You don’t have 20 minutes to read 4,000 words of my keyword-stuffed bullshit so I’m going to get right to it. Here’s a thought leadership strategy without the fluff.
1 – List your knowledge areas and competencies
What do you know and what can you do well? Set a timer for 30 minutes and go nuts. The deeper you go here, the more effective the rest of the steps will be.
2 – Rank your lists
What area do you have the most knowledge in, and what do you do best? This is your sweet spot. 85% of the content you create revolves around these two things.
3 – Do your research
Make a spreadsheet that tracks all of the thought leaders creating content in your niche. Note what platforms they use and which they spend the most time on. Consume their content daily and get a feel for what resonates with their audience.
4 – Pick three pillar topics
These are the three most important topics within your area of knowledge. Learn this from your time completing step 3, as well as from typing popular industry keywords into Google.
Keywords Everywhere costs $10 for 10,000 credits and has a plugin that shows you search volume and competition for all of your searches.
5 – Brainstorm 10 subtopics for each of your pillar topics
You will write one “pillar” article for each of your most important topics. This article will cover most, if not all, of your 10 subtopics. Then you will zoom in on each subtopic for an article, linking back to the pillar.
Use the 30 minute timer technique for each topic, so 3 30-minute brainstorming sessions in total.
6 – Create frameworks for your pillar articles
Frameworks outline the following:
- Title options
- Primary and secondary keywords
- Subheadings
- Intro and subheading ideation
- Linked research for each subsection
- A bullet list of points to make and information to cover
- The articles on the first page for your keyword
- Questions in the people also ask section
- Spin-off article ideas
7. Create Placeholder Briefs for Your 30 subtopic articles
During the pre-launch of your thought leadership strategy, you just need to have a 2-3 sentence brief on the general point and angle of each spin-off article.
8. Build Your Time Budget and Content Calendar
Figure out how many hours per week you can budget for content creation. Then, figure 20 hours per pillar and 10 hours per subtopic article. Develop a creation frequency that matches your time budget.
If you are like most people I work with as a ghostwriter, lack of education is not your issue. Lack of time is.
You are too busy turning your expertise into execution and don’t have the time to share your wisdom through content.
I extract that wisdom for you and turn it into compelling content.
Your ROI from working with me is more time, and that’s more valuable to you than monetizing your brand directly. Let’s schedule a call so I can explain further.