You know you’re an expert. Your repeat customers know you’re an expert. 

The challenge is to convince the rest of the world that you’re an expert, and that the service you provide or the product you sell is worthy of their time.

By now you’ve probably secured a domain name and published a website. That’s your corner of the web to dictate. No one else can touch it, and you have complete control over the content that goes on it. 

Most likely you’ve got bags of experience in your field and, with a strong desire to work for yourself, became your own boss. Well done, you! You might have assembled a talented team to support you or you’re shining bright as a solopreneur. 

Whatever your journey was, positioning yourself as the go-to-expert in your field can help support your brand’s message and contribute to the success of your business. 

So let’s get started.

Write What You Know

Have you ever come across an online article and thought — this person doesn’t have a clue what they’re talking about? Instantly, any trust is shattered that you had for the author, and the website the article is on. 

If you didn’t buy what they were saying, you’re certainly not going to buy what they’re selling. 

To become an authoritative voice and a trusted expert in your field, choose to write what you know. 

If you’re a baker, you might be expected to write about baking, oven brands or the latest piping nozzles. If you’re an expert on personal finance, don’t start lecturing on astronomy. 

Be authentic. Don’t try and pretend you know something when you don’t. 

Continue educating yourself in your field — there’s always new information out there. Keep abreast of the news in your industry by following thought leaders on social media, taking online classes, attending conferences, and workshops.

In writing what you know and in a passionate authentic way, you’ll capture the interest of your audience.

Find out What Your Customers Need to Know

Think about your current and future customers. What is it that they want to read about? 

Get to know them. Immerse yourself in their world. Sign up for web forums, review sites, social media groups, and start playing the role of an undercover detective. Find out everything you can and save it in a notebook or on your computer. 

Once you truly know them, it becomes easier to write for them. 

Sift through past communications with your customers. Do the same issues keep cropping up? What language are they using to describe their problems? Can you answer these questions, and use their language?

Uncovering their pain points will help you shape the way that your company communicates, as well as help you position yourself as a dependable resource for any questions they may have.

This fundamental research will not only help you to create content they want to read, but it will also help you find out where to write to reach them. 

Write Evergreen Content for Your Website

Just like the trees that stay green all year round, evergreen content remains relevant and fresh to your customers, regardless of when it was first published.  

Now you have built up a clear picture of your customers in your head, it’s easy to come up with article subjects that reflect the problems that they have. 

The key is… keywords. Do some research and identify the search terms that people might use to end up on your website. 

Try asking some questions related to your field in Google. Or, for a clearer picture check out AnswerThePublic — a useful tool to discover related phrases and questions that people are asking.

Imagine you own a pet shop. Here are some titles of articles that your customers will want to read:

• How to choose the right goldfish bowl for your home
• The 4 items every hamster cage needs
• The essential guide to socialising your puppy 

Articles like the above are educational and valuable, and if written correctly will help position you as an expert in your field. 

An easy way to help make your site carry more authority is to create concentrated clusters of content surrounding the keywords you want to focus on. Let’s return to the pet shop example.

• The 5 easiest tricks to train your puppy
• Top training tips from dog experts around the globe
• Toilet training tips for your puppy

Be sure to internally link between relevant articles so that your audience can easily find out more about the topics you’re writing about. 

Make Sure Your Content Is High-Quality

No matter what you’ve written, if your content is littered with spelling mistakes and glaring grammatical errors, it can harm your overall message. 

Use spell check and tools like Grammarly. Get someone to read it. Ask them if they feel everything has been covered or if more information might be beneficial.

Keep it interesting — if you get bored reading it, your audience definitely will. Draw your audience in with informative titles, subheadings, and lists. 

Work on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Notably, the suggestions that have already been mentioned will fill your site with useful content for your customers. Pages and pages will be dedicated to answering their problems and offering advice. This is a great start in optimising your website for search engines. 

By now you’ll have some great content under your belt, but if it’s not written and built in a way that search engines like Google can find it, people aren’t going to see it. 

Search engine optimisation is focused on growing your website visibility in organic search engine results. When you write content for your website, you must understand the basics of SEO. 

Using the keywords related to your field will help crawlers to work out what your website does. If you’re answering questions that you know your customers want to know, they will be more likely to find your content over a website that isn’t providing the same information. 

It’s important to be seen on the web and have external websites pointing to your own.

SEO is also about popularity. Imagine you’re in a Netflix coming-of-age teen drama, and the most admired person in high school mentioned you (favourably) in a conversation with their friends. This vote of confidence filters down and raises your popularity status.

The same goes for websites. Big hitters like news, educational, non-profit, and government websites are seen as trustworthy, if they link to your content then search engines will look favourably upon you. 

Don’t Forget About Offline content…

Local publications might be looking for the content you want to provide. Do some research on the newspapers and magazines local to your area.

There may be educational or informational pieces you can tailor to a local audience, so get down to your local library to see what’s on offer near you.

Write for External Websites

Don’t limit your expert content to your website. It’s never been easier to network with social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. You’re only a polite message away from journalists, trusted publications, and related websites that have an audience that you might want to reach. 

Own a restaurant? Start following food journalists. Spark up a conversation with them. Let them know that you’re around, you have valid points to make and that you’re available for comments. 

Offer to write guest blog posts, get interviewed, or create educational blog posts for similar websites. Just make sure to ask to be credited, so you get a link back to your website — another win!

Once you’ve established yourself as a valuable point of contact, you may be asked to make comments, which will solidify your position as an expert in your field. 

Perhaps you’ve written a data-driven story. You’ve discovered that 90% of the pet owners in your shop like to wear clown noses when they walk their dog. That’s a weird and wonderful piece of content that people will be interested in — they might share it and it’s data that you have to be credited for. 

There are so many ways to make content work for you. Are you excited to get started?

5 Content Ideas for You to Try Right Now

Here’s a list of content ideas that you can create for yourself.

1. Opinion pieces. Show off your passion and knowledge with a piece of content that gives readers insight into how you feel about a subject, such as on future trends in your industry.
2. How-to articles. If you can explain how to do something effectively, create a useful article such as How to Make Your WordPress Blog Stand Out. 
3. Guest blogs. See if you can secure a spot on a website related to your field of work. Make sure it’s good, it will be harder to edit if it’s not on your website.
4. Listicles. Keep it snappy and easily digestible by writing articles made up of lists. Here’s one I wrote earlier, 7 Ways To Make Working From Home Work For You. 
5. Newsjacking pieces. Here’s another way to get your opinion out there. Newsjacking is where you add your thoughts about breaking news stories. Check out Hubspot for five examples.  

Go Forth and Write!

Now that you’ve got some ideas on content you can create, don’t just sit back. Continuously come up with ideas, find new ways to answer your customers and establish yourself as an authoritative leader in your field. 

Take stock on what’s working. Check your traffic sources — who is coming from where? Establish what channels are gaining you the most traffic and keep writing content for them. 

Above all, have confidence in your writing. You are the expert. This is your story and you have something to say. 

What piece of content will you write first? Let us know!