Sharing Inspiring Ideas

In late 2012, Jay Boodhun started InspirationsWeb as a hobby and a platform for sharing creative ideas online. As a design-minded researcher and writer, Jay quickly received steady traffic to his blog, thanks to its powerful and engaging content that he presents in a contemporary, orderly, visual and highly clickable fashion. The focus of the website spans from homewares and electronics to stylish clothing and campaigns. Ever interested in maintaining a conversation about fresh concepts, Jay welcomes plenty of comments on his posts and the participation of guest bloggers on InspirationsWeb.

8 Questions with Jay Boodhun:

1. How Do You Reset Yourself To Be Creative?

One thing that always helps me is reorganizing my workspace. This forces my brain to think in creative ways and not to get stuck by old habits and patterns. Once a month, I move my desk around, buy new stationary and experiment, looking for a new spin on functionality. A minimal workspace gives me the time and space to think and manage my work when I'm writing and researching ideas for InspirationsWeb.

Another resetting method that works well for me is to initiate a digital detox. I like to unplug completely from the Internet and mobile phones and dedicate some time to spend outdoors. Going for drives in the English countryside and long walks allow my creative side to develop and grow. By doing this, I feel less of a slave to my work and enjoy it more.

2. What Motivates You?

The big boys like Trend Hunter, Buzzfeed, Smashing Magazine and Design Taxi inspire me with the way that they've grown and developed into big and sustainable online platforms. My goal is to meet as much success, and build InspirationsWeb into a brand that people love and connect with. There is a lot of work in the pipeline and I have big milestones still to hit. This keeps me focused and motivated.
Building high traffic on the blog is another key motivating factor. I set traffic targets quarterly. Low competition keyword research and analytics tools help me build targeted traffic to the site.

3. What Is The Biggest Challenge You Face?

The biggest challenge is finding the everyday content. I like InspirationsWeb to be fresh, new and creative, and that takes a great deal of searching and writing. I've put a lot of emphasis now in the copywriting process. I am looking at building more authority articles––or pillar posts, if you like.

4. How do you stay on top of the cutting edge?

Functionally speaking, the way I stay on top is to keep track of WordPress developments, since InspirationsWeb runs WordPress. I work with editorial workflows. I have implemented an agile processes for research, brainstorming and writing. Apps like Ulysses 3 and Hemingway are also in place to help write great quality content. In terms of content, I follow cool people on the web like David Walsh, Codrops, Smashing Magazine and CSS Tricks. They always share awesome creative front-end and blogging tips.

5. What is your favorite way to interact with viewers of your site?

I have an automated social media sharing script that pushes content daily. At the moment, I'm working on a newsletter to send my readers weekly updates of the best posts.

6. Where do you see the future of blogs heading?

I see blogs of the future as more and more minimalistic. Blogs with cluttered ads everywhere will be gone, and advertising will be integrated in more clever ways with less interference with content. Content will take center stage and I see Google favoring brands and authority websites. The little ad-hoc blogs that do not offer good quality content will disappear. I envision the web as a better source of information with more quality and less noise.

7. What is the mission of your blog?
InspirationsWeb has a clear purpose and mission: To establish itself as an authority blog with great quality content.

8. What makes your blog different?
InspirationsWeb is simple and clear, and you won't see any ads on the homepage. The structure is visual and viewers can intuitively leverage the content by sharing it on social media. Additionally, viewers and bloggers can syndicate the content of InspirationsWeb.