Examining the site structure for your business website and blog offers benefits in a few ways. Viewing your content from an information architecture perspective, for example, gives rhyme and reason to the content you cover while incorporating SEO (search engine optimization) tactics to entice organic traffic by design.
Speaking to user intent in tandem with creating powerful cornerstone content pieces allows you to build a solid foundational content structure. These core content pieces help define the main topics relevant to your business and explain them to site visitors. Aligning user needs with key features of your business products or services helps establish you as a go-to resource and strengthens your credibility in the marketplace based on your valuable and relevant content.
Therefore, compiling a carefully orchestrated content strategy using a robust and thoughtful site structure is imperative. But, as you may guess, there’s more than one way to do this.
Further, how you use the information in this post varies by the particulars of your business or industry, your purpose or objectives, and even where you are with your blog property so far.
Still, striving to “own your topic” results in notice by search and by people and is sure to elevate your digital presence.
The first thing you need to do is isolate your key topics, often reflected as key categories on your site. These main topics (usually 3 minimum to 7 max) often dictate the subject matter of your cornerstone, or pillar, content pages. These pages are epic in nature and require what Brian Dean coins as “Skyscraper” due to their massive, encompassing style.
To achieve this, do some research on keywords and top-performing posts on the subject. Plan to add to what’s already out there or cover gaps in available information.
Plan and Execute World-Class Core Content
Hubspot suggests that for these anchors, pillars, or cornerstone content pieces, you need to create evergreen content with a solid conversion plan CTA (call-to-action) firmly in place. Additionally, connect supporting and related posts through internal links back to pillar pages as much as possible. Place importance on keywords for these key pages as well.
Think of crafting only world-class content at this level.
Gain attention by delivering quality and value with these in-depth works. Leave no doubt that you know, understand, and stay on top of your field.
Be careful to add something new, fresh, or intriguing to your work. Saying or writing the same thing as everyone else isn’t helpful. An exciting spin, a contrarian approach, or a unique point-of-view helps you stand out and establishes original thought-leadership over time.
Repeating yourself is also unsustainable as a content plan. By building out your content strategy through the use of content silos, hubs, clusters, or pyramids, you can avoid redundancies in what you publish. Instead, these techniques help you map out a viable pathway for your content to cover all aspects and related areas, leaving no questions unanswered.
Whichever of these structures you follow, you can niche-down to cover the nitty-gritty details of any topic. You can also expand on topic-related issues that impact core ideas within the subjects. It’s a good idea to offer all possible answers, leaving no stone unturned to cover user curiosity about your industry or expertise.
Your thorough and comprehensive coverage of core topics and key categories gives you an unending stream of content ideas to use. Once you set up your main cornerstone pages, your blog posts act to support and direct traffic to them. More importantly, they guide and impact the content you produce along with your content strategy.
Purposeful Site Structure
Devising a purposeful site structure for SEO, user intent, and business goals makes your site more effective in gaining organic traffic and also delivers a strategic content plan right into your lap.
Further, it helps you to avoid redundancies, and you’ll be less likely to cannibalize your own content, giving it better SEO as a bonus.
Getting clear on your site topics, categories, and, ultimately, a content plan feels like a relief, plus it gives you time to go about the important business of creating.
Creating content is essential, but it will always be quality over quantity. Making search engines like you is extremely helpful but not nearly as critical as having humans who will do business with you. And pay you.
Remember to pay attention to on-page structure as well for better SEO and UX (user experience) by:
- honoring white space for readability
- using proper headline hierarchy
- including graphics or visuals
- setting font types/sizes for ease of use
- highlighting quotes to stand out
- creating unique title graphic/copy
- adding click-to-tweet and share buttons
- developing an impactful content title
Individual pages or posts, just like the site itself, need to respect usability and visitors’ experience as a priority. Mobile-first thinking matters more than ever. Optimize for site speed.
Site structure and content strategy start from a foundational framework in conjunction with your business and key topics. However, ticking off the list of best practices for a robust content plan forces you to connect the dots. It helps you hone in and focus on creating a frictionless experience while delivering high value purposefully.
Check Out More Awesome Posts…
- Your Website Is Your Blog’s Home
- Site Structure to Feed Content Strategy
- Writing Tips to Improve Your Blog
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Sue-Ann is your “Conduit for Learning” as the educational lead here at BizShops.
She loves sharing insights, ideas, inspirations, and experiences from a surprisingly vast, hugely successful business background, driven by creativity.
Connect with Sue-Ann on social or in whatever way is most comfortable for you and get her help with your digital presence and original content strategy.
Pingback: Social Media Marketing...is the New Word of Mouth
Hi Sue-Ann,
Excellent post. I like the term “world class content”. Planning your content intelligently allows your blogging campaign to flow smoothly. Put deep thought into the front end and it becomes easier to create effective content on the back end.
Ryan
Ryan:
Thank you! You are so right, and thinking it out lends itself to an unending stream of content as well. I love checking out “Answer the Public” to remember all the questions around a topic and help flesh out a strategy. Take care and thanks.
Sue-Ann