Janet Echelman was stuck without paints in a faraway land. And so she went to find some inspiration that could help her finish what she had promised to start. One not-so-casual glimpse at a normal sight of fisherman working with their netting transformed her path of creativity. No longer was she working with a single medium, because she incorporates nature into her dynamically fluid “pieces” of sculpture. I use the word “pieces” with humor, because her art rivals buildings in size. And not only that, but it also incorporates the talents and minds of various technical and scientific disciplines to allow her to see and build things that never existed before now. This is what ingenuity and innovation looks like when it’s done right.
And now for the non-inspirational:
On a flip side, I have been run over by something that is neither creative nor inspirational. As a new blogger, I’m being attacked by that side daily. Yes, businesses need to thrive – especially in this economy – but when do you realize that you’ve gone too far? Many don’t think anymore before they create a fake persona, all for the purpose of putting up a backlink that will drive up someone else’s business with little thought of the damage they do because of careless or misplaced words.
If your business or site really needs that much help, can you please come up with a more thoughtful solution than blind backlinking or whatever SEO methodology you subscribe to? This is the antithesis of innovation and counterproductive to organic growth. There’s a reason why nature’s creations take millenniums and yet last even longer.
Instead of following the same thoughtless trend, why not do something different:
- How about a chain of tweets or emails that build your message incrementally? – it’ll last longer because it’s a gradual buildup and it can be done without bashing your need over their head?
- Why not use some nonsensical creations that challenge the reader to see if they can get the message right and follow the path back to you?
- How about working with someone else in a collaboration to create prizes for offer that will raise both of your profiles?
- What about creating a user input section of your site so that viewers can brainstorm with you about new innovations related to your business?
Those are just a few that I could come up with off the top of my head, but I think you see where I’m going with this. Follow your own path since their is no standard path that works forever. At least the comments you’ll get will be more meaningful than the spam that repeats on thousands of sites verbatim, for which you probably paid less than minimum wage. That’s not cool.
But you all have made me realize one thing, and it’s going to sound harsh, but: Thank god I didn’t build a forum!
p.s. I am so grateful for those who are posting comments. It’s just that I can no longer tell if your comments are heartfelt or only for back link opportunities. I’d like to to believe, but then I see the same words posted everywhere… Can you help me tell the difference?
Read this post to understand that I’m serious about reading and caring about what each of you writes to me: Kristi wrote on Kikolani.com.
