Start by listening to the replay of this month’s meeting.

The image below shows my web traffic since the inception of theWordChef.com. Peak traffic days are explained as well as top visited pages:

google analytics sample

(Click the image to see a larger version)

As I noted during our meeting, my initial content strategy centered around my manifesto and explaining each of the items in separate, in-depth blog posts. Over the course of a year, I accumulated enough relevant blog posts to create a book (Attract and Feed a Hungry Crowd — if you haven’t read this yet and would like a free PDF copy, please let me know and I’ll send it to you via email.)

The manifesto was the basis for a LOT of content. More than just blog posts, I also created a slide show and a poster, as well as individual images (with quotes) to share on social media.

Once I felt I could move on from the manifesto, my content strategy centered around establishing my authority with regard to branding. I created the Find Your Secret Sauce class (and workbook) and blogged extensively about branding. The best of those posts have been gathered on one page on my site; and I have plans to put all of this into a book as well.

The next layer of my content strategy onion involved a market research project. That project had these two goals:

  • Build my email list (via responses)
  • Build my authority around the research topic (digital marketing and solo biz owners)

It accomplished both. I nearly doubled the size of my email list via this project (adding somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 new folks) AND was able to share the results far and wide through guest posts, webinars and a downloadable report.

One of my next business goals was to figure out how to create a completely engaged online class where every participant completed their assignments and made real progress. (I’d been able to accomplish this in my in-person classes, but struggle with this online.)

That led to the creation of Prosperity’s Kitchen and most of my focus then shifted to building that site’s content and reach. I started with the manifesto (as before) and blogged about each of those points as a way to better explain my “soap box.”

After PK, I turned the focus back on my Word Chef site and began to talk again about online learning, accountability and helping other make (real) progress. Because of life circumstances (e.g., my health and my recent move to Portland), the content created during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of this year hasn’t been as focused (or as frequent) — and it shows!

This final quarter, I’ve outlined the following topic areas as a way to expand further on my theme:

Main Theme: Relationships are at the Core of Our Biz Growth and Success

Types of biz relationships: Mentor/Coach; Clients; Tribe; Peers/Colleagues; Masterminds

With blog post ideas (or other content forms like slide shows, audio/podcasts, etc.):

1. Mentor/Coach

  • Healthy vs. Unhealthy relationships
  • What it’s like to work with a coach
  • What to look for in a mentor
  • What to look for in a coach (qualifications, pricing, guarantees)
  • How to ask someone to mentor you

2. Your Tribe

  • Emails that get opened and spark real conversations
  • The importance of creating two-way conversations
  • Promoting them (guest posts, social media, email, blog spotlights)
  • Surveys and Other Tools that help you get to know each other better

3. Your Clients

  • Gratitude and giving back
  • Communication that keeps things running smoothly
  • Commitments and Follow Through (you AND them)
  • Promoting your clients
  • Getting and Giving testimonials

4. Peers & Colleagues

  • Finding and connecting with the right people
  • Creating a group when you can’t find the right one to join
  • In-person vs. digital
  • Taking the relationship further (group project, joint ventures)

5. Masterminds

  • Finding the right group (or building your own)
  • Paid vs. Unpaid
  • Bumps in the road and how to cope
  • Going all in
  • The natural growth and death of a mastermind group

Each piece of content I create will circle back around to the Digital Dining Room sales page (either overtly as the call-to-action or in passing as a link within the post). This helps me make sure my content explicitly serves my business goal this quarter: to build membership within the DDR program. It also allows me to “talk” about what I’m doing and share my offering without approaching it from a pure sales point-of-view.

Because I only plan to blog once or twice each week, I have more than enough ideas here to fill my own calendar. I can use the “extra” ideas for guest posts elsewhere and/or repurpose some of these into emails, social media posts, etc.

Was there something here that you’d like me to explain further? If so, please leave a comment below or post your question in our Facebook group.

And remember, your Test Kitchen projects are due a week, from today. I’ve created a forum topic called “Content Strategy” where you should post your outlines and explanations.