This post was written by Will Montanaro, a student of online business from the UK.
In online marketing, everyone wants a formula, a rulebook if you will. People want to be told exactly how they can make money, and how they can do it with as little work as possible. This is a natural human disposition that isn’t necessarily something to be ashamed of, but it’s a mindset you need to move away from.
Sure, there are processes for making money online; building affiliate sites, selling products, contextual ads, etc. These things all work. However, what sets the truly great marketers apart from the rest of the pack? Why are the people selling their $997 online course making more money from their methods than their students?
It’s called creativity.
Creativity is horribly underrated in online marketing. Unfortunately, no one is making this clear. It’s simply not in the interests of most marketers to say – “Well you could buy my course, but it probably won’t make you much money unless you use your creativity”. They’re not going to sell as many products, and you’re probably going to look for a different option that doesn’t require creativity.
You’re probably thinking that you don’t know how to be creative. This mindset has been created by years of marketers selling “The step-by-step system to generate huge passive income streams”.
Instead of thinking in this way, you’ve got to start thinking outside the box, and you’re business is going to be vastly more successful because of it.
Do you know how the most successful marketers get millions of visitors from search engine traffic? They use creativity. They don’t just do what every other chump is doing, because otherwise they’d be in exactly the same situation as them. They don’t necessarily work hard, they just use their brain! They innovate with their link building strategy, they find loopholes to generate buzz and traffic to their website, and they keep doing it.
There are loopholes in every market. Each niche has its own intricacies and things that you can exploit to make your business wildly successful. Why is there no step by step guide for you to follow? Because every niche is different! No one can tell you how to completely dominate the “Weight Loss” niche, you need to find that out for yourself. If someone knew, they certainly wouldn’t tell you. There are people who have used their creativity to create massive brands that dominate huge niches without spending millions to do it.
How many marketers do you know that put their success down to reading some SEO manual? How many millionaires tell you that they followed a step-by-step guide to build their business? None, because there aren’t any.
If you don’t use your creativity, you’re not going to fulfil your potential. If you’ve had some success with online marketing, think back to what really made you money. You’ll almost certainly remember a few little innovations and creative touches that you used to set yourself apart from the competition or to generate more revenue.
Creativity is everywhere. You don’t have to be an artist or have a brilliant mind, you just have to use what you’ve got. Grab a piece of paper and start jotting down ideas relating to your latest business venture. I guarantee that you’ll come up with at least one idea that you can put into action straight away. Within an hour you could have dozens of potential ideas that will completely transform your business.
Stop looking for answers in the latest money-making course. You might find a great way to make money, but imagine what you could do if you added your own creativity to that method – you could be wildly successful.
Think about this. When you read a self help manual, it’s not going to tell you everything that will change your own life. It will give you general guidelines for improving your life, for improving anyone’s life. You then have to put those guidelines into action and apply them to your own life.
This is what you have to do in marketing. You can take an idea, but you have to apply it to your own business. You have to mould it to suit your business, otherwise it’s just not going to work as well as it could.
Here are some questions to get you started:
Creative ways to generate revenue – Is Adsense your only option? Have you thought about a premium membership for your website? How about creating a small product related to your site? Are you giving your visitors what they are looking for? Are you building a list? Where is the money coming from in your niche?
Creative link building – What is unique about your niche? How do people interact in your market? Are there lots of blogs, or news sites? Who are the authorities in your niche, and how can you help them? How are the big players in your market getting traction?
Creative content – What are your visitors really looking for? What would cause controversy? What are people afraid to talk about? What different types of content can you create? What creates linkbait in your particular niche?
Creative branding - What sets your site apart from your competition? Do you talk to your customers about your brand? What is exciting about your business? How are you using social media?
Creative marketing – What are people passionate about in your niche? Why not create a hilarious Facebook group related to your niche? Are your banner ads boring and stale? What is your message, and how does it differ from your competition?
You have to start asking yourself these questions. There are potentially thousands of them, and each one could give you a great idea. Most people are stuck in a rut when it comes to online business. Either they start with a basic formula that isn’t working, or they spend their whole time trying to think of a killer idea and never get started. Why not combine the two? Start with a basic formula and then add your own killer ideas to it once you start seeing it take shape. This is a million times easier and far more successful.
Adding creativity to an established business is incredibly powerful, and it’s why some people are so hugely successful, while others are stuck struggling to get by. Don’t overlook the fact that creativity is fun. Doing the same mundane tasks all day will not stimulate your mind. Finding exciting ways to transform your business will give you the motivation and stimulation to make serious money.
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April 16th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Great post Will.
Focusing on creation lifts you above the competition. Good point about the gurus. They don’t become gurus by doing what everybody else does. If this were the case they’d get average results.
I foster creativity by taking bits and pieces of knowledge from others and putting my own twist on it. I also meditate 1-2 times a day. Sitting quietly for 20 – 30 mins opens me up to creative ideas every time. Meditation is a fool proof tool to become inspired quickly.
Ryan ´s last blog ..How Can Cash Gifting Programs Prosper You?
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Will Montanaro (5 comments) Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Thanks Ryan. Yes, you seem to have the mindset right on this. Many people meditate to try and get creative juices flowing, since it opens up your mind and removes the chaos in the background. Business is largely about mindset, and it’s something I’m trying to address in this post. This niche suffers badly from a lack of basic principles that underline any type of business, so people get into it without having any background in real-world business. Most of the online gurus we talk about all have/had offline businesses first, before moving online. Offline principles are incredibly important in my opinion.
I also agree that taking someone else’s idea and putting a twist on it is a great way to get started. As I said, you don’t have to be a creative genius to make creativity work for you.
I think the point is that having creativity will make you MORE money, and will make you infinitely MORE successful. Sure, you can make some cash without being creative, but it’s never going to be the same as those guys who spend hours every day coming up with new marketing ideas.
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April 16th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Fluff post, everyone knows that you need to be creative to make money… let’s get some better guest posts on here Jason
Jimvesting´s last blog ..Blogengage.com Goes Nanners – What NOT to Do to Increase Traffic
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Will Montanaro (5 comments) Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Jim, I’m sorry you think this is a fluff post, but I have to disagree. NOT everyone knows that you need creativity to make money. Clearly you haven’t seen the thousands of people who buy the latest “Make Money Online” product and then give up because it didn’t work for them after 2 weeks. Why do you think so many marketers sell the “proven formula”?
You seem to have missed the basic premise of this post. Ironically, you also seem to think this is fluff because it’s not telling you exactly how to make money. So instead of looking at the points I’ve made, and the questions I’ve asked, you’ve called it “fluff” because I haven’t said “here’s what I did to make $XXXX.”
I even explain why there’s no concrete method for this stuff in my post, I give pointers and ask questions that should get people’s brains working. The loophole method alone comes from someone I know personally who is currently working for some of the biggest gambling and fashion sites in the world. His biggest secret for SEO? Creativity.
Again, I’m sorry if you didn’t like the article, but calling it a fluff piece is quite derogatory given the important message it portrays.
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Nicole Price (80 comments) Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 11:45 am
You are quite right to object to the comment and I am glad that you have placed your point of view quite clearly.
Nicole Price´s last blog ..Expecting a Tax Refund? Make it Count!
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Jimvesting (5 comments) Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Sorry, I was talking to Jason. I’m not against people writing fluff posts… but Jason has covered things like this in the past and I think he needs to focus more on quality over quantity
Jimvesting´s last blog ..Blogengage.com Goes Nanners – What NOT to Do to Increase Traffic
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Will Montanaro (5 comments) Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Well I knew you were talking to Jason, I was pointing out that this is not in any way a fluff post.
I would feel slightly offended, but given the fact your blog uses “SEO” as one of your “7 Tips for success in the management of multiple blogs”, I find your comment incredibly hypocritical. I addressed your misguided reasoning for thinking it was a “fluff” post, but you have ignored that. I’m sorry you think it’s fluff and that you don’t realise the quality this post brings to the table.
Just to clarify, I’m not in the “make money online” niche, I’m not selling anything, and I’m not making any outlandish statements. This is good solid business advice that has been reiterated by high profile businessmen all around the world. If you don’t like it fine, but that doesn’t make it fluff.
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April 17th, 2010 at 4:27 am
This is a nice article which correctly explains why those IM products do not work for all.
I agree with the need of cretivity.
Agent Deepak@Blogging. Marketing & Success´s last blog ..Help Me Choose a New Blog Theme
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April 17th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Most creativity in any kind of business, online or offline, comes from asking questions. Asking the right questions to customers, front line customer contacts, people involved in the processes etc enables an on going innovation process and that is creativity. Meditation certainly helps but, tweaking one’s business processes to satisfy stake holder interests is the way that successful businesses are built.
Nicole Price´s last blog ..Expecting a Tax Refund? Make it Count!
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Local Internet Marketing (7 comments) Reply:
April 28th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
I think it’s also helpful to stop and ask yourself some questions. To me one of the most important questions to ask is why you’re REALLY doing something.
So often we take an action because it’s simply what people do, and it leads to a certain result. But if we step back and ask what the true goal is, what’s the ultimate result we’re looking for, big picture, it can really open up creative ways of approaching a problem. Many times it turns out the standard approach is not the best one.
Local Internet Marketing´s last blog ..Why Have A Blog: Easy Analytics
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April 17th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more. I do feel that someone starting out needs to learn the concepts, but a lot of time should not be spent on this before just busting out and trying stuff.
Unless you are spending thousands of dollars on a new website then you should not be afraid to experiment; you never know what you will discover.
B
Bcarter´s last blog ..How You Can Get Beating Adwords Free
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Will Montanaro (5 comments) Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I agree with you. It’s really a case of balance, which is why I generally recommend people to start with a basic idea and customize it rather than spending days trying to come up with an initial idea.
Taking action is just as important as creativity, and consistently taking action will lead to creativity almost by default.
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April 17th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Hey Will I couldn’t agree more; case in point: I do a good deal of SEO work for loan modification companies; the ones that simply post a company page or a splash page asking for information don’t go viral, and I can imagine that tons and tons of effort is put into building links. I got CREATIVE and put together a couple of free resources, the best one being a list of all lenders loss mitigation department phone numbers, emails, addresses, etc. and bam! I’m getting tons of traffic and people are linking to the list. Creativity = Viral Content = Expert Status = Branding = SERP Domination the right way.
Great post again!
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Will Montanaro (5 comments) Reply:
April 17th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Great to hear Justin. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Now you can keep getting creative and building a strong brand rather than just doing what everyone else is doing. When everyone else zigs, you should zag. It’s a powerful concept and I’m glad that some people can see that. Thanks.
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April 17th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Yes creativity is the answer and point to success. Agreed.
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April 20th, 2010 at 4:34 am
I think that the creativity aspect will win everytime whether you are a brick and mortar store, or an online company. Thinking outside the box is how all of these big names got branded to begin with. Great post!
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April 20th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
People always need to be creative and you really put some necessary point in this article. Nice work.
Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..MovieRecipes: Find Food Recipes Which You Watch In Movies
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April 21st, 2010 at 1:26 am
That’s true. Creativity is key and it’s what sets you apart from the rest of the competition, that is if you have something unique to offer that the others don’t.
d3so´s last blog ..Supposed New iPhone 4G – Leaked by Gizmodo
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April 21st, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Nothing beats a sense of creativity! Totally agree
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April 22nd, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Great article, very inspiring, creativity is our power!
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April 23rd, 2010 at 7:13 am
This is a great way to increase your skills in link building even without the use of seo tools
Cheat Codes´s last blog ..Heroes of Newerth Cheats
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April 23rd, 2010 at 9:44 am
Yes creativity is the answer and point to success. Agreed.
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April 25th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Great post. So often I see trends take off in online marketing – not because they work, but because people simply copy what everyone else does.
Reminds me of that old joke, where a man is standing looking up at the sky. One person stands next to him, looking up. Then another, and another, until there is a dozen. Finally, someone asks, what are you looking at? And he says, nothing, I just have a crick in my neck…
Jon @ RegCure Review´s last blog ..“excellent ‘Scan, Repair and Optimise’ programme”
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April 27th, 2010 at 4:20 am
Entrepreneurship is an art, creativity it the fuel for success.
Stephen´s last blog ..How to Get Perfect Packaging Design
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April 28th, 2010 at 3:46 am
I agree that you can’t go wrong with creativity. This is what people are looking for every where in the world today. Great post man!
Greg
Greg London´s last blog ..Retirement benefits of owning a home based business
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April 28th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
After the first 3-4 months of studying Internet Marketing, I started getting worried. I was thinking, this is great, I’m learning a lot, but I feel like all I’m ever going to do is follow my guru, do exactly as he says, and how will I ever find success doing that?
Then I realized exactly what you’ve said. All I need to do is apply my creativity. The thing is to remember the cliche: imitation before innovation.
When you’re first starting out, of course you’re going to be doing the same thing as everyone else. You’ve got to learn the basics. But the key is to definitely move beyond this as soon as possible, even with the smallest details, look for every opportunity to put your own character into your work.
In time these small (they’ll get bigger) bits of creativity will distinguish you from everyone else, and you’ll have a following.
Great post!
Local Internet Marketing´s last blog ..Why Have A Blog: Easy Analytics
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April 28th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
you are right dude creativity always wins.
forex demo account´s last blog ..Forex Demo Contest
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April 28th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
As Jason also describe in his post “Five Things You Need To Do To Make Money Online” (http://www.theuniversitykid.com/five-things-you-need-to-do-to-make-money-online/), I think it’s also important to start somewhere, and to overcome our fears!
It’s by learning from your mistake that you’ll also learn to be creative.
And as Will is telling us in this post, no one can teach you creativity… You need to learn it all by yourself! So go ahead! Start your project! It just can’t wait until tomorrow…
Pierre-Yves@Référencement Super X´s last blog ..SEO: Le rêve américain
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April 30th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Too true, creativity = win.
The problem comes when one isn’t so creative
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May 1st, 2010 at 12:21 am
Great post. I must agree that every once in awhile I like to sit down with pen and paper and brainstorm either w/my sister or even by myself. Just start putting down ideas that I’ve had for different subjects or different niches.Out of that comes innovative ideas which equals creativity. Without creativity you are going no where fast. jj
jj-momscashblog´s last blog ..The Secrets of Turning Ones Passion into Making Money Online
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May 4th, 2010 at 11:44 am
I see that creativity makes different “color” of presenting something. Someone with high creativity usually makes something seems unique. I agree that creativity will make us win… Every time
Yasagun´s last blog ..Three Simple Ways How People Could Collect Free Healthy Recipes Easily
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May 7th, 2010 at 10:52 am
I agree. Alex Tew who made 1 million with his milliondollarhomepage was just a simple but creative idea.
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May 27th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I have constantly changed my webpage to ensure freshness and keeping the content up to date.
However, is there such a thing a new on the internet or is it just a re hash of something old that was working offline.
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May 29th, 2010 at 8:29 am
I agree that creativity is vital for success and break and stand out from the rest. If you’re one of the crowd, you’ll only made what the crowd is making.
But for those who lack creativity not all is loss. Just do the norm and add-in some determination and perseverence, that should made up for the lost.
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May 31st, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Good post about so many innovative resources. I agree creativity always pay huge. So many ways suggested in post like how to monetize and how to get backlink and SEO are excellent.
mra´s last blog ..Not to Do Things While Twitting
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June 8th, 2010 at 2:55 am
Creativity is one of the factors for every successful endeavor. Be creative in everything you do and success will follow…
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June 9th, 2010 at 10:52 am
creativity is our power..i Agree.
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June 18th, 2010 at 11:29 am
you are right dude creativity always wins.
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June 22nd, 2010 at 6:02 am
What I like with creativity is that its unlimited and boundless! Possibilities are enormous.
Edward´s last blog ..Watch Grown Ups Online for Free
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July 7th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Creativity is an innate ability that is present from the time we are born and becomes more suppressed as we get older. Children are highly creative.
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July 7th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
the keyword “Magic pill” has 4,460,000 results on google.
I think this post clearly give the TRUE magic pill to all the “internet marketers” out there.
Creativity is indeed the most valuable asset of anyone trying to have success. Of course this is my personal opinion.
I would like to add that creativity just don’t come out of nowhere, I find if interesting that I have my best ideas while I go for a run or after the run when I am taking a shower. Usually when I am in front of the computer my mind is in the same state, rarely that state is creativity, at least for me.
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July 14th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
You hit the nail on the head with this one! Creativity is sometimes hard to tap into. I need quiet to come up with good ideas. I find the best time for me to get creative is at night while I’m lying in bed–I always have a notebook and pen with me to jot down future millionaire ideas!
Lisa Loves 50cc Mopeds For Sale´s last blog ..50CC Mopeds For Sale
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July 22nd, 2010 at 7:44 pm
I totally agree about being creative! We have to think outside the box and try new things to get new results.
Using creativity makes it possible for you to try things in different ways. Maybe you take an idea from one area and applying to another area.
We need to ask ourselves, “What need is not being met?”, “What can be improved upon?”. By asking ourself questions like this, we can find solutions and news ways of looking and doing things.
SEOninja´s last blog ..The Greatest Resource In The World – People!
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July 23rd, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Creativity is very important and without it none of these great businesses would exist. Having a good creative mind can help make blogging much easier with building links.
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July 25th, 2010 at 3:20 am
creativity is so important that many do not understand great article
Surfer Boi´s last blog ..Getting into Surfing
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August 10th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Yes, and sometime when there is no creativity …
… luck can do juuuust fine…. 
John@Funny signs´s last blog ..Ne-Yo – Beautiful Monster
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August 21st, 2010 at 7:39 am
First of this type of site we provide users the opportunity because of this beautiful and quality we give our respect. thank you.
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August 23rd, 2010 at 3:18 am
Great post Will, I almost was ready to go ahead and write Jason till I saw it was a guest post. Either way, creativity is what sets many apart.
Adrian´s last blog ..Theme Etiquette
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September 1st, 2010 at 5:47 am
Thanks for useful and succesfull sharings.
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