5 Reasons Why Homemade Onion Rings Are Like Original Content?

Photos of Raul Colon Web Developer Puerto Rico

I don’t eat many fried items in my diet since I became vegetarian (most places fry meat, seafood, and vegetables all together).

I only eat fried items at a few selected family members places and my own. A few weeks ago @lucymfel decided to make some homemade onion rings. Oh my God I can’t even start describing how awesome they where. Then I realized I had been eating frozen onion rings all of my life. I had never eaten a freshly made Onion Ring.

The experience and taste that each and every Onion Ring offered me was a once in a lifetime experience. (you might feel I am exaggerating but that is who I felt).

This made me think why so many restaurants locally I visit are always looking for the easy way to serve you food by cutting corners and expenses.I have been to many places where I really like something and later find out I can buy it at bulk in Costco or some other supermarket.

The whole reason of visiting a Restaurant is to get a unique experience out of something, an experience tied to something important as eating the food you love prepared in a unique way. I think the same thing can happen with websites and blogs. When the content is not original or is a regurgitation of what someone else said or wrote somewhere else, it can be disappointing. It stops being inviting.

So here are the 5 Reasons Why Homemade Onion Rings Are Like Original Content:

Picking the Onion. The same way you get to pick your onions or produce and pick the best before preparing them. By creating original content you get to pick and choose which ideas, words, phrases, videos, and images you can use to communicate your message. If you picked a good onion the probability of getting a a good onion ring increases, the same with picking the great simple items that make up a paragraph or post it can turn into an awesome post.

Choosing complementing ingredients. To create an Onion Ring you have to choose other ingredients that complement it and make it one. By having the opportunity to choose the breading you prefer (in my case panko, makes them crunchier and less oily), healthier oil to fry them in, in some cases your favorite beer, and any other ingredient that gives it a touch of you. When you create content it is important to give it a touch of who you are. Give it a taste of your interests and your point of view. You can complement your point of view with that of others that help you with dispersing the message you want to convey.

Preparation of Onion Rings. You decide how much salt or pepper to include. How long will let you let them fry? You have full control of what you are creating and have no restrictions on how it should be done. When using content that comes from somewhere else there are many restrictions on what you can do depending on the rights attached to the content.

Distributing the Onion Rings. If your Onion rings taste great you decide who to share them with. If they did get the right flavor  you can easily discard them and start a new batch. When content is original and created by you its your decision if you are  going to distribute it and you establish the rules. If you wish to share the content make sure you can get your Creative Commons License at http://creativecommons.org. If it did not come out like you wanted it to you can always edit and modify until you get exactly what you wanted.

Receiving Recognition. If you where successful in creating awesome tasty onion rings (like @lucymfel) you will get recognition by people talking about how great they where ( I even created a blog post about it). You might have people trying to find out when the next batch of Onion Rings will be made so they can come visit. When you create great content people will stick around, spread the word, and want more.

What content are you feeding your audience? Is it Fresh? Is it Original?

What other benefits do you see towards creating Original Content?

I recommend a great book to read on the importance of original and overall content is Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series)Photos of Raul Colon Web Developer Puerto Rico (affiliate link).

20 Comments

  1. Sean Pifher on January 19, 2011 at 7:03 am

    Original and Thought-Provoking Raul! Brilliant



    • Raul Colon on January 19, 2011 at 12:32 pm

      I appreciate that someone like you that I admire so much visits my blog, reads it, comments, and is so kind to leave such great compliments thanks a lot.



  2. Lucilla Feliciano on January 19, 2011 at 11:31 am

    Sean you can come over for onion rings anytime.
    Thanks for the compliment Raul. The idea of fresh food and fresh content aligns with how you think about business.



  3. Anonymous on January 19, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    This is probably the most compelling book review headline to date! Thanks, Raul… LOL!!

    Also, now I’m craving onion rings….



    • Raul Colon on January 19, 2011 at 6:56 pm

      Ann,

      I am so excited you read my post and commented. You guys did a great job on that book. I did a formal book review and after seing @unmarketing’s Awesome Review I had to look for a fun way to share some of the great things that I learned reading your book. Thanks again for such a great book.

      I really appreciate when the author gives me a lot more than what I expected.

      A warm hug from Puerto Rico!



    • Raul Colon on February 9, 2011 at 3:42 pm

      Ann,

      I am going to be presenting a presentation related to this post and the importance of content will be also recommending your book at San Juan Barcamp. I was wondering if I could send a book your way and you can sign it and dedicate to the person that wins the book. Let me know what you think! https://raulcolon.net/contact/



    • Raul Colon on February 9, 2011 at 3:42 pm

      Ann,

      I am going to be presenting a presentation related to this post and the importance of content will be also recommending your book at San Juan Barcamp. I was wondering if I could send a book your way and you can sign it and dedicate to the person that wins the book. Let me know what you think! https://raulcolon.net/contact/



      • Anonymous on February 9, 2011 at 7:25 pm

        Absolutely! Thank you!



  4. Louis Pagan on January 19, 2011 at 9:26 pm

    I’ll never post on my blog the same…



    • Raul Colon on January 20, 2011 at 12:48 am

      Please Explain!!! LOL



  5. Gamal on January 20, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    Very insightful



    • Raul Colon on January 22, 2011 at 12:05 am

      Gamal.. Thanks for visiting.



  6. Prometeo on January 22, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    This is the first time I see an entry about originality that is actually original. Great post!



    • Prometeo on January 22, 2011 at 4:01 pm

      …and now I want to eat Onion Rings.



      • Raul Colon on January 22, 2011 at 4:13 pm

        You are going to have to come down to St. Isabel to have some.. That picture was taken yesterday we also made fried pickles.



  7. Siluz_pr on January 23, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Muy interesante y original la analogía. Mi hija me estaba el otro día recordando que hace tiempo no hacía “onion rings” y al ver este enlace en la página de Prometeo me estuvo curioso. ¡Muy bueno!



    • Raul Colon on January 23, 2011 at 6:50 pm

      Siluz,

      Nosotros lo intentamos hace varias semanas y no nos arrepentimos en estos dias intentamos usar pepinillos fritos tambien.

      Gracias por visitar y mas gracias por comentar. Un abrazo!



  8. Raul Ramos y Sanchez on January 25, 2011 at 4:37 pm

    Raul, your article is tasty in a number of ways. From a food perspective, I learned that there is a healthy way to make onion rings. I also learned more about the uses of Creative Commons. So the post was a double treat.



    • Raul Colon on January 25, 2011 at 10:20 pm

      Raul, I tried to make them look healthy, at least I convinced myself that they are :).

      I learned about the Creative Commons a few months back in a very interesting article which I will try to find for you.

      Thanks for reading and leaving me such great compliments.



  9. Ags on July 25, 2011 at 4:02 pm

    Love this analogy. Will have to read this book!