Content Pillars Guide for Vape Shops
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If you’re thinking about getting a blog started for your online vape shop, then it’s highly likely that you’ve heard the term ‘content pillar’ before. Having a content pillar strategy is the first step to a successful overall content strategy. But what is it, exactly?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Is a Content Pillar Page?
What Is the Purpose of a Content Pillar Strategy?
What Is the Difference Between Content Pillar Pages and Topic Clusters?
The Importance of a Content Pillar Strategy
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What Is a Content Pillar Page?
Content pillar pages are high-level pieces of content that cover every aspect of a specific core topic. They are written with a comprehensive, yet broad approach.
Content pillars are the first touchstone for a reader to use as a ‘landing strip’ into the type of content you produce and one that allows them to ‘bounce’ onto other more specific subtopic articles on your website. They do so through strategic interlinking set up by you or your copywriter.
Creating content with a purpose is the main goal behind any piece of content you publish on your blog. However, the idea behind content pillar pages is to guide your reader onto the content that will add more value to their cause. This content (cluster blog posts) should be based on keywords that stem from the content pillar.
Nevertheless:
The content pillar page itself should be about a topic that resonates with your target audience and synergizes well with your brand identity. In addition to addressing any question that the reader might have about that content pillar’s core topic.
Content pillars are usually longer than most blog posts. To give you an idea, our pillar pages are usually somewhere between 4,000-5,000 words while our blog posts (like this one) would probably average somewhere around 1,200 words. Not to say that both types of content couldn’t be longer or shorter than the ranges described above.
What Is the Purpose of a Content Pillar Strategy?
The purpose of a content pillar is to cover all aspects and potential questions on a specific core topic on a single page. Content pillars should hyperlink to smaller cluster blog posts and those blog posts should also hyperlink back to the pillar page.
By using a content pillar strategy you are also able to include a lot more keywords than you would in a regular blog post. This means you can target a wider audience which is then directed to more specific topic clusters.
What Is the Difference Between Content Pillar Pages and Topic Clusters?
A good way to picture the relationship between the two is by thinking of the content pillar as the parent of all cluster content pieces.
Every topic cluster is based on a strategic keyword taken from the content pillar you just created. The content pillar contains the core topic and the cluster content pieces are the topics that stem from that core.
While topic clusters and content pillars might seem different items at first, they all make part of the same whole. By connecting them through hyperlinks, topic clusters and content pillars work together to increase your chances of landing a conversion from the reader.
This does not mean that you cannot have several content pillars. For instance, you could have one content pillar on hardware like disposables and refillable vape devices, and another one on vape juices, nic salts, and other concentrates. The important thing here is to keep in mind that each of these pillars will have its own set of content clusters.
Types of Content Pillar Pages
Because you can have several content pillars on the same website, it’s only natural for there to be more than one type of content. We’ve been able to identify 4:
1. Service Pillar Pages
Service pillar pages provide information about a specific service or product category. For instance, a service pillar page could be one directed at vape pen maintenance. You could use that pillar page to provide information about vape maintenance, while also using it as a vehicle to promote your services.
Service pillar pages can also be used to promote or address relevant sub-services, examples, benefits, and other best practices.
2. Resource Content Pillar Pages
Resource pillar pages are optimized content versions of the typical resource landing page found on websites. They provide useful information that focuses on serving as a hub for links to other relevant resources. But instead of doing it in list form, a resource content pillar page does it in blog or article format.
3. 10x Content Pillar Pages
10x content pillar pages get their name from the concept that they are 10 times better than a regular top-ranking blog post for a specific keyword. They are usually tied to the main problems that your company solves for its customers. As an example, you could take Colgate’s content pillar page on ‘bad breath’.
4. Sub-Topic Pillar Pages
The fourth and final type of content pillar is the sub-topic page. Sub-topic content pillars are similar to regular blog posts in the sense that they are tied to a specific keyword. However, sub-topic pillars are longer and more dense than a regular blog post. They also hyperlink to other smaller blog posts for which they serve as an introduction from a broader perspective.
The Importance of a Content Pillar Strategy
In today’s modern marketplace, SEO is king. Regardless of what some sources might say, SEO is still what ensures you can grow your organic traffic and potentially your conversion rate.
A way of applying SEO to your business is by creating content with a purpose. But most importantly, content that targets the right keywords. Pillar content can help you target more keywords with a single landing page but it can also boost the effectiveness of the whole of your content by doing the following:
Improving Relevance
Having content pillars that interconnect with your topic clusters allows you to organize and optimize the way your audience interacts with the content you publish. In other words, it makes the website experience of your audience go the way you want it to.
By doing so you can leverage conversions and ensure that your content gets to the person it was intended for. A content pillar strategy like this one makes it easier for Google to identify and sort your content in a way that allows it to be exposed to the people who need it.
Increasing Authority
To increase your website’s online authority in the industry, you must first create high quality content. But once you have that first step sorted out, a content pillar strategy may help you enhance that authority.
Effective Content
Longer format content is shared more, may have more backlinks, and ultimately drives more traffic because of it. Which is more than enough reason to have a content pillar strategy.
