Letter #29: How to differentiate content to win readers and search rankings
Expert interview on writing results-driving thought leadership content.
Hiya fellas,
How’s the week treating you?
I’ve been seeing A LOT of questions on making content unique. So I took that as a sign from the universe on the next topic for this newsletter :D
And here we are with insights from Marc Thomas, the Head of Growth at Powered by Search who has the answer to being unique by creating thought leadership content.
Marc says thought leadership content helps B2B SaaS content stand out in the sea of sameness, rank well, and offers a good opportunity to spotlight your product as the solution readers need.
With that in mind, I asked Marc our regular questions:
A mistake that Marc’s made when creating thought leadership content.
An actionable tip to get you one step closer to creating better content.
And, a secret tip to level up today.
Let’s dig in.
👉 Learn from Marc’s mistake: Not thinking about writing for search at all.
Says Marc; “It’s easy to be a purist and ‘just write for the customer,’ but if an article gets published on the internet and no one’s around to see it… does it really matter at all how good the content is?”
In fact [🚨 tweet-worthy quote alert 🚨]:
“Not thinking about how search engines are going to see your content is just as bad as only thinking about that.”
👉 Do this today: “Don’t start working on a piece until you’ve spoken to an expert and asked them questions that you can’t immediately answer with a google search.”
“It’s this kind of foundational work that separates poor quality content from great thought leadership content.”
👉 The secret tip to create awesome thought leadership content: Step back and think: “how would I talk about this if I wanted to hold someone’s attention at a party?”
“Rather than diving into problem > agitation > solution, why not weave in an interesting narrative arc too?” Marc points out.
“What story – seemingly tangential to your topic – illustrates the point you’re about to make and can act as a hook? Tell that first.”
To learn more about creating narrative story arcs, Marc recommends reading Michael Lewis’ books.
“He’s not writing thought leadership, but he’s a master of weaving interesting stories into narrative arcs that get strong points across,” shares Marc.
“I had never been riveted by the day-to-day operations of the American government’s public bodies before I read his book, The Fifth Risk. But I couldn’t put it down. Wouldn’t you like to produce content that people can’t put down?”
That’s all for what makes ridiculously good content this week!
Read a thought leadership piece you loved? Share it with me.
Cheers,
Masooma