How to Leverage Your Cornerstone Content to Expand Your Reputation
Is it time to overhaul your content strategy? You don't have to start all over again from scratch.
If you have content lying around on your hard drive, you can brush it up and leverage it to build your audience. The first step is to choose your best "cornerstone content.”
What Is Cornerstone Content?
Your cornerstone content is essentially your “greatest hits.” This is the material you want people to see first when they encounter you online. It best demonstrates the value you have to offer your audience.
You need to identify these pieces because they're the most effective in helping you achieve your business goals. They have the most significant impact, and that’s why you need them in critical areas of your marketing.
How to Choose Cornerstone Content
Your greatest hits are pieces you'd like to appear at the top of the search engines when someone enters your chosen keywords. Think of this as your “start here” material.
This content should be evergreen, meaning it won't become dated over time. Choose pieces that will still be relevant this time next year. Don't use content that focuses on timely issues.
Your cornerstone material should be general because you're trying to cast your net wide. Still, it should tackle a particular problem your audience faces and give them actionable steps to help solve it. If someone reads your work and sees results, this is very powerful for getting them to check you out and see what else you have to offer.
It helps if this material is unique from the offerings of other content creators. Try to find something that takes a unique angle or offers something no one else does.
If the work is already published, choose something that received significant engagement.
Most importantly, the content you use must reflect what you most want to be known for going forward. Define your core areas of expertise and focus on these when preparing content. Then develop a content strategy around them.
How to Use Your Cornerstone Content
How you'll use this material depends on your business goals, but some examples would be:
- Posting on other sites with backlinks to bring new people to your site.
- As the front piece to your blog or site: it's the first thing people see when they arrive there. It can then lead to similar or more specific content.
- A free offer, like a free report, entices people to sign up for your list or follow you on social media.
Remember that this content may not be text-based, but it could also be a video, podcast, cheat sheet, resource guide, or webinar.
Do you want to know more about making your existing content work for you?
