If you found this useful, there's more information on building topic clusters (plus a template to work with) when you purchase the 10x topic authority course.
What are the first steps to take when planning a content strategy or building briefs?
On a fundamental level, I believe the first parts of building a successful content strategy and by extension content briefs include:
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✅ Knowing the definition of success for the buyer. In other words, how does your buyer define success? Getting this answer right ensures you're optimizing for the user's intent and providing useful content.
✅ I try to answer this question in the overview.
Read a couple of content pieces ranking on SERP. Then, read some threads on Quora and Reddit around the search query.
I've created 63 content briefs in 2022. The biggest dilemmas I face when creating them include:
What to cover as subheadings?
What goes in H2 and H3?
Should I add an FAQ?
When do we need video or infographics?
Where is the gap and how do we make this content stand out?
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1. Deciding what to cover as a subheading
Look through the top 15 content pieces on SERP. What are the recurring questions everyone is answering? That's usually a good idea of what to cover as subheadings.
I prioritize subheadings that offer an opportunity to discuss the client's use case or those I think are the biggest problems and flow down from there.
This is probably gonna be one the best threads you'll see about internal and external linking
I'll be answering these questions and sharing my strategy 👇
What is the ideal number of internal and external links to add to each blog post?
Who should you link to externally?
What is the thought process that goes into adding internal links to a piece?
How do you determine anchor text for links?
On a recent podcast with Erin Balsa, I said that most of the hard work of creating great content happens in the planning stage and by extension, the content brief.
How to fall in love with a brand before creating content assets for them
A thread🧵
There's a lot of groundwork that happens before building content briefs
The first thing to do is to take time to understand the brand and its story
I call this the first step in planning - falling in love with the brand and becoming an advocate.
I can do this by taking the time to learn about:
- Why the founders created the brand
- The biggest problems they face
- Their personal experiences with the problem
- Existing solutions
- The problems with existing solutions