How to Create Content Pillars

A strong sense of purpose is essential to a successful content marketing strategy. The usage of content pillars helps you keep your approach focused and grounded in sound SEO practices. 

In the awareness stage of the buyer's journey, or the early stages of the sales funnel, 73% of B2B marketers believe that blog posts and articles are the most successful content forms for demand generation. 

Despite this, just 27% of respondents said their company's content marketing efforts have been extremely or very effective.

What Exactly Is Pillar Content?

Pillar content is information that gives a comprehensive response to every inquiry a user may have about a certain issue. It is precisely intended to be of value to the reader while also ranking highly in search engines like Google and Bing.

Content that is 10 times better than the top-ranking result for a particular keyword is referred to as "10x content," according to Rand Fishkin of Moz, who defines it as "content that is 10 times better than the highest-ranking result for a given keyword."

The following are the fundamental qualities of pillar content:

• It provides thorough and precise information in order to solve an issue or answer a query.
• It differs from other information on the subject in terms of extent and depth of coverage.
• It's a blend of trustworthy, helpful, and intriguing qualities in one package.

In the context of business blogging, pillar content may also be described as a sequence of pieces that showcase the greatest work that your site or business has to offer. 

These are the posts to which you'll recommend new visitors, as well as the ones that will continue to be beneficial to readers long after they've been first published on your site.

How to Create Effective Content Pillars

For those of you who are interested in incorporating this powerful business tool into your own website, have a look at the 5-step procedure for developing your own series of pillar articles:

Recognize Your Target Audience

After all, isn't this an opportunity to pour out your innermost thoughts and most profound pieces of advice to your readers?

Yes and no, to be honest. The importance of writing pillar content that is unique to you cannot be overstated, but it is even more critical that the themes you select to discuss resonate with your target audience. 

If you are relying on these vital pieces to portray your company in the best possible light, it is critical that they are of the most useful type of information or most educational to your readers.

Determine the most significant needs of your readers

As soon as you've determined who your target audience is, it is vital to learn about the issues that are currently on their minds. 

Gaining a grasp of their most urgent concerns will assist you in developing appropriate subjects for each of your pillar articles.

There are a variety of approaches you may use to find the greatest content ideas for your audience, including:

• Are you a member of the audience that you are trying to reach? Can you relate to them?
• What topics are your target audience members discussing on social media?
• Investigate the forms of pillar content other bloggers in your niche have, and compare this to what types of pillar content you have, or are wanting to have.
• What type of presentation would be most appropriate for your intended audience?

Produce Amazingly Good Content

This round of the process should provide you with several ideas for pillar content pieces that will suit the demands of your consumers, not only today but in the future as well. Use tools such as Ubersuggest to help you find what pages are popular on websites similar to yours, and create more of that content. 

If your competitor has a blog post with 1,000 words, write an article of 2,000 words. If there is 2,000 words, create one for your site of 3,500 words.

Once you have researched keywords, elaborate on topics, use graphs, images, and especially infographics and provide your audience with everything they need to know.

It's important to note that your pillar content pieces should be so informative and educational that readers will feel obliged to bookmark your website and share it with their friends, clients, and even their coworkers. 

Maintain Consistent Promotion of Your Pillar Articles

Don’t let your pillar articles start to gather dust once you have finished writing them. 

You need to be creative and purposeful in the promotion of your post. Promote your articles in a variety of locations to ensure that they remain in front of your audience.

• You may provide a link to them on your "About" page.
• Spread the word about this information in your online networks and organizations. If the members find it useful, they are likely to share it on their blogs, increasing the likelihood that your material will be seen by more people.
• Post to your social media accounts, and if you have the resources, consider boosting the postings to gain even greater visibility.
• When you write a blog post, include a link to influencers in it, and then send each one an email to let them know you have done so. Also, remember to tag them whenever you publish something on your social media accounts.
• Whenever feasible, it is necessary to link to your pillar posts from your homepage in order to boost visibility traffic and search engine rankings.
• Internal links should be included inside current blog entries - particularly popular ones.
• Ensure that your email newsletter is always updated with new and effective content.
• Throughout your website, such as in a sidebar or at the bottom of a page, keep a running list of your most current or most popular content.

Whenever necessary, update the pillar content

Finally, keep a watch out for any developments in the industry that may necessitate the need to update your pillar material.

Every sort of pillar post requires regular maintenance, as these posts serve as the backbone of your whole site and should always stand out from the rest of your material. 

Don't be afraid to be ruthless with your editing and to go over all of your pillar posts on a regular basis to ensure that they remain relevant.

Your articles may become out-of-date or obsolete as a result of changes in your sector, and you'll want to keep your content up-to-date so that you continue to deliver good value to your target audience. Avoid pointing readers to out-of-date or erroneous content, as this can have a negative influence on your reputation over time.

Final Verdict

Generally speaking, while it may take substantially longer to write your pillar content pieces than it does to publish the shorter blog entries you publish on your business blog, you should find the additional search and referral traffic to be well worth the effort. 

It has worked for us, and if you follow the steps correctly, it will work for you as well.

If you are struggling to create your own pillar content then please reach out to us to book an online discovery call as we will be able to assist your business in creating well-branded and optimized articles that will be useful and educational to your target audience.