How to Create
Killer Analogies
By Relating
Anything to
Anything Else
Contents
By Tristan Higbee/BloggingBookshelf.com
Analogies!
2
Step 1: Choose Your Analogs
2
Step 2: List the Characteristics of Analog #2
3
Step 3: Start relating!
4
Step 4: Figure out which points to write about
5
Step 5: Merge and clean up your list
6
Step 6: expound on each point
6
Step 7: make your post even more awesome!
7
The Challenge
8
INTROduction
This ebook was originally posted as an blog post here on Blogging Bookshelf.
This book can be freely distributed but must not be sold or changed in any way.
Please share and tweet about this ebook!
Tweet this ebook!
1
Click here to tweet about this ebook!
Analogies!
Step 1: Choose your
analogs
Life is like a box of chocolate. Writing a book is like carving a jack-o-lantern. Blogging
is like deep sea fishing ( <---More on that one later!).
The first step in creating an amazing analogy is choosing your analogs.
Everyone loves analogies. They’re fun to read, and they make concepts both easier
to understand and easier to relate to. You should include analogies in your blogging
because they can be a big hit with your readers. See my Newton’s 3 Laws of Blogging
post for evidence of that.
The analogs are the two things you’re comparing in your analogy. It definitely helps
if you’re familiar with both of the 2 things, though you really only need to be familiar
with one of them.
What is an analogy?
It helps if your two analogs are the same part of speech (ie: they’re both nouns or
they’re both verbs). It obviously doesn’t sound that great or make sense to say “How
running your blog [noun phrase] is like brown [adjective].” I’ve found that the easiest
way to do this is by using gerunds (nouns derived from -ing forms of verbs, like running, blogging, fishing, etc.).
According to trusty ol’ Wikipedia, an analogy is the “process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject ... to another particular subject.” In other
words, an analogy compares one thing to another.
What makes an analogy good?
Analog #1 – This is what you are [hopefully] already familiar with. It can be your overall niche (ie: blogging tips), or it can be something more specific within your niche
(ie: screencast creation). It could also be a category on your blog (ie: Wordpress) or
something a bit more on the fringe of your niche (ie: CSS customization).
A good analogy surprises you by connecting two things that you normally wouldn’t
have associated together. A good analogy also provides real, applicable knowledge
beyond the entertainment value.
Analog #2 – This is what you’re going to be comparing your familiar subject matter
with.
After reading a good analogy on a blog, you can’t help but leave a comment :)
How should you choose analog #2? Good question. You can choose pretty much
anything, really! Obviously, the better acquainted you are with the subject, the easier it
will be for you to make connections. But you’ll be able to create an analogy even if you
Visit BloggingBookshelf.com for more FREE ebooks and blogging tips.
2
Click here to tweet about this ebook!
only have a basic understanding of the general knowledge about the subject.
• What do I know about analog #2?
• What are the first things that come to your mind?
I’m confident that this whole process works with almost any 2 items or subjects, so
• How does it do what it does?
don’t spend too much time fretting over what you want to write about.
• How does it feel to be involved with analog #2?
Step 2: List the
characteristics of
analog #2
• What questions do you have about it?
• How do you feel when you look at it?
Ok, maybe that doesn’t quite make sense yet, but here’s an example of what I’m talking
about. Let’s say I want to compare blogging to deep sea fishing (I have been fishing
once in my life, I don’t enjoy it, I really don’t know much about it, and I’ve never even
come close to deep sea fishing before).
Here are some things I brainstormed about deep sea fishing:
Now that you know what you’re going to be comparing, the fun begins! We’re going
to sidestep analog #1 (the niche thing you’re familiar with) for a minute and focus on
analog #2 (what you’re comparing your niche thing to).
• It’s sometimes hard to reel a big fish in. It can take hours.
• It can be hard to actually get the fish into the boat.
• To go deep sea fishing, you need a big boat and a heavy-duty rod and reel.
This step involves brainstorming a list of the characteristics of analog #2. Write down
as much as you can about it. Here’s a list of ideas (note that not all of them will be applicable to your subject, but some will):
• It seems like something that rich business men do.
• It can be dangerous if the weather is bad.
• You need to have some kind of bait at the end of your line.
• What are the components of analog #2?
• Fish are tasty.
• What does analog #2 do?
• What is analog #2’s purpose?
• My roommates went deep sea fishing in Florida once, but they didn’t catch anything.
• How is it used?
• How deep is “deep” sea fishing?
• How is it made?
• You should probably go with people who know what they’re doing, especially
with an experienced boater.
• What’s the effect once you’re done with it?
Visit BloggingBookshelf.com for more FREE ebooks and blogging tips.
3
Click here to tweet about this ebook!
»» What are some storms or waves that can sink your blog in the blogosphere?
• You’ll need a guide to know where to go fishing.
• You need to have some kind of bait at the end of your line.
That’s pretty much all I could come up with off the top of my head. Once you’ve brainstormed for a few minutes (you don’t really need to do it for longer than that) or until
you’ve got a solid little list, move on to the next step.
»» What incentives do people have to comment or subscribe?
• Fish are tasty.
»» Success with your blog tastes great.
Step 3: Start relating!
• My roommates went deep sea fishing in Florida once. They didn’t catch anything, but they still had fun.
»» Some people don’t succeed with their blogs, but that doesn’t mean it was a
waste of time.
This is where everything starts to come together, but it’s also the hardest step for me
to describe. Go down your list one by one and ask yourself how that point or question
relates to your niche topic. Maybe try rewriting the point to make it apply. Here are
examples with the deep sea fishing/blogging example:
• How deep is “deep” sea fishing?
»» Uh... Again, I can’t really think of anything for this one.
• You should probably go with people who know what they’re doing, especially
with an experienced boater.
• It’s sometimes hard to reel in a big fish. It can take hours.
»» It can be hard to reel your readers in. You need catchy headlines, a nice
design, etc.
»» Ask experienced bloggers for help when you need it.
• You’ll need a guide to know where to go fishing.
• It can be hard to actually get the fish into the boat.
»» You’ll need to figure out where to go to attract new blog readers.
»» It can be hard to get your readers to subscribe once you’ve landed them on
your blog.
Pretty cool, huh?! We’re on fire, so let’s keep going!
• To go deep sea fishing, you need a big boat and a heavy-duty rod and reel.
»» You need the right platform to blog from (like WordPress).
»» To blog successfully, you need the right equipment. This includes hosting, a
domain name, etc.
• It seems like something that rich business men do.
»» Uh... I got nothing for this one.
• It can be dangerous if the weather is bad.
Visit BloggingBookshelf.com for more FREE ebooks and blogging tips.
4
Click here to tweet about this ebook!
Step 4: Figure out which
points you want to write
about
»» What are some storms or waves that can sink your blog in the blogosphere?
• You need to have some kind of bait at the end of your line.
»» What incentives do people have to comment or subscribe?
• Fish are tasty.
»» Success with your blog tastes great.
• My roommates went deep sea fishing in Florida once. They didn’t catch anything, but they still had fun.
This one doesn’t require too much explanation. Go over the list you made in step 3,
pick the ones that you feel are most powerful/useful/interesting/funny/whatever, and
get rid of the rest.
»» Some people don’t succeed with their blogs, but that doesn’t mean it was a
waste of time.
• How deep is “deep” sea fishing?
Here’s my edited list (the ones I don’t want to write about are crossed out):
»» Uh... Again, I can’t really think of anything for this one.
• It’s sometimes hard to reel in a big fish. It can take hours.
• You should probably go with people who know what they’re doing, especially
with an experienced boater.
»» It can be hard to reel your readers in. You need catchy headlines, a nice
design, etc.
»» Ask experienced bloggers for help when you need it.
• It can be hard to actually get the fish into the boat.
• You’ll need a guide to know where to go fishing.
»» It can be hard to get your readers to subscribe once you’ve landed them on
your blog.
»» You’ll need to figure out where to go to attract new blog readers.
• To go deep sea fishing, you need a big boat and a heavy-duty rod and reel.
So that means I’ve wound up with this list of 7 points. Great! Onward!
»» You need the right platform to blog from (like WordPress).
»» To blog successfully, you need the right equipment. This includes hosting, a
domain name, etc.
• It seems like something that rich business men do.
»» Uh... I got nothing for this one.
• It can be dangerous if the weather is bad.
Visit BloggingBookshelf.com for more FREE ebooks and blogging tips.
5
Click here to tweet about this ebook!
Step 5: Merge and clean up Step 6: Expound on each
your list
point
Now that you’ve got a rough idea of what you can and can’t write about, you need
to clean things up a little bit. Take each pair of bullet points and combine it into one
main idea. Then clean it up so that is sounds good and makes you want to read about
it. This will be your subhead for each point in your post. You might end up splicing a
point into two points or changing the main idea slightly to make more of an impact.
Example:
Now that you’ve got all of the points you’re going to be addressing, you’ve got to write
a paragraph or two about each point. I’m not going to go into much detail about that
here because it’ll be different for everyone writing.
I will say, though, that I usually start off the first paragraph under each point with a sentence or two about analog #2.
For example, let’s say I’m writing the paragraph under the “Go out in the right boat”
heading. Maybe my first few sentences under that heading would read like this:
• It’s hard to reel the fish in.
• It’s hard to get the fish in the boat.
• Go out in the right boat.
You wouldn’t go deep sea fishing in an inflatable pool toy or cheap aluminum dinghy.
Similarly, you don’t want to head out to sea in the blogosphere on a platform that won’t
support your blog. Blogger is great for blogging hobbyists, but anyone serious about
blogging should use WordPress.org.
• Have the right gear.
• Have the right bait.
• Success tastes great.
• Failure is still fun.
Get it? Good!
• Fish where the fish are. And guess what? Now I have a freaking sweet list of 8
ways blogging is like deep sea fishing!
What else is there to do?
Visit BloggingBookshelf.com for more FREE ebooks and blogging tips.
6
Click here to tweet about this ebook!
Step 7: Make your post even
MORE awesome!
Make your post a list post
Instead of your post’s headline being something like “How Blogging is Like Deep Sea
Fishing,” make it “8 Ways Blogging is Like Deep Sea Fishing.” List posts are just awesome. ‘Nuff said.
I’m going to assume that you can write a good intro and conclusion for your amazing
analogy post (if not, say so in the comments and I can address those in future posts).
So with all of that, you’re done, right? Well, yes and no.
Throw in a kicker!
You really want to make that headline sizzle? Throw in a kicker! This is anything else in
the headline that could compel people to click and read more. In this post, I use “(plus
some deep sea fishing)” to pique people’s interest and make them curious enough to
read more.
Play with the list order
Order the items in your list so that they make the most sense. In my deep sea fishing
example, I currently have “It’s hard to reel the fish in” listed before “Go out in the right
boat.” But that kind of irks me. You obviously have to go out in the boat BEFORE you
even catch anything! So here’s my revised order:
For our deep sea/blogging example, maybe our headline could be “8 Ways Blogging is
Like Deep Sea Fishing, Plus How to Save a Sinking Blog.” Or “8 Ways Blogging is Like
Deep Sea Fishing and Why You Should Care.”
1. Have the right gear.
2. Go out in the right boat.
I’ll probably cover kickers in more depth in a future post.
3. Fish where the fish are.
4. Have the right bait.
5. It’s hard to reel the fish in.
6. It’s hard to get the fish in the boat.
7. Success tastes great.
8. Failure is still fun.
You’ll notice that everything is ordered more or less chronologically. This might not
matter in some analogies, but it could really tighten everything up in others.
Visit BloggingBookshelf.com for more FREE ebooks and blogging tips.
7
Click here to tweet about this ebook!
The challenge
I think that pretty much covers it. If you made it through these 2,200+ words, major
props to you. And if you spent all that time reading this post, it would be a shame if
you didn’t put what you read into practice.
So here’s a challenge: Use what you read in this post as a blueprint for your own
analogy post. If it doesn’t quite fit in with your blog, do it as a guest post on someone
else’s blog. Or just do it for yourself to get better at writing.
Once you’ve published your post, email me or leave a comment on the blog and
I’ll put a link to in this section of the blog post. (And if you want to link back here,
too, that’d be appreciated but definitely not required :) I’ll link to a couple of mine first
to help give you ideas, and any links to yours will come after:
(Note: I won’t link to any that you’ve already written!)
Newton’s 3 Laws of... Blogging?
Your Blog Is Your Baby. Treat It Like One. (Guest post on BasicBlogTips.com)
Good luck!
- Tristan
Visit BloggingBookshelf.com for more FREE ebooks and blogging tips.
8