by Nick Stamoulis
Here are 4 tips to becoming a thought leader in your industry:
1. Start producing more content.
If you are only writing one blog post a week, while a good place to start for many site owners, your solitary piece of content is not even a drop in the bucket when you compare it to how much information is being churned out online every day. Even in a relatively small niche, your content has to compete with blog posts, articles, white papers, videos, podcasts and more. One piece of content is probably not going to make your brand stand out for long, even if you are able to write a piece of content that captures the attention of your audience. You need to give your target audience a reason to remember you, check out your blog a couple times a week, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social profiles and so forth---and that means you need to product more content. If you want to become a thought leader, you have to consistently produce great content proving you deserve to be recognized.
2. Don't be afraid of giving away too much free information.
In my opinion, one of the worst things a company could do for their SEO is write a bunch of great, juicy, quality content and then lock it behind a login. I know that many companies are concerned about giving away too much information for free (why buy the cow, right?) but the truth is you have to prove to your audience that you are an expert---and this means providing them with relevant, useful information. Don't expect your reputation to mean much to an organic visitor that has never heard of your brand before. You have to prove yourself to them and your content is the best way to do that.
I'm not saying you can't put some of your content behind a login (or a lead form), but the majority of the content you produce needs to be openly published so both the search engines AND your customers can find and use it. Think about it--who are the thought leaders in your industry? Chances are most of them have blogs where they talk about the latest industry trends, best practice tips and so forth. They are willingly sharing expert advice, which helps further establish themselves as industry thought leaders!
3. Specialize in something.
Too often most people (especially marketers) feel the need to become jack-of-all-trades. I can understand wanting to know how different factions play into your niche, especially when they influence each other in some way (like how social media or content marketing works with SEO), but in order to become a true thought leader you need to be exceptionally good at one thing and know that industry inside and out. In order to provide people with valuable insights and not just general advice, you need to understand the subtleties of your niche; seen it all, heard it all, done it all. Thought leaders are, amazingly enough, leaders in their fields mainly because they know it better than anyone else.
4. Never stop learning.
A thought leader has to have their finger on the pulse of their industry; what's coming down the pipeline, how are customer behaviors changing, what industry trends are shifting and so forth. In order to stay ahead of the curve (or at least keep pace with the pack) you need to know what is going on! Read other industry blogs, attend conferences, follow other experts on social networking sites--just keep yourself immersed in the way things are and where they are going. Getting stuck on the way things used to be means you'll soon be an expert of old knowledge and no longer a thought leader.
Your content is worth so much more in the long run than a few inbound links! Make sure you are working it to it's full potential.
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Source: http://www.searchengineguide.com/nick-stamoulis/dont-just-build-links-become-a-thought-l.php
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