Those who are new to content marketing and are trying to build an audience and attract traffic are probably unaware of the most effective way of building their brand by making the best use of content. According to content marketing experts, the right way of making a great head start is to create a cornerstone content piece.

First, let’s define cornerstone content.

Cornerstone content can be defined as a part of the content that acts as the foundation of your piece and can help you to start building traffic and create brand awareness. This can be achieved by showcasing your offers to your readers. It is important to create cornerstone content that is in sync with your business goals. It can not only help you become an authority in the industry you are operating in but also make it relatively easy for you to attract the right kind of audience, those interested in the kind of products and/or services you are offering.

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Cornerstone content piece must be available to your audience in an open and free to access format. It is not right of you to expect those accessing this content to indulge in some buying activity. Cornerstone content must not and cannot be used for converting your audience. The prime objective of using the content is to create a solid first impression and make people feel positive and good about your brand. It is like creating the right ground and environment for future business.

The Relevance of Cornerstone Content

Cornerstone content is referred to by that name to signify the importance of the content in an article. In a wall work, the cornerstone holds pride of place because of its importance in the whole setup. Just as the cornerstone is indispensable and an essential part of the construction, cornerstone content acts as a support system for the rest of the content.

Cornerstone content should be posted high in the structure of the content. Such type of article must always be on the content pages and, most importantly, be updated regularly. In almost all instances, such content works as information pieces or explainers. At the same, it should not focus on selling your products or services to the reader.

Here’s How You Can Get Started:

Assume the Role of Your Audience:

First, think the way your audience would. Understand and visualize the problems they would face and the answers they would want for resolving those problems. Think of the creative and effective solutions that you can uniquely offer to deal with those problems. This will help you choose the topic for the content accurately.

Providing answers to the possible problems that your audience may face is not enough to achieve success in content management. Spend time on the question and analyze it from all possible angles. Look around and find out if others in the industry are also facing the same problems.

By having a broader view of your market and your audience, you will be able to create compelling cornerstone content that your audience would love to use. Relevant content can resonate with your audience and help you achieve the desired objectives.

Decide on the Format:

You will have to choose a content format that your audience can identify with. It can give your content immediate acceptance among your audience. The kinds of formats that you can consider using are:

How-to-do guide, which is a long form content, aimed at providing valuable information to users on various topics related to content management and marketing.

A powerful and informative video or a series of videos that can answer queries in a detailed step-by-step style.

Reviews type content that can be of real value to users of specific types of products and services.

Research for the Right Keywords:

Keyword research is another important step in creating cornerstone content. You can capture a large traffic if you choose the right set of keywords with the right search volume. There are many advanced keyword research tools available that can help you discover variations of different keywords and phrases. Find out the ones that a large number of people are using while searching for something of their interest on Google or other major and popular search engines.

Plan Your Content Right:

Another important step is deciding whether you want to produce the content in-house using the services of your writers or you want to outsource the project to an expert. You could also opt for a combination of both. For instance, the research part could be done in-house and the writing and the visual parts can be efficiently handled with the help of a third party.

A simple way of ensuring this is to create some milestones and find ways of accomplishing them consistently.

Remember, when it comes to cornerstone content creation, quality is of utmost importance across all the elements of the content. Also, focus on a topic that you are conversant with so that you are able to deliver creative solutions to your visitors.

Pick the best research resources:

Cornerstone content is expected to provide high value to the readers and hence it is obvious that a lot of research must go into creating it. You must choose your resources carefully. Find out the best articles, blogs, and papers on the subject written by the industry’s top brains. If there are many, you will have to skim the list to filter out the best. As mentioned earlier, this could be a time-consuming process but there are no shortcuts to quality output.

Also Read: 5 Key Elements of a Great Content Marketing Plan

Optimizing for Enhanced SEO

If the architecture of your website is SEO-friendly, you are more likely to succeed in your endeavor of reaching out to a larger audience with your content. It is critical that you optimize your content to make it more attractive for premier search engines. This is generally done by stringently sticking to Google updates on content publishing guidelines. Keywords must be used creatively while ensuring that they appear in a smooth flow and are relevant to the content as well.

Also, make sure your primary keyword appears in both the title of the piece and in the URL. Of course, the keywords will also appear in the body of the content but steer clear of keyword stuffing as it can affect the credibility of your content adversely.

Some other steps that can help you in optimizing your content are:

Ensuring Image Optimization.

Offering supplementary texts for video or infographics

Using responsive and interactive forms of data visualization

Optimizing for Social Media:

It is imperative that you make it easy for readers to reach and share your content. This can be done by optimizing your content for social media. Use social media buttons on the content page so that it can be shared with a quick click.

Sustained Promotion:

All your hard work and efforts at creating compelling cornerstone content can come to naught if you do nothing to promote the content. It will not get immediate attention through organic search and that’s why other promotion methods must be pursued to give your content broader reach and exposure. You can use email promotion and social media promotion techniques to get the job done.

If you do all these steps right and with diligence, you can hit your goals with your cornerstone content.