Planning Pillar Page & Link Structure

[#1]

Hello fellow marketers

I've been attempting to fully embrace the topic cluster and pillar page strategy at the company I work for. I have some inquiries that I want to ask you all who have already applied this strategy. 

I went to a workshop for content strategy and pillar pages, and the presenter mentioned how he wrote a series of blogs to link to the 10x pillar page - which was a collection of all those blogs. And, the pillar page had a CTA to download PDF version of the content.

My question is, how do you plan and execute your pillar page the most effectively?

In the previous example, it sounds like they wrote all blogs and pillar page first, then executed the project, but that doesn't seem right. 

If blogs are written & published first, then pillar page created, where do the blogs link to before the pillar page is complete? (I hope this is making sense )

Right now, I'm linking to a page on our site that will become the pillar page, so the URL will stay the same. But when I plan more in the future, that might not be the case. 

Any advice on the planning and executing process will be appreciated as well. 

Thank  you,

Allie

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi @TallAllie

There are a number of ways you can go about your pillar page strategy, each with their pros and cons. 

I'm not a big fan of writing X blog posts and then combining them into a pillar page (or an ebook for that matter) though. I think that's lazy. In my experience, this is the approach taken by those who are not really commited to content marketing.

The best strategy, I believe, is to research, write and publish your pillar page first - getting it indexed by Google. Then link any existing supporting content/posts to it and commencing on the production of new ones. Each time you publish a new post in support of your pillar page, you have the potential to improve where it ranks for search queries related the page's topic. 

Hope this helps.

[#3]

Thanks @Phil_Vallender ! That is great advice.

One of my concerns is that I am the only Marketing person in this small company. Quality pillar pages take a LOT of time to create, and still trying to keep up with blogs, emails, social media.

On average, how long does it take you to create a pillar page?

Since this is my first one, I am careful to be extra thorough. I think after this first one is done, the next ones will be easier to plan & create.

Let me know your thoughts, Thanks!

Allie

[#4]

Hi @TallAllie

As @Phil_Vallender mentioned there are multiple ways to execute it. 

If you're a HubSpot Marketing user, you can use a feature called 'Content Strategy' to plan your Pillar page & link structure. You can plan your topic (pillar content) & sub-topic (cluster content) there. If you want to start from the scratch, I would suggest creating pillar content first, and then start creating a blog, landing pages etc. around that topic and link it from the pillar page. If you already have some contents around the particular topic, you can simply link it from the pillar content page. 

Thanks!

[#5]

Hi @TallAllie

I hope this reply doesn't come too late. It's really hard to say how long it takes to create a pillar page as it all depends on how much information you want to include. Are you starting from scratch or would you be utilising already existing content? If so, how much content is there that you could link to from your pillar page?

The best way to approach pillar pages, especially when you're the only marketer in-house, is to take a growth driven approach. Build the core of the page with the essential information on the topic, linking to your core blogs/content offers, etc., and then continuously add more information, update the page and improve it. This should take some of the pressure off. 

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any questions. I have worked myself in-house as the only marketer managing HubSpot and I know how hard it is. 

Best Wishes,

Iva Dulkova

Inbound Marketing Consultant

Axon Garside

[#6]

Hi @Iva-AxonGarside,

Thank you so much for offering this approach. It is very difficult being the sole marketing specialist in the company, and this strategy would work best for me. I am grateful you took the time to reply.

Thanks,

Allie

[#7]

Hi @TallAllie

No problem. Let me know if you have any other questions or there's anything I can help with.

Thank you,

Iva