I have a bit of a confession to make: When I started at Spokal I didn’t even know the basics of SEO. 

Hey don’t run away so quickly!

Let me explain: Before Spokal, I wrote for a number of other online blogs, but I always had editors who would insist on handling all of the SEO work.

But then, suddenly, I became my own editor and I knew I had to step up my game.

Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles

I knew that I had to learn, and that I had to learn fast. 

To my relief, I had the Spokal editor with its real time SEO advice prompting me to make changes that would help to make sure the blog was optimized for search engines.