How to Write Great Blog Content – The Concept of the Pillar or Cornerstone Article

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While doing some research for this article I realized that I needed a reference to what is good blog content. I came across a post by Yaro Starak, the blogger who probably coined the phrase “Pillar Article”, and he offers a pretty good definition of what good content is.

Below you find a definition and examples of the Pillar Format, as described in his book Blog Profits Blueprint, one of the best textbooks on successful blogging.

The concept was first used in a guest post on Problogger.net sometime in 2006, where following tip on how to find more blog readers could be found:

Write at least five major “pillar” articles.

Generally speaking, a pillar article is a tutorial style post aimed to teach your audience something or other. Usually they are rather long (more than 500 words) and offer lots of very practical tips or advice. The post you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it (hopefully) is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This type of article has long term appeal, stays current (which means that it is not dependent on current fashions or technical standards, etc.) and offers real value and insight. The more of these “pillar” articles you have on your blog the better.

Similar phrases that essentially describe the same thing – good blog content – are “Flagship Content” by Chris Garret and “Cornerstone Content” by Brian Clark. Their articles and ebooks are worth reading if you want to know what makes a good blog a good blog.

Back to Yaro and his definition.

What Is A Pillar?

A pillar is blog content, usually an article, which achieves a number of very important things:

• It will bring a lot of traffic to your blog.
• You will get more backlinks (other sites linking to your blog).
• It will continue to bring readers to your site for a long time as you and other people refer to it, even though it may be buried somewhere in your blog archive.
• Eventually, it will bring in traffic from search engines (largely because many other web pages link to it).
• You can list it in a separate area (e.g. in the sidebar under a label like “useful resources” or “mostpopular articles”) together with all of your other pillars so your best content is esy to find and the value of your site clearly demonstrated.
• It is not time dependent, so it will remain relevant and popular for months - maybe years - to come.

How to Create a Pillar/Flagship/Cornerstone

Unfortunately, there is no exact formula for producing an article that will become a pillar or cornerstone or flagship, but there definitely are some key characteristics you can work on. You may be pleasantly surprised when an article that does not seem like one becomes a pillar, or disapointed when you pour your heart into a great article and it does not do anything for your traffic at all.

The following types of articles make especially great pillars/flagships/cornerstones:

1. The “How-To” Article

This is a staple pillar article concept. Make sure you only write “how-to articles” on topics you genuinely understand how to do and are experienced in.

A few examples:

• As a marketing consultant you could write about how to market a business without spending a lot of money.
• If you happen blog about cats write about how to find the best cat food.
• If you blog about how to write a book you might want to consider creating a how-to guide on approaching publishers.
• If your blog is about food write on how to prepare and serve popular dishes.
• If you blog about the things that happen in your life you can write how-to guides on self development based on the lessons you had to learn the hard way (e.g. How to find a job; how to end a relationship; how to adapt a house for the arrival of a baby; etc.).

It should be reasonably obvious which how-to topics are popular and relevant to your audience and which you feel capable of explaining well. Remember to tell a story if you can!

2. The Definition Article

Many industries have key concepts which new readers probably will not know to much about. If an important concept iscomplex and hard to grasp you should consider writing a pillar article that defines the concept, clearly explaining what it means and how it can be implemented.

It may seem simple and obvious to you, but remember, you are an expert in your field and your readers most likely are not. Therefore you should do your best to explain it to the newbies in the simplest of terms - and try and tell a story as an example.

A glossary definition page is a great pillar article. If there are a handful of key concepts in your field of expertise, compose an article that lists the concepts and provides a one-paragraph definition for each. A resource page like this is makes a good reference piece and will be referred back to by other bloggers and websites.

You may ask yourself why you should bother doing this if most terms are already defined elsewhere on the web at sites like the omnipresent Wikipedia. It is alright to link to other websites for definitions, especially in the short term – for instance, when you are in the process of setting up your blog or website -, but it is a lot better if you write your own definitions. It keeps readers coming back to your blog, increases your pageviews (the total number of pages your blog readers view) and visitor length (how long readers stay at your blog).

It gives you a chance to describe a concept in your own words, using your own unique story and voice. This helps to build credibility and trust.

It is always smarter to include your own version of a definition if you are capable of explaining a term or concept instead of linking to other sites and driving traffic away from your blog or website.

3. Present a Theory or an Argument

If you blog about politics, writing an article discussing your theories about democracy, freedom, capitalism or the UN can make a great pillar article.

The important thing here is to present some unique thought. State your opinion on a major issue in your industry, or even on a mainstream topic that you suspect your readers will take an interest in.

Try not to simply rehash what other people have said and clearly present your own thesis. Encourage conversation and coments about a topic that is often discussed and is not time-dependent and you will draw traffic to your blog.

Do not be afraid of starting a controversy. This is one of the best methods to get people to notice your blog.

4. Create a resource like a free report, white paper, an e-course or e-book

One of the all-time favorite pillar/flagship/cornerstone concepts. A document such as a white paper (a small document, approximately 5-15 pages long, which teaches how to do something) or a series of articles that can be combined to create a course make a fantastic pillar.

How to present your information:

• Create a PDF your readers can download. The major benefit of this method is that the file can and will be shared (by forwarding forwarding through email for example) and you may benefit from viral marketing effects, especially if you produce a top quality e-book or report.
• Publish several related blog posts and interlink them. You can also highlight them as a stand-alone series in your archives or on your articles page.

If you cannot decide on the best method to distribute your free resource(s), my suggestion is to offer it in as many ways and formats as possible. Make a PDF available for download, publish the articles individually, make them available via email, and offer them in formats suitable for the new ebook readers. That way you will be able to maximize your exposure and cater to the widest possible audience.

The important thing is to create a complete all-in-one solution to a common problem. Similar to the how-to article, a free resource is a powerful pillar/flagship/cornerstone concept because it shows your expertise and brings in consistent traffic.

5. The List

You have probably come across quite a lot of these at other blogs. The usual titles are “Top 10 Ways To…” or “20Tips To Improve…”, etc., etc. These tend to work well for a number of reasons:

• Lists are easy to digest for human beings. It has been tested and proven time and again that articles in the 300-700 word range containing lots of clear dot-point bulleted lists and a compelling headline are good traffic pullers. It is all about simplicity of consumption for people with short attention spans – i.e. your average web surfer.
• Lists provide lessons that are instantly practicable. Plus, people love to share lists with other people. Consequently list articles are often linked to by other bloggers and added to social bookmarking sites that drive traffic.

Provided your list follows all the standard pillar concept rules – timelessness, original content, problem solving ideas – and you keep it directly applicable to your audience, it has a good chance of becoming a pillar/flagship/cornerstone.

But be wary of providing lists of topics well covered by other people or on very simple concepts. As usual, the more personal your list, the more likely it will perform well.

6. The Technical Blueprint

A technical blueprint is very much like a “how-to” or a white paper. The major difference is that it focuses on the technical aspects of a problem. Technology-focused bloggers are very adept at writing blueprint pillar articles because they love to use graphs, spread sheets and graphics to demonstrate how something works.

A technical blueprint is a step-by-step, visually enhanced article demonstrating exactly how to complete a task. Sometimes pictures explain things better than words could do. Designers and programmers use this style of blog post to show how they code a website, alter an image using Photoshop, code software, or attach a file to an email.

You can apply the principle to almost any industry that has common tasks which may be complex to understand. In this case it is more about the concept and the images than the story.

If you have access to the necessary resources, creating a blueprint-style blog post that clearly demonstrates how to do something is a perfect pillar concept.

This post covers some of the most basic and powerful pillar article concepts you can apply to your blog or website. If you write a lot of articles using one or more of the concepts above you will have a solid foundation for a successful blog.

Note: This article is a summary of a much longer text on how to create a successful and profitable blog. The title of the book is “Blog Profits Blueprint”, it was written by Yaro Starak.

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