The 7 Essentials of Idea Dashboard Success show how to use mind maps to track content ideas.

Authors, business owners, and content marketing professionals need an easy way to track the dozens of good ideas found every day in articles, blog posts, &  social media.

The problem, today, isn’t a lack of good ideas!

The problem is a lack of an efficient way to cope with the overabundance of ideas we encounter each day!

How much is a good idea worth to you?

A single good idea can mean money in your pocket, but, only if you can access it later–when you need it!

An idea for an article, series of blog posts, book, speech, or online event, can change everything… sparking fresh perspectives and dozens of follow-up opportunities for content marketing success.

You can’t control when or where you’ll come up with, or encounter, a good idea!

But, you can control whether or not you save the idea in a way that lets you return to it later and put it to work.

Idea dashboard benefits

An idea dashboard can help you:

• Capture good ideas so you can use them when you need them.
• Analyze and learn from the experts who attract the followers you wish you had.
• Become more selective in how you spend your time online.

What is an idea dashboard?

An idea dashboard is simply an easy way to track ideas before you can start to write. A successful idea dashboard satisfies the following 7 essentials:

1. Simple. Your idea dashboard has to be simple; if it’s not simple, it’s unlikely to be consistently used. Your idea dashboard must be easy to set up, easy to add new ideas on a daily basis, and easy to review at a later date.
2. Accessible. You need universal access to your idea dashboard. You must be able to add and track ideas wherever you are, at home, office, or while traveling.
3. Visual. Your idea dashboard has to stimulate more than one of your senses. You have to be able to add graphics to aid recognition, organization, and locating ideas later.
4. Accommodating. You must be able to add ideas in a variety of formats, including short form text (i.e., words and phrases), extended text (sentences, paragraphs, lists, quotations, etc.), URLs, and graphics (photos, logos, & screen shots).
5. Searchable. You must be able to quickly locate previously-saved ideas without endlessly scrolling through reams of data. You should be able to search for ideas based on multiple criteria, i.e., topics, categories, sources, or tags.
6. Exportable. You should be able to share ideas in your dashboard with others and be able to export ideas to other software programs for editing and formatting.
7. Flexible. Since your idea dashboard needs are likely to change over time, you need to be able to revise the structure of your dashboard and archive ideas you’re less likely to need.

Although mind mapping software, like Mindjet’s MindManager, make it easy to create a powerful idea dashboard with Macintosh, Windows, iPhones, iPads, and Android mobile devices, there are additional options. The main idea is to get started as soon as possible.

To learn more about idea dashboards

To learn more using about setting up an idea dashboard to track writing and content marketing ideas, attend my October Idea Dashboard Intensive. Learn more about your options and what’s involved setting up an efficient, growable  system to save time tracking and accessing ideas for articles, blog posts, books, and content marketing. Details and Early Bird Savings here.