About a month or so ago, I signed up for Stan Smith, author of Pushing Social’s Blog Review. It was probably the best $47 I have spent in awhile. (if you haven’t done it and you have a blog, I highly suggest you contact Stan today) Now while Stan didn’t praise my blog 100%, he gave me some great foresight into how I could make it better and I’m going to dedicate myself to doing just that.
I started this blog about a year ago after I got laid off. I knew that I loved content and inbound marketing and knew I had the knowledge and how-to’s that other marketers craved. I didn’t start The Content Cocktail to sell anything. I started it because I wanted to share what I know with the intent that you would either run with it or it would spark some unique ideas of your own.
We have come a long way baby!
As you all know, the field of content marketing is competitive. There are already numerous, highly acclaimed ‘voices’ in the industry who know it a lot more than I do, so what can I bring to the table? Today I am going to share with you some of my ideas and formulate some structure to this blog so that I am constantly providing value to you, my readers, because that is what I want to do.
Posts Based on Search Terms
I’m kicking this off with a post about how to do this for yourself. Without getting into it too heavily here, your search terms are a really cool and easy way to not only get ideas for content but to satisfy what people are searching for. So each week, I will have a post based on a search term that drove someone to my site.
Thirsty Thursday Video
You asked for it so you’re getting it; more video!! I want to do more video, I just need more structure around what the videos are and create a theme. Thirsty Thursday seems appropriate considering. 
Unconventional Ways to Think About Creating Original Content
An idea I got from Stanford was how to think about my approach to content marketing. I clearly have a passion for it but I don’t want to replicate what is already being done – and being done very well I may add. Then I read this study today that shows the #1 problem marketers face is their inability to create original content. So each week I will dedicate a post to help you create original content and how to go about doing so.
How does this sound? Appreciate your feedback because you are the one I want to reach with this blog. Thanks for being here!
Hi Christina!
Congratulations on your newest directions :p
Stanford Smith is one of the few bloggers I read religiously. There is always tasty tips throughout his posts…
I would say that the biggest asset you possess, other than the expertise you have, is YOU. Wrap your content with your personality and you’ll have no competition for your services packaged and delivered any other way!
I’m looking forward to seeing your blog progress… I’ll be paying close attention : )
Cheers!
@Mark_Harai Hey thanks Mark! I will try to incorporate more of ME in this blog which is one reason I am doing more videos and I am going to try and use more personal photos in these posts in lieu of generic images everyone sees everywhere.
Looking forward to seeing more of you
It’s always a good idea to take a look at what’s working Christina – and what isn’t. It’s on my list, the one I haven’t gotten done yet. I know there’s some ‘there’ there w/ my blog, but making it work – work for the business – is the challenge. I could write about anything; a friend suggested even some travel tips for hits, traffic – but that kind of off-topic post, don’t think it’d do me any favors. I need THIS – more targeted keywords, more video, more ways to create – and then promote – original content. Work in progress, always. Good luck.. look forward to seeing what you do. FWIW.
@3HatsComm You should get in touch with Stan! It’s a great opportunity to not only reflect on why ti is you blog in the first place, but set goals and get an outside look into how to make them a reality.
Thanks so much! This is going to be fun!
@C_Pappas Biggest challenge for me is the backend platform; my blog is WordPress but since my whole site isn’t, I’m losing out on a lot of natural, inbound SEO juju. Once I find a theme I can work with, edit (per what little code I know) and FINALLY move my whole site over, that’ll be a big part of the battle.
The next, per our other conversation, is traffic – the right kind, the audience we have vs. the one we want/need conundrum. I am considering content shifts here and there that are more in line with attracting those kind of readers to my little community.
@3HatsComm Hmmm. Have you checked out the Genesis themes? I find these extremely flexible and you can do everything. Find an awesome host and you can easily marry the two – problem may be choosing the domain since you probably have two right now. Let me know how I can help!
@C_Pappas I’ve already got a site host, keeping my domain, know of Genesis, Headway, Page Lines themes – just not sure of the investment/return vs. DIY. We’ll see.
Congrats, Christine, on the new direction. Looking forward to the results.
Pushing Social sounds really interesting, and perhaps it’s time to think about getting someone to look at what I’m doing and what I could tweak. (Yeah, video is in there, I know…) Would love to chat with you about your experience if you have a few minutes.
Congrats, Christina, on the new direction. Looking forward to the results.
Pushing Social sounds really interesting, and perhaps it’s time to think about getting someone to look at what I’m doing and what I could tweak. (Yeah, video is in there, I know…) Would love to chat with you about your experience if you have a few minutes.
(PS: Yes, I had to delete & repost my comment. Couldn’t mis-type your name now, could I?)
@dariasteigman Absolutely! Send me an email or DM.