HOW FAR AHEAD ARE YOU THINKING?
How do you picture your content strategy? Are you quickly assembling blogs, infographics, and videos? Are you focusing on the end goal and working backwards from there? Maybe the first thought that springs to mind is, ‘Well, it depends’. It might have been better to phrase the question this way:
How deep is the well that you draw your content strategy from?
I’d like to highlight 8 important layers of content to consider, and discuss how each one can be put together in the early stages of your planning process to create bigger, better results for your campaigns.
LET’S SIMPLIFY
Understanding each layer will give you a bird’s-eye view of your GOAL ahead, and will make you more aware of the tools at hand. To put it another way, if your content strategy was a painting, this knowledge gives you more colours to use, and a much brighter light.
The content layers by themselves are powerful ways to PROGRESS your strategy, but they can all be used together as part of a much bigger picture. In practice, the layers you put into place should support those above it, and be supported by those under it.
CORE CONTENT
To continue the analogy, if your strategy was a painting, this would be the solid frame and canvas that holds everything together. It acts as the foundation on which you paint your masterpiece. Core content is VITAL to every business! Without it, you are not really offering anything to anybody.
Through its development, we can refine our desired customers, create our BRAND messaging and tone of voice, explain our core offerings, and focus our sights on long-term goals. Everything that is created on top of core content is connected and influenced by it.
When writing your core content, the two dominant points will always be:
- What your customers need.
- What your business offers.
VERTICLE CONTENT
There are actually two definitions for this term and they shouldn’t be mixed up. One is relatively new and refers to content (generally video) that is created for mobile viewing. The other is what we will focus on here.
Vertical content relates to your specific niche and helps you develop your categories or topics. This is a very important layer to invest time in, especially for your upcoming pillar and hub content (which I’ll get to shortly). Whatever you choose, your knowledge on that topic must be clear! In fact, the term ‘vertical’ directly relates to the ‘depth’ of knowledge you have.
Put simply, vertical content is a topic or category, which gives detailed information to a specific group of customers.
An example:
Imagine you run a busy flower shop. You sell a wide selection of flowers and are thinking about developing your ‘vertical content’. The first place you could look for inspiration is Google analytics – focusing on previous posts and pages that have had the most engagement. You could also consider recent and frequent questions asked by customers in forums, questionnaires, or reviews.
If you see that there’s a lot of heat around ‘rare flowers’, you could confidently choose that as a new vertical: you sell a selection of rare orchids, you know a lot about them, and now have the perfect category to add to your business.
Vertical content can cover any topic or category, so long as they are relevant and specific to your CORE BUSINESS OFFERING. On your canvas, it’s the detailed sketch of your painting’s key elements, before you add any colour.
PILLAR CONTENT
Once you have a ‘topic’ to focus on, you can now think about pillar content, which is a page or post that BROADLY covers that chosen topic. You could think of this as the background of your painting; a sturdy layer to support and emphasise the images that will be on top.
A lot of work goes into pillars. The length of each piece can vary on the topic in hand, but are generally around 4000 words. They will take a few days to write, show well researched material and sources, and also LINK to all your related posts.
Branching off your pillar will be more content that delves a little deeper into those related topics. This is called ‘cluster content‘.
If we go back to the florist example, your planning would look something like this:
Pillar content, along with its branching content, will usually be referred to as ‘topic clusters’. When used properly, they become highly effective tools for your SEO and link-building.
HUB CONTENT
When you place a series of topic clusters together, you start to create hub content. In essence, the overall effects are the same (you are providing detailed answers to your customers’ questions) except now you are broadening your appeal to MORE customers, over MORE topics. You are showing your wider range of core business offerings and knowledge. You are now building your AUTHORITY!
Content hubs can actually come in many differing forms, which is worthwhile knowing:
A content hub is generally smaller than a website and bigger than a blog. The best ones…are microsites or branded resource centres published to help visitors find the information they seek in the form they prefer.
When planning and creating your hub, you should always keep it within the borders of your business' core offerings.
I must have watched too much Bob Ross as a child, but on the painting, hub content would be the large figures in the foreground, interacting and pushing the main story forward.
CONNECTIONS
Whereas the 4 layers mentioned above are important to consider for any good content strategy, the next 4 layers are used depending on what your current goals are. They are important, useful, effective, but not always necessary.
Of course, it helps to know about them and how they can be used with the above layers. Some can be placed on your pillar content (cluster content), while others stand alone for various reasons.
LADDER CONTENT
The most important point to take away from ladder content, is that it is adaptable. By that, I mean it can change over time in order to appeal to a different group of customers, or to adapt to current social events. Like an actual ladder, it can give you a little more reach when it’s needed.
Ladder content is added to over time and can reach lengths of well over 3000 words. They stand on their own merit and draw in lots of new traffic like big, bright beacons. For this reason, they are not generally linked to pillar content and need to be kept fresh and up-to-date.
To create ladder content you will need to think hard about what your customers are interested in NOW; and before jumping into your keyword research, you will also need to consider which group this is being created for and for what purpose.
As things inevitably change, you can adapt the piece over time to reach a different group of people, or even narrow your focus on the same group.
SKYSCRAPER CONTENT
Skyscraper content is particularly effective when linked properly with your pillar content. When you have used all the right linking, with carefully planned keywords, Google will reward you for your hard work.
Unlike ladder content, skyscrapers don’t have to be ‘evergreen’, which means that the need to update and refresh continuously isn’t such an issue (but please remember that ALL content needs cleaning from time-to-time).
The length of each piece might vary depending on its purpose, but skyscraper content generally sits around 2500 words.
It is worth emphasising that a key function of skyscraper content is to help develop your ‘backlinks’. You will want to research what the best performing content is on your chosen topic, and then create something even better:
Finding the tallest 'skyscraper' in your space...and slapping 20 stories to the top of it.
The most important point to remember is that skyscraper content needs to be written to a high standard. You will lose more customers by hastily throwing words on a page, so your piece should be informative, clear, and engaging.
ASSET CONTENT
Asset content is the layer that’s most affected by your core content, in the sense that the changeable elements will always point strongly towards your brand and business offerings. The actual content itself can differ, depending on your current campaigns and target audience. The most common examples would be infographics, checklists, white papers, or eBooks.
You will see asset content frequently on websites and landing pages, as a way of negotiating contact details from you. The process can be highly effective, providing that the content contains high quality, valuable material.
This brings me onto my next point. Asset content is always VALUABLE, but can sometimes weaken over time. You need to get the most out of it before its pulling power is exhausted.
A well-designed infographic could be attached nicely to your pillar. It will also work effectively over a longer period of time when posted in the right places. But, if you are developing something bigger that stands alone, like an eBook, it would be wise to attach some extra support.
Often marketers build this fabulous eBook. It’s all ready to go, and they realize they don’t even have a landing page for it. Make sure your asset has a nice place to call home before you send it out into the big scary world.
ELEMENT CONTENT
Element content shouldn’t be considered as one thing. It makes up all the small details you see on the larger pieces of content. Like asset content, it aims to reflect your brand. Unlike asset content, it can never stand alone.
To finish the painting analogy, this would be the final touches; the light dabs of paint that accentuate the quality of your craft. In a blander sense, it’s mostly HTML – think of your website’s forms, the share buttons, the borders around your pictures.
You may be wondering if this really plays a part in content strategy? The answer is yes, if you want to see all the way to the bottom of the well.
Element content brings solid consistency to ALL your content. It makes up your typography, colours, photos, and general UX. If you use templates to post your ‘skyscrapers’, it is certainly worth considering in your initial planning.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
So, now you know what each layer does and how they work. While your content strategy will not be limited to these 8 layers, they will hopefully give you a better view of the bigger picture. It helps you fill your digital marketing funnels with all the right material.
Used properly, these layers can produce a content strategy that will boost your SEO rankings, create more awareness to your brand, build more trust with your customers, and get you more conversions.
Of course, the only issue you may now face is TIME! Planning, researching, and writing 4000 word pillars is not the easiest, or quickest of tasks. So, make sure you have carved out a decent amount of time to get creative, or think about finding a good copywriter.
FINAL TIP
It’s all very well to have a content strategy in place, but your customers want to read well-written, helpful, engaging material. Don’t forget that QUALITY is far more important when trying to bring your customers closer to your brand.
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