Content strategy is a roadmap for content from ideas to content distribution and optimization. The roadmap’s destination? Your goals, objectives, and KPIs. Content strategy ties those requirements together and tells you which content to create, for whom, and for which channels.

Depending on your company, developing a content strategy may involve a:

• Content inventory and audit

• Competitive content audit

• Content gaps and opportunities analysis

• Content distribution plan

You wouldn’t head out on a lengthy journey without knowing where you’re going. The same holds true for your company’s content.

Did you know?

• 89% of decision makers say thought-leadership content can lift their perceptions of a company.

• 49% say thought-leadership content influences buying decisions.

• BUT... only 15% say most of the thought leadership content they read is very good or excellent.

• And 38% say they've lost respect and admiration for a company after reading its thought leadership.

• 27% say they've decided not to do business with a company after reading its content.

Bottom line? Unique, substantive thought-leadership content is an imperative rather than a nice-to-have in our content-flooded world. And I'll help you create it through strategy, ghostwriting, and editing.

What content are you creating this week? Next month? The rest of the quarter? Do you use content themes that map to your goals and what's happening in your business?

If you're not planning, you're reacting. And you may struggle with content overwhelm.

• I need an ebook on this topic because our competitor just published one!

• We haven't blogged in a while... better come up with a few ideas to keep Google happy.

• Our team can't handle another writing project right now; let's hire a freelance writer to create a pillar page for that service we launched last month.

If you need to create an editorial calendar and fill your content pipeline with relevant projects, I can help.

Since launching my business in 2002, I've handled hundreds of content projects and written millions of words, all with a focus on readers.

I ask questions, raise objections, and aim to remove all stumbling blocks—things that cause readers to falter and lose trust and confidence. My primary objective is to create great content experiences that lead people to say YES to your offers.

Although I create content from the top to the bottom of the funnel, I do have my favorites—client stories, blog posts, ebooks, landing pages, email nurture series, and direct mail letters.

What content does your company need help creating? Although I’m doing more strategy work and editing and less writing these days, I still take on writing projects.

I like writing and am good at it. But I love editing; it's my superpower! When editing a piece of content, I get into a state of flow; time passes quickly without notice.

I don't carry a red pen, though; I prefer the kinder, gentler purple. You won't find me haughtily calling people out for grammar mistakes and typos. Instead, I empathize because I've been there. I see writing ability as a line and people as points on that line. I may be here, but someone else is up there, ahead of me. And I used to be many points back.

My expertise lies in developmental editing, substantive editing, and copy editing. Which level of editing do you need? Here's a chart you can use to find out.

I also offer content mentoring services for thought leaders, content marketers, and others who want to improve their writing and learn to see their content through readers' eyes.

Every day, billions of web sessions begin with a search query. And with a billion-plus sites competing for eyes and clicks, it can be hard to drive organic traffic.

That's where pillar pages and blog posts come in. Pillar pages, also called cornerstone pages or foundation posts, are long, meaty pieces—at least 2,500 words—that comprehensively cover strategic topics. Pillar posts are accompanied by shorter, secondary blog posts that tie to pillar themes and link to pillars.

Because blogging is a key area of my expertise, I can help you decide which clusters of topics to focus on, develop a strategy for your blog, a blog editorial calendar, and lots of search-engine-optimized pillar and blog post content designed to help your audiences find your content when they're searching on the web.

Voice is the unique perspective or point of view you express in your content. It's like a fingerprint that helps readers differentiate between you and your competitors.

Tone refers to the mood, feeling, or emotion your content conveys, like funny, serious, or sad. Tone elements include word choice, sentence structure, and point of view.

Style refers to your rules for things like punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. I've worked with many style guides, but I'm most familiar with the Associated Press Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style. If you long for consistency within your content, choose a major style to follow or create an internal style guide.

I can help you with matters of voice, tone, and style, including internal style guide creation.

Whether you’re setting up or scaling your content workflows, keep iteration and efficiency in mind.

Iteration, because you will iterate as you launch the processes. Efficiency, because it’s the reason for processes in the first place.

• Where will you store your content? What naming conventions will you use?

• What will the production workflow look like for various content types?

• What tool will you use to manage the content production workflow?

• Who will edit or be responsible for quality?

• What about content governance?

• Should you hire or use freelancers?

• How will you measure results?

If you need answers, I can help.