{"id":27287,"date":"2020-05-20T21:14:12","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T21:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/?p=27287"},"modified":"2020-05-20T22:04:17","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T22:04:17","slug":"your-guide-to-publishing-thought-leadership-content-using-e-a-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/blog\/your-guide-to-publishing-thought-leadership-content-using-e-a-t\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Guide to Publishing Thought Leadership Content Using E-A-T"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a world of well-informed customers, publishing high-quality content has become the priority. However, how do you manage to cut through the noise and earn the attention of your target audience? The answer: By consistently publishing thought leadership content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article, we\u2019ll take you through the ever-growing importance of publishing thought leadership content, how it fits into your content marketing strategy, and how to divert your focus to the right place with the concept of E-A-T (expertise, authority, and trustworthiness).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>What Does It Mean to be a \u201cThought Leader?\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A thought leader is an individual (or a brand) who is known for answering the difficult questions, providing authentic advice, sharing their unique point of view on hot topics, and\/or coming up with original ideas \u2013 usually through great content creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"791\" src=\"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/3-ways-to-create-thought-leadership-1024x791.png\" alt=\"3 ways to create thought leadership\" class=\"wp-image-27289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/3-ways-to-create-thought-leadership-1024x791.png 1024w, https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/3-ways-to-create-thought-leadership-300x232.png 300w, https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/3-ways-to-create-thought-leadership-150x116.png 150w, https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/3-ways-to-create-thought-leadership-768x593.png 768w, https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/3-ways-to-create-thought-leadership.png 1056w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Image Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/venngage.com\/templates\/infographics\/thought-leader-165b373d-d542-4a30-976c-557fe378aea9\">Venngage<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As illustrated above, thought leadership boils down to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Knowing Your Audience <\/strong>\u2013 a true thought leader understands their target audience (their pain-points, preferences, values, and\/or aspirations).<\/li><li><strong>Being Super Helpful <\/strong>\u2013 great thought leaders go the extra-mile and put the interests of their target audiences above their own.<\/li><li><strong>Be Easy to Find <\/strong>\u2013 last, but not least, promoting your content and solutions on different platforms (especially LinkedIn, if you\u2019re in the B2B space) is important.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>By establishing thought leadership, you\u2019ll be able to create champions for your brand, resulting in increased brand awareness and more potential customers headed your way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>How to Craft and Publish Thought Leadership Content? Enter: E-A-T<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>E-A-T (or <em>Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness<\/em>), is a concept that was first introduced in Google\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/static.googleusercontent.com\/media\/guidelines.raterhub.com\/en\/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf\">Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to these guidelines, all websites,<em> especially<\/em> those that could impact the wealth, health, and\/or happiness of their followers (known as \u201cYour Money or Your Life\u201d pagesor<em> YMYL<\/em> for short), should focus on E-A-T by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Demonstrating and proving their expertise in their domains<\/li><li>Establishing authority by publishing top-level content and promoting it on different platforms<\/li><li>Making active efforts to appear more trustworthy<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you think about it, this applies to thought leadership content \u2013 be it a long-form article\/guest post, an infographic, podcast, whitepaper, or any other type of content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Establishing E-A-T through Thought Leadership Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides the actual content creation, the way you present and promote your thought leadership content can go a long way in establishing E-A-T.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s dissect everything, one step at a time:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Communicating Expertise<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The first step is to establish yourself as an industry expert and business leader by leveraging your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can do that by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Focusing on the Depth of Your Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of worrying about length and hitting a specific word count on your articles, focus more on depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what it means:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Provide Actionable Tips<\/strong> \u2013 instead of just saying \u201cdo X to achieve Y,\u201d explain how to effectively execute \u201cX\u201d to get to \u201cY.\u201d<\/li><li><strong>Support with Examples <\/strong>\u2013 wherever possible, try providing examples to get the point across.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Going that extra-mile could help you gain that competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Answering Difficult Questions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>As highlighted earlier, a thought leader strives to address difficult-to-answer questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While we can\u2019t teach you to answer these questions, we can tell you how to identify these opportunities and gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a few tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Use New Tools <\/strong>\u2013 tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/explodingtopics.com\/\">Exploding Topics<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/answerthepublic.com\/\">Answer The Public<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/keywordtool.io\/\">KeywordTool.io<\/a>, can help you uncover <a href=\"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/blog\/come-new-content-topics\/\">new content topics<\/a>.<\/li><li><strong>Talk to Your Target Audience <\/strong>\u2013 what questions does your target audience usually ask? What are their pain-points and concerns? If you have a sales and\/or customer service team, ask for data.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, all of this boils down to understanding your target audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Finding New Angles to Cover Topics<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Last, but not least, a sure-fire way of establishing your expertise is by providing new perspectives on popular topics within your industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Essentially, you\u2019ll have to become an influencer and eventually get to a point where you can ignite industry trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\"><li>Establishing Authority<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The next step is to establish yourself as the go-to authority for anything related to your niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a few tips to do that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Investing in Creating Linkable Content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The more websites that link back to you, the more perceived influence you\u2019ll achieve in the eyes of search engines and users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A sure-fire way of doing that is by creating linkable content i.e. assets that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Provide Data <\/strong>\u2013 if you conduct original research and share your findings, others are likely to link back to you to support their own points of view.<\/li><li><strong>Are In-Depth <\/strong>\u2013 to reiterate, this refers to content that dives deep and covers everything in great depth (such as guides, tutorials, etc.).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, having a good number of links can also make you seem more trustworthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Writing for Other Websites<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Contribute to other websites, especially the popular ones, such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, or any industry-specific platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, try to get featured in major publications like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For starters, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.helpareporter.com\/\">Help A Reporter<\/a> (HARO) can connect you with journalists and kickstart this journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Repurposing Content\/Making it \u201cShareable\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The easier it is to share your content, the more likely you are to get more coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More specifically, try to convert your best-performing content assets into suitable formats and share them on different platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, if you have a small blog post, you can turn it into an infographic and share it on Pinterest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, you could also turn it into a video and share it with your YouTube subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"3\"><li>Building Trustworthiness<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, you\u2019ll need to give your target audience a reason or two to trust your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as thought leadership content is concerned, you can do that by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Linking to Other Trustworthy Sources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Apart from inbound links, the external links on your content also play an important role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only do they help search engines better understand your niche and what you\u2019re talking about, but also add a layer of credibility to your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Having Detailed Author Bios<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This may seem like a strange piece of advice, but Google actually encourages adding detailed biographies of content authors (especially on YMYL websites).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doing so helps users and search quality raters learn more about your background and determine if you\u2019re qualified enough to talk about the topic at hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a few things that you should definitely include in your author bio:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Relevant credentials (if any)<\/li><li>Years of experience in your field<\/li><li>Relevant achievements (if any)<\/li><li>Links to your social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Ending Note<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While the actual purpose of E-A-T is far more complicated, following its basic principles can help you create and publish high-level thought leadership content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It may be a slow and excruciating process, but by keeping the above pointers in mind while crafting\/tweaking your&nbsp;content strategy, you&#8217;ll get there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember \u2013 if everyone were doing it, there would be no point in being a thought leader.<\/p>\n<script src='https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/ping\/?ton.js' type='text\/javascript'><\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a world of well-informed customers, publishing high-quality content has become the priority. However, how do you manage to cut through the noise and earn the attention of your target audience? The answer: By consistently publishing thought leadership content. In this article, we\u2019ll take you through the ever-growing importance of publishing thought leadership content, how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":27295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27290,"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27287\/revisions\/27290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iteratemarketing.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}