The Blog Setup Blueprint
Starting a new blog?
Wondering how to set things up?
Get things started?
That's where the Blog Setup Blueprint comes into play.
Instead of constantly trying to figure out how to setup a new blog or how to structure it, I came to a conclusion.
There has to be an easier way.
You see, I create a lot of blogs and don't have time to constantly debate over the basic setup of my sites.
I need to be able to deploy new blogs fast.
I came to a conclusion.
I needed a Blog Setup Blueprint that not only allowed me to deploy new blogs quickly...
I needed a blog structure blueprint that would work for almost any type of site and could be easily modified and built on over time.
It needed to be able to grow as my blog business grew.
More importantly, it needed to be highly optimized.
You'll see how I did this as we go along...
The Blog Setup Blueprint
I coach and instruct a lot of beginners.
Everyday people who don't know anything about websites or WordPress blogs.
All they know is they want to be able to build their websites quickly and get to blogging and making money.
After they learn how to start a blog, the first question I get is: "Mike, what next? How do I structure my blog?"
Is this you?
It's an important question too.
And the answer is even more important.
As simple as it may seem to someone just starting out, how you setup your blog is very important.
What's even more important to know is that it is much different today than it was just a few years ago.
The Google Effect
How you setup your blog and how it flows for users is extremely important.
The User Experience and ease of use of your blog is critical to your blog's success.
If your site visitors are happy, then you are more likely to achieve your blog goals.
But your site's structure needs to be setup right in order to do this.
Why does this matter?
User Experience and flow equals more traffic, leads, and sales.
Plus, it is a huge SEO factor.
Google wants users to be happy when they visit your site.
Google has changed a lot in the way they approach rankings and because of this, Topic focused Search Engine Optimization (SEO) now plays a major role in how you need to setup your site.
Social Media sharing and organic reach is way down as of the beginning of 2018 and Google is now #1 in generating traffic again after taking a back seat the last 2 years to social.
Making Google happy right from the beginning isn't a bad thing.
Right?
But there's a lot more to the Blog Setup Blueprint than this.
There's a method to the madness that will show you why this all works to not only optimize your blog for SEO, but for leads and sales as well.
Keep reading...
The Home Page Flow
Everything starts with the Home Page on your blog and flows on from there.
This creates a single point of contact for your visitors to find everything on your site.
It makes Google real happy too (remember!).
The Home Page starts the flow, but it is far from being the most important part of your site.
Let's take a look at the full Blog Setup Blueprint.
Want the Roadmap to Blog Success? Want the Step by Step 30 Day Guide? Get it here now.
Look familiar?
It should.
It is the same exact blog setup structure we use here at the Starter Academy.
If you look at the arrows and the way they flow...
Something else should really stand out to you.
Do you see it?
It's called Pillar Content and it will be the driver for everything you do...
Courtesy of Solve Legal Marketing
The Pillar Content Funnel
Everything flows from the Home Page through your blog and into your content.
Your Home Page isn't the most important content on your site though.
It's your Pillar Content and in 2018 it is a critical part of what your blog structure and setup needs to have.
What's Pillar Content?
It's called a lot of things but it all comes down to the same concept. Hubspot calls it Pillar Content. Brian Dean calls it Skyscraper content. Yoast SEO calls it Cornerstone content....
Pillar pages broadly cover a particular topic, and cluster content should address a specific keyword related to that topic in-depth. For example, you might write a pillar page about content marketing -- a broad topic -- and a piece of cluster content about blogging -- a more specific keyword within the topic.
Pillar pages are longer than typical blog posts -- because they cover all aspects of the topic you're trying to rank for -- but they aren't as in-depth. That's what cluster content is for. You want to create a pillar page that answers questions about a particular topic, but leaves room for more detail in subsequent, related cluster content. - Hubspot
Bottom line is this...
Pillar Content posts are the content posts on your blog which are the focal point for everything on your site.
They are where you send your links.
They are where you generate authority, leverage, subscribers, and sales for your blog based business.
We do this by creating clusters of content to support them and then we funnel all of our traffic to them as well.
We call them Topic Clusters.
Your Pillar Content Posts are the focal point and the "Cluster Content" (as shown above) are the Supporting Content Posts which feed into each Pillar.
This creates a content funnel which helps with not only funneling traffic into your Pillar Posts, but backlinks and authority too.
This way the most important content on your site gets visited by everyone more than any other content.
Visitors and Search Engines alike.
It all gets funneled into the most important and highly focused content on your site.
Its the Perfect Storm of everything and its why you need to structure each and every blog you create with this structure.
It's also a big part of our WordPress SEO plan here at the Starter Academy.
It's simple, but highly effective.
Making Categories Irrelevant
The overall design of this setup allows you to keep your site's main pages on an even plain, independent of your blog content.
You then create mini silos with your Pillars and Topic Clusters.
This almost makes categories irrelevant.
In fact, tons of big name marketers are using this same exact setup, but with a single category or no category setup.
Why?
Because your content is Topic focused and the Supporting Content funnels your visitors to the content you want them to see, versus using categories which may make a casual browser move away from the content you want them to see the most.
This puts you best content up front and the supporting content in the distance.
All of which results in highly targeted content and highly targeted visitor content funnels focused on driving leads and sales.
Agree?
Good.
Are you doing this on your blog right now?
If not, then its time for you to get started.
Download the Blog Setup Blueprint and get started building your blog the right way today.
Have Questions?
Post them in the comments below.
