You started your blog and you know that you need to write amazing content to keep your readers happy. Well today I want to teach you how to keep your readers AND your website happy!
This is called Pillar Content. Writing Pillar content has helped streamline my blog, made writing easier, and made my website look better to Google!
Affiliate Disclaimer: This post most likely contains affiliate links. I earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
What is a Pillar Post?
A pillar post is a piece of long form content that covers absolutely everything about a given topic. These posts should be extremely long, thorough and ideally answer every question your reader might have about that topic or direct them to other posts you have that will answer any lingering questions.
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You do this for a few reasons.
- The longer your reader is on your page the longer their “session length” will be. Google looks at how long a reader is on your page to determine if your website and post are quality.
- You establish yourself as an expert to your reader and start building trust with that reader. The more a reader trusts you the more likely they are to click on other posts you wrote, affiliate links, or look at your products. If the reader clicks on other links on your site this also decreases your bounce rate metric with Google. This is a good thing! A lower bounce rate means you have a higher quality page!
In order to decide what your pillar post should be about I would look at the main categories on your blog. For example, if your blog niche is Pregnancy, your main categories might be 1st trimester, 2nd Trimester, 3rd Trimester, and Postpartum.
Next, pick one of those categories to start with and write a nice long post of at least 1500 words that covers every single aspect of that topic.
I understand that these posts can be a major drag to write because they are so long! It’s always way easier to write 4-300 word posts than it is to write a really good long form pillar post. However, remember you are doing this for the health of your blog!
The benefit of writing these posts really outweigh the cost of writing a few really long posts.
You would then follow up with lots of shorter posts that cover that topic in even more details which is called a Pillar Post Sequence.
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Pillar Post Sequence
A Pillar Post Sequence is when you write a killer, long form piece of content and then write follow up pieces to link within that original post. This is great for SEO, internal linking, and to bulk out your blog.
You will also be able to carve out where you will place money making posts. Here is an example of a Pillar Post Sequence:
Niche: Rescue Dogs
Pillar Post #1: How to Rescue A Dog 101
- Which breed is right for you
- What you MUST DO your first week with a new dog
- Potty Training a New Dog
- Everything you need for a new dog ($ Making Post with affiliate links)
- Picking the right dog food ($ Making Post with affiliate links)
- First 5 Commands you MUST teach your new dog
The Pillar Post “How to Rescue A Dog 101 would be a long post in which you are extremely detailed in your explanation and cover all the above topic. You would then write the follow up posts about each topic and link them in the Pillar Post in all the relevant places.
Here are 25 blog post ideas
- How to Guides
- Tutorials
- Lists
- Testimonials
- Advice from experts
- Funny personal stories
- Inspirational personal stories
- Rants
- Meme Compilations
- Product reviews
- Product round ups
- Product comparisons
- Checklists
- Infographics
- Interviews
- Highlighting problems and solutions
- Beginners guides
- Myths vs facts
- Open letters
- Book Reviews
- Best of/ Worst of’s
- Success Stories
- Guest Posts
- Case Studies
- Advice to FAQ
Don’t forget to interlink all your pillar post sequence!
Be sure to add links to your Pillar Blog post anytime you finish a shorter piece that goes along with the content of your pillar post. You can link naturally in text or use phrases such as, “For more ideas check out ________ post” or “To learn more about _________ check out this post.
You can also provide a link in your shorter blog posts back to your pillar post whenever it’s applicable. Remember you are trying to prove to both your reader and Google that you are an expert on your niche. Make sure to answer your readers next questions by providing them the exact post they will need next!
The longer you can keep a reader clicking around your site the better. This increases the health of your blog and will help you meet your long term blogging goals!
Now that you know what a Pillar Post Sequence is, Use this strategy to plan out all of your content for the upcoming months or even a year! I suggest using my free productivity bundle to organize your content plan. All of this planning ahead of time will give you a clear roadmap on the direction of your blog! Now get to work!
Why Spark Your Blog?
We have been where you are! We got married, overspent, had a baby, and felt like we were drowning in student loan debt, bills, and every day expenses. Starting our first blog changed everything! With my little mommy blog, I was bringing in over 1k a month in less than a year with pretty minimal effort and maintenance (after I got the blog off the ground that is!)
That could be you too! If you have a few extra hours to spare each week think about what that extra income can do for you! And if you work really hard you can turn blogging from a side hustle into a full-time gig! It's possible!
So stop dreaming and start doing!
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