If content is part of your profession, you need to keep an eye on all aspects. Not just the bit you happen to be responsible for at any given moment. Why?

1. Because these different aspects are glued together and you’ll get asked sooner or later: “But what about X?” Although you could say that’s out of your jurisdiction, that answer won’t get you anywhere nice.
2. Because it’s actually nice to stay up to date about topics that are related to what you do for a living, or for a hobby – like blogging.

As a content enthousiast you’re involved in content creation, content curation, content marketing, or all of them mixed up into a (hopefully) savory stew. What’s the result of putting in your time and energy?

Content curation

• Invest time into: research, figuring out how to assemble pieces into a new piece of content, or what comment to add in order to make the content you find interesting and digestible for your visitors.
• Result: an information-rich website that shows you know the latest about your field of work.
• Potential issue: sounding just like the others if you invest too little of your brain power.

Content creation

• Invest time into: creative process
• Result: full control over the content you publish. Any keyword you want to highlight, well, you’re the boss, you create content that has your keyword as its focal point.
• Potential issue: racking your brain for new ideas, or, if that’s not a problem, simply lacking time to create content that meets your standards.

Blogging means balancing content creation and content curation

I’ve stated on this blog that I view content creation as high-level content curation. In the interest of time, letting go of the idea that every syllable of your blog should be original is the best thing you can do. In the interest of creativity, you should put enough time into your content curation efforts to actually make a difference by adding your expert view of the topic.

Add spice: marketing basics

‘Content marketing’ is probably too popular for its own good and after some reading I’ve decided it’s not what I do. Still, you can gain a lot just by taking into account who you’re blogging for. No, I don’t mean your boss.

Invest time into answering questions like these:

• Who is going to read, view, and hopefully enjoy the content you’ve created or curated?
• What message do you want them to take home after reading? What action would you like them to take?

Your savory blogging stew should (and often does) contain home-grown content, curated content, and indeed a basic understanding of marketing for best results. What other ingredients can you think of that’ll attract hungry visitors?