MWM ask the expert
MWM 17
7 Steps To Creating Cornerstone Evergreen Articles that Google Loves Cornerstone content is the best, most important article(s) on your website. These are the posts you make to rank high in the search engines and look like the authority you are. Your goal when writing one of these articles is to provide the best and most complete information on your topic. Your goal isn’t to sell, at least not right away. You want to present yourself and your website as THE authority on your topic, the one readers turn to for solid information and advice. With the right cornerstone content, you can raise brand awareness and possibly achieve high rankings in the SERPs bringing you free traffic. You build natural links from other pages on your site, from social media channels and from external sources. You position yourself as an authority in your business and you increase trust in your brand and your products. And you also attract prospects who can be nurtured into new customers And while these cornerstone content articles are usually long and super informative, and combine insights from other blog posts and sources, don’t be intimidated into thinking it’s beyond your abilities to create this kind of content. You can do it, and here’s how: 1: Pick Your Topic Here are three questions to consider when choosing your topic: Does it align with your business and will it attract your ideal customers? For example, if your niche is stock investing, you’re not going to write a cornerstone article about buying a home. What would make your customer’s life easier if only someone would explain it in detail? Your ideal customers need to be actively searching for and craving the information you’re going to give them. Does it interest you? You’re going to be devoting some significant time to researching, writing and optimizing this content. If the topic bores you, you can still write about it but know that it’s going to be far more difficult than if it’s something you’re excited about. 2: Do Your Research Hopefully you know your customer inside and out. You know what they want to know, what keeps them awake at night, and what would improve their lives. Now you’re going to become an expert in this topic. Talk to existing customers and find out what exactly they want to know about your topic. What are their pain points? Read posts on the topic, books, interviews and so forth. Take copious notes and plan to quote experts and sources whenever you can. Use your own examples, stats, stories and experiences when possible, combining what you know with what you gather from other sources.
