5 Challenges to Creating Pillar Pages (and Tips to Help you Overcome Them)

Organizing your content into topic pillars or pillar pages may be a good way to spice up SEO for the core services you give. We've produced variety of pillar pages - and even a pillar page on the way to create pillar pages. And as we’ve worked with a lot of organizations on constant, we've known 5 common challenges that companies face within the method.

Sometimes these challenges stop the pillar page project from even beginning, or from being completed. however a lot of typically, organizations find yourself with pillar pages that aren’t as effective as they might be - they don’t increase traffic, they don’t improve SEO rank for core topic keywords, and/or they aren’t compelling to their audience.

In this post, I’ll share these 5 key challenges, and on the approach, I’ll give tips which will assist you overcome these barriers to form Associate in Nursing awful pillar page.

Challenge 1: Finding the correct Topic

Amazingly, this can be a tangle several organizations have, particularly if they haven’t had a content selling set up designed to focus on a particular audience phase.

There square measure several reasons why this may well be the case. The difficult half is that pillar pages square measure a significant carry - it’s not only 1 diary post, it’s multiple diary posts, an eBook, publication, continuing promotion and then forth.

If you’re attending to invest the time to try and do this, you wish to spot the right topic - and analysis will result in dysfunction.

Tips:

• Leverage one amongst your existing eBooks - selecting Associate in Nursing eBook 

you’ve already revealed - and that continues to be relevant to your audience - is one amongst the best ways in which to pick out a pillar page topic

• Keep the subject slender - Answer one question, or discuss Associate in Nursing trade downside comprehensive

List to what your customers square measure posing for - Review your on-line channels and see what your customers square measure posing for, then build a pillar page to produce that specific info.

• Ask your sales team - The queries salespeople habitually answer will build nice content. you'll got to work to search out Associate in Nursing overall topic that encompasses all queries, however this approach typically pays off  

• Look to alternative content and channels for inspiration - If you've got alternative channels that square measure well liked by your audience, see if you'll be able to leverage them. plan of the box for this one - for instance, if your  YouTube channel is standard, leverage the "how-to" videos you've got revealed. whereas video content won’t improve your SEO by itself, if you set those videos on a pillar page, along side well-crafted introductory descriptions that make a case for what every video shows, then it'll

• Bring in outside facilitate - center or adviser will assist you slender down your topics

Challenge 2: Finding the correct Topic Keyword and connected Keywords

Really, once your topic is chosen, your work is simply starting. You then got to opt for the correct subtopic keywords, and also the challenge here - whether or not ranging from scratch with the intention to make content, or reworking Associate in Nursing eBook into a pillar page - is that you simply got to opt for your topic keywords supported SEO factors, not on what you think the keywords ought to be.

You have to choose a subject keyword that you simply will rank for, which takes analysis.

There square measure various tools you'll be able to use to assist you brainstorm, research, and make pillar pages. SEO tools like SEMRush, Moz Pro, Ahrefs et al will assist you determine keywords employed in your trade associated with your topics, and show you search volume.

You’re trying for:

• Keywords your competitors aren’t ranking for - selecting keywords utilized by your competitors makes building rank that abundant tougher.

• Longtail keywords that you simply will rank for - keywords that aren’t heavily utilized by others.

• Keywords that have a high monthly search volume

You have to try and do this analysis - conducting relevant investigation is that the most significant issue. If you don’t get it on, or softball it, you'll find yourself with a pillar page that merely individuals cannot realize.

Tips:

• Ask your customers - raise them however they describe the subject you’re attending to turn out to be a pillar page. you'll realize some nice topic keywords this manner.

• Use your topic keyword all over - Once you select a subject keyword, begin victimization it all over on your web site, in brochures, and on social, so as to make recognition and acquire others at home with it and victimization it.

• Hire Associate in Nursing SEO adviser - SEO are often intimidating. Hiring center or adviser will take this burden off of in-house employees and speed up this a part of the method. If you go this route, confirm your adviser provides you with relevant information to copy their recommendations.

Challenge 3: selecting that Existing Content to Leverage

Once your topic and keywords square measure chosen, it’s time to form the content for your pillar page.

Since pillar pages usually contains between eight and twenty-two subtopics, the prospect of making all of that content are often intimidating, and whereas it’s invariably a decent plan to leverage your existing content wherever it fits, some organizations stuff pillar pages with any content they will realize, rather than ensuring it closely matches the subject and subtopics.

The intentions could also be smart - somebody might want to incorporate a well-liked article loosely associated with the subject. With all the content needed for a pillar page, this will look like a time saver, however it’s seemingly conjointly diluting the core focus of your pillar page.

Remember, you’re making a really long piece of content. It has to be targeted, relevant, and meaningful  to the core topic and subtopics coated. If the content goes wandering off into alternative areas, your audience could close up, leading to a poorly received pillar page that doesn’t get backlinks and doesn’t keep generating traffic over time.

If you’re attending to head to the difficulty of creating a pillar page, place effort into making outstanding content which will compel guests to stay reading.

Tips:

• Update all content to form it current - Update the text, statistics, and links within the content you leverage.

• Keep subtopics targeted on your main topic - If a chunk of content doesn’t directly support the most topic, leave it out. If it’s a good piece of content, you'll be able to still mention it and link to that.

• Have individuals outside your organization (such pretty much as good customers) review it - raise if all the content has relevancy to the most topic and will be enclosed within the pillar page.

• Hire outside facilitate - typically center or adviser returning in with a recent set of eyes are often the simplest selection for choosing content to leverage, whereas holding the main focus required to form a good pillar page.

Challenge 4: creating Long-form Content Compelling

The next part organizations typically struggle with is in creating their long-form content compelling. this can be very true once investment existing content.

It’s invariably a decent plan to incorporate graphics, bulleted lists, and relevant pictures in diary posts. Some organizations skip that step once making shorter content - in any case, if a commentary is barely one or 2 pages long, they figure anyone interested can browse it.

There square measure 2 things to remember:

1. Any article or post, no matter length, can perform higher if you add graphics, lists, and relevant pictures. take care to invariably add these parts wherever potential.

2. If you set eight to twenty-two short, text-only posts along to form a pillar page, you’re seemingly making Associate in Nursing engagement expertise that is best delineate as "thick and chewy." Your guests merely will not consume it.

Pillar page content has to be scannable - it’s those scannable parts the info, and insights you decision out, which will compel readers to have interaction and skim the text, and transfer the eBook version of your pillar page to browse later.

Tips:

• Assign somebody to try and do a graphics refresh - build it a priority role and assign them adequate time to try and do it.

• Statistics, key quotes, and information square measure all nice candidates for graphic treatment

• Hire a printmaker - If you do not have a printmaker in-house, hiring one will greatly cut back the time it takes to try and do a graphics refresh. Graphic artists assume visually - they will review content and simply decide that parts would most take pleasure in graphic treatment.

• Have a team of insiders and outsiders review the pillar page before publication

• Make sure the content is compelling and scannable

Challenge 5: Building In Potential Lead Generation

The last main challenge we have a tendency to see is that a lot of organizations don’t use their pillar pages effectively for lead generation.

One of the key ideas around a pillar page is that pillar content is additionally offered as Associate in Nursing eBook, as a result of browseers typically prefer to transfer long-form content to read later.

Many organizations don’t add alternative content offers to their pillar pages. they must. Any relevant content provide is quarry to feature to a pillar page. If you’re discussing one thing that relates to a suggestion you've got, embody a button, image or link to the provide landing page.

Tips:

• Keep references to content offers short and to the purpose - Keep the pillar page targeted on the most topic and subtopics.

• Put calls to actions close to relevant content.

• Use links or button CTAs rather and image CTAs - Links or buttons distract less from the pillar content.

• Update alternative provide landing pages - embody info concerning why they’re relevant to the topics coated on the pillar page.

The Key Issue is Time and experience

It takes a great deal of your time, and a various set of skills, to try and do a pillar page right. Your team could possess several of the talents required, like information of your product and services and your existing content. however they will not be able to cowl everything in-house.

Managers sometimes wish to urge pillar pages wiped out a timely fashion, therefore the selling team will move onto alternative things, and then the corporate will reap the SEO edges. issues occur once you begin cutting corners to urge the pillar page project done. The selling team could fall back to what they’re comfy with, and punt a number of the more difficult problems I’ve listed during this article.

If a pillar page project is completed quick, however not right, it won’t generate traffic, earn backlinks, and boost your SEO the approach it ought to.

If you’re battling these problems, hiring an out of doors firm will save your team time, bring the talents your team doesn’t have, speed up your pillar page project, and most significantly, get your pillar page done right, therefore you see the SEO, traffic, and lead generation results you would like.