5 Tips for Creating Effective Pillar Content
Pillar content is a great way to attract more interested leads. On this page, we’ll discuss the four benefits of pillar content and five tips on how you can create pillar content that drives results. If you need help with your content marketing plan, call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist.
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What is pillar content?
Pillar content isn’t your typical content. This content focuses on a specific topic or theme. These are larger pieces of content that are broken down into various sections.
It isn’t a blog post, a video, or an infographic. While these types of media can be a part of pillar content, they aren’t considered to be pillar content by themselves.
Pillar content are pieces that dive deeply into a subject. Think of it as the go-to page for in-depth information about a topic. Pillar pages are a comprehensive guide on a topic like ebooks, guides, or reports.
It takes time to develop pillar content. With other types of content, you create a “one and done” blog post or video. Pillar content is something you work on extensively to create a comprehensive guide.
This content is industry-specific content which ensures that you drive in credible leads. You’ll want it to be instructive and really educate your audience. This content should focus on critical areas of your business or areas that are special to your business.
If you specialize in a certain service or type of product, you can create pillar content to help explain that product or service in detail. It creates an easy way for your business to provide your audience with all the information they need about that topic.
4 benefits of pillar content
There are numerous benefits you will experience by investing in pillar content. These benefits will help your business grow and obtain new leads.
1. You’ll build your reputation
Pillar content is a great way to build your business’s reputation. When you create in-depth content, you show your knowledge and expertise. You build your business as an authority in your field.
When you build your business as an authority in your field, you help your business obtain new leads. People will check out your in-depth content and trust that you are an authority in your field. They will feel more comfortable choosing your business over other companies in your field.
People want to rely on companies that are experts in their field. By creating pillar content, you show your leads that your business is knowledgeable and experienced.
2. Your audience will spend more time on your site
When you get leads on your site, you want them to remain on your site. The longer they engage on your site, the more time they spend becoming familiar with your brand.
You want to build brand recognition because it will help your business earn conversions down the line. Your leads may not convert right away, but they will remember your brand. When it comes time to convert, they will choose your business over the competition.
Pillar content helps you keep your leads engaged on your site. Since this content is typically long form, your audience will spend a lot of time reading through the various subtopics. As a result, they will spend more time on your website and engaging with your business.
This sends a positive signal to Google. When people engage on your site longer, it tells Google that your site’s information is valuable and credible. They will rank your site higher to help more leads find your content.
3. You’ll obtain more valuable leads
When you create pillar content, you create the opportunity to attract more qualified leads. Overall, your content attracts leads that are interested in your business. Pillar content, however, attracts more qualified leads.
People are more likely to be interested in your business when they engage with your site’s content. Since they are taking the time to read all the information you’re providing, they are immediately more valuable. You can nurture these leads by providing them with great pillar content.
4. You’ll earn more backlinks for your business
Backlinks are a crucial part of search engine optimization (SEO). These are links to your site from other authority sites. Backlinks help improve your site’s SEO ranking to help you reach more valuable leads.
When you earn backlinks, you boost your website’s trust and authority. Google sees that credible sites are linking to your page, so it will rank your site higher to help more leads find your helpful information. It trusts that your site has reliable information.
Pillar content helps you earn more backlinks. This content has an abundance of information, which makes it a great source for earning backlinks. Since this information is well-researched and highly detailed, you are more likely to earn backlinks from authority sites.
When you create this content, you can invite authority sites to check it out. If they like what they see, they may include it as a reference in their own content. This is another great opportunity for your business to earn backlinks.
By earning backlinks, you’ll help improve your site’s SEO ranking. This will lead to more valuable leads for your business that you can convert, making your SEO costs well worth the investment.
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5 tips on how to create better pillar content
Now that you know the benefits of pillar content, you may want to use it in your content marketing plan. So, how can you create pillar content that drives results?
1. Understand your audience
First and foremost, if you’re going to create effective pillar content, you need to know your target audience well. You want to create pillar content that will appeal to them.
If you don’t know who is in your target audience, it is important that you figure that out first. You need to think about people that are most likely to buy your products or use your services. Figuring out your followers’ interests can help you create content that is sure to impress and engage them.
When you create pillar content, think about what your audience would want. What do they want to see on your page? Is there a topic that will get their interest? What is going to help your audience decide to convert and choose your business?
Your audience is a crucial part of your pillar content. Once you know who is in your target audience, you can create better content.
2. Brainstorm core topics
After you discover your audience and what information they need, you can start brainstorming topics.
Pillar content is meant to be in-depth content, so you need to start with broad topics that you can break down into smaller ones. You don’t want to begin with a topic that is too specific because it will leave you struggling to develop that topic into pillar content.
Think about content marketing as an example of a pillar topic. You can break it down into different types of content including videos, blogs, infographics, and more.
Developing general themes that are able to be broken down into smaller parts is a great start for writing pillar content. Try writing down some topics that come to mind, or do research for ideas that will engage your audience.
3. Use videos and infographics as supportive content
As stated previously, videos and infographics are not pillar content, but they can be used as branches of your content. It is valuable to include these types of content when you are creating pillar content. They help keep your audience engaged and interested in your business.
When you create in-depth content, it can be a lot for your audience to absorb. If they just read pages and pages of content, they may not fully comprehend it. They may even leave your page if they are overwhelmed by the amount of text.
This is where video and infographics can provide relief. You can use these pieces of content to help break up the text on your posts and keep readers interested in your page.
You can also use videos and infographics as the sole explanation for a certain branch topic. If we go back to our content marketing example, you could create videos to explain different types of content instead of writing about it. This is another great way to engage your audience and keep their interest.
4. Keep updating your pillar content
When you generate pillar content, you put a lot of time and effort into developing it. If you want pillar content to work to your business’s advantage, you need to update it as its information changes.
Your audience doesn’t want to read your pillar content if the information is a year or two old and inaccurate. You need to update your pillar content to ensure that it reflects recent data, trends, or other changed information.
This will help your content perform better. More leads will check out your content, and they will trust your business more because they know you provide accurate information.
By updating your pillar content, you will help grow your business’s website. This will keep leads coming to your page and keep them engaged.
5. Promote your pillar content
If you’re going to put in the effort to create in-depth content, you need to take the time to promote it. People can’t always find the content on their own. You need to actively market your site’s pillar content so you can increase traffic on your pages.
First, you’ll want to get your content to rank. By integrating keywords and earning backlinks, you’ll help your pillar content move up in the SEO rankings. This will help you drive more traffic to your page.
If you utilize email marketing, you’ll want to send it to your subscribers. It doesn’t have to be the focus of the email, but you can include in an email newsletter or as a subtopic in your email. If your audience is interested, they will take the time to check out your pillar content.
You’ll also want to promote your content on social media. Share it with your followers and encourage them to check it out. It is important that you encourage them to share with their friends and family, too, so more leads will find your page.
By promoting your pillar content, you will see better marketing results. You’ll drive more leads to your page that you can nurture towards conversion. It’s a great opportunity to help your business grow.
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WebFX will help you create effective pillar content
Using pillar content will help you attract more valuable leads and keep them on your site. This helps your business boost conversion rates and profit. At WebFX, we have years of experience creating effective pillar content that drives results.
We’re a full-service digital marketing company that specializes in content marketing. We have a team of 500+ experts that are dedicated to your campaign. Our award-winning team of writers will help you create pillar content that attracts new leads.
If you’re looking for a content marketing company that drives results, look no further. To date, we’ve driven over $10 billion in sales and over 24 million leads for our clients. We focus on driving success for our clients first.
Our clients love the work we do for them. In fact, we have over 1,100 client testimonials from a variety of industries. Check them out to see what it’s like to partner with a top content marketing company like WebFX!
Start generating pillar content today
Pillar content has numerous benefits to offer your business. By investing in pillar content, you are driving in valuable leads for your business.
If you’re ready to start earning more credible leads for your business, contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about creating content that is SEO-friendly.
We look forward to helping your business grow!