You don’t see people talking as much these days about writing pillar posts. Actually they are, but they talk more about epic posts or high quality posts or in-depth posts.
pillar ice cream cone
Back in the day we used the term “pillar” to denote long, detailed posts that acted like pillars on old Roman buildings. Their purpose was to help you show others that you knew what you were talking about, thus driving traffic to your blogs, making search engines happy, and giving you something special that you could use to promote yourself.
Pillar posts were supposed to be at least 3,000 words, which few people were writing at the time. I wrote my first pillar post in 2011, but chickened out of having it as one article, so I broke it up into two articles on better blogging. It seemed like a great idea at the time because I thought I might capture people’s attention with the first one and then satisfy them with the second.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way; people read the first one but not as many came back for the second. Overall, it would have worked better had I posted it all in one post; oh well, that’s how we learn things, right?
Since that time I’ve written a lot of pillar posts. Some of them didn’t start out to be pillar posts but developed over the course of writing the article. Of course, my style is different than that of many others because, though I use a lot of images on long posts, I don’t show tons of statistics, infographics or the like. The closest I came to doing something like that was back in August 2016 when I wrote a post on my guest for blog speed. However, I recently wrote a relatively long post on LinkedIn preferences where I used images to highlight all the pertinent menus, but the article itself was less than 2,000 words.
If 2,000 words doesn’t count for a pillar post, then how to you write one? I’m going to tell you how, but this article don’t be one. Based on my research it’s going to be longer than the few articles I could find now that talk about it, but I doubt it’ll reach 3,000 words. Then again, I’ve said that before and it’s ended up being a pillar post; let’s see what happens. Here are the steps towards writing a pillar post.
1. Pick a topic that you know well
Even if you decide to do some research, it helps to know a lot about your subject before you start writing. The reason is simple; research papers are dull and hard to add personality to, while writing about something you know helps to liven things up. Almost no one wants to read a dissertation that’s supposed to be a blog post.
2. Pick a topic that you’re interested in
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I know, the pundits will tell you to write about something that everyone else wants to read, which involves keyword and search engine research, lots of tracking and time, and will get on your nerves before you write the first word. Unless you’re being paid to write something specific, write about something you want to cover.
Once you have a topic, think about whether you want to write about something broad or something specific. I tend to stick with broad topics because being too niche-specific can be hard to write a lot about, no matter how thorough you’re going to be. Maybe a good research topic would get you to 3,000 words or so, but it’s going to take a long time to write that type of article. If you have it in you then go for it. If not… broad isn’t bad.
3. Outlines are imperative
My most epic pillar post is titled 30 Mistakes You’re Making With Your Blog. I decided ahead of time that I wanted to write about 30 things about blogging, so that was my working title. I knew that trying to write it without having all the topics up front would be a disaster.
The thing about outlines is that you not only know the points you want to touch upon, but you can arrange them in the order you want to write them on. For instance, when I wrote a post titled 31 Big Mistakes People Make Blogging And In Social Media, I obviously needed 31 items to cover. A couple of times I had topics back to back that related to each other such as Not Sharing Any Of Your Own Content and Not Sharing The Content Of Others in the article, but when I was creating the outline I didn’t have them next to each other. I might have missed the opportunity to make the connection without having an outline.
4. Be ready to expound and expand
Last week’s article was titled Stop Blogging; The List. It was the expansion of an article I actually wrote in 2009 based on an article by Darren Rowse. Back then, when articles were much shorter, I only touched upon 4 of the 20 items on the list for brevity’s sake; Darren didn’t add anything to the list whatsoever. In the updated article, I added a lot more content and thought by addressing my thoughts about each individual point. Sometimes it was still only a paragraph; often much longer. I took an article that originally was just under 500 words and turned it into one over 2,700 words.
The idea behind a pillar post is to offer details of whatever it is you’re talking about. With a long list, some thoughts will be shorter, but others will be longer. Even in a researched article, some points will take longer to explain than others. The goal isn’t brevity; it’s explanation, ala Neil Patel. If you’re looking for someone to emulate long term and have the energy, he’s the guy. 🙂
5. You don’t need lots of items on your list
I wrote an article with only 9 things about social media that ended up being almost 2,600 words. I wrote another highlighting 16 blogging tips that was just under 2,800 words. It’s not about the size of the list but the depth of the content and conversation you’re willing to have.
Above I mentioned writing an article that was more than 5,700 words; Neil Patel wrote one that was over 10,000 words! Love him or hate him (can’t figure out why anyone hates him but some do), you have to admire his work ethic. His pillar posts are true pillars; he’s the master at it. He’s shown the way to being thorough on a topic; that’s what it’s all about.
There you are; 5 items to think about and hopefully get you on the road to writing your first pillar post. If you get there, you can brag for the rest of your life! 😉
Picking a topic that you are interested in is one of the most important parts of creative writing. If there is no passion, it will clearly show in the end product. Great post!
Thanks. I agree, without some passion for the topic, the writing’s boring and useless.
I’ve never written a pillar post, and I’m pretty sure I never will Mitch. Heck, I don’t think I’ve ever used outlines either. Another reason why I’ll never write a pillar post?
You might have done it back in the day but the way you blog now is much different than what you used to do. You used to write some “10 things” posts that you could have easily turned into pillar posts.
No, thank you. Pillar posts are not for lazy bloggers like me who can hardly write about a thousand words per post. Since my blog is more for my own satisfaction, I am content.
Well, you’re not marketing or trying to get more people to your blog for business purposes, so that makes sense. This article came about because I was talking to a friend of mine who was looking at ways to increase both her blog’s visits and enhance her reputation as a writer, and I gave her the idea of pillar posts because it could help her to have at least one or two on her blog to share with potential customers so they know she can do long form writing.
I’m new to blogging and don’t have a pillar post. I’m struggling to drive traffic so I’m gonna give it a try. I was already considering doing a list post so I will try with this one. Thanks for the idea
If you’re writing about yourself and your life, a pillar post isn’t necessary. If you’re writing about a subject with a long term objective. then a pillar post will help greatly.
Hey Mitch Mitchell, won’t you think backlinks have their importance? Without any links how can a domain get to the top?
However thanks for this guide.
#techFlout
Backlinks have nothing specific to do with writing a pillar post. I won’t say they’re not important as much as I’ll say that I tend to believe the quality of one’s post and proper internal linking is just as important. If you’ve conquered the first part, others will give you backlinks organically without much effort on your part.
Thanks for explaining pillar posts. As I build my blog I am finding many of my posts are lengthy 1500-2500 words. That length suits my subject matter and the way I address it.
I appreciate your responses in the comments, especially above where you state, “If you’re writing about yourself and your life, a pillar post isn’t necessary. If you’re writing about a subject with a long term objective. then a pillar post will help greatly.”
That comment clarifies things even further.
Glad to help Greg. The thing is, for most people writing for themselves, the search engines aren’t going to help much unless it’s a niche topic like jumping off mountains… I think those people are crazy! lol Still, it’s a niche that will have its audience, but it’s not something that’s going to have a need to fight against the same number of people I fight against talking about blogging or writing or social media. In that regard, it’s good to have a few long form posts to show that you have some expertise in your field. Good luck to you.
The pillar post concept caught my attention. No, I can’t say I have one article over 3,000 words. Even back when I first started, I would have broken the article up into sections, part 1,2, and so forth.
I do appreciate why pillar points were needed back then. Now people can follow you on social media, and in about a few months time, if they are thinking, in a few weeks time, they experience a general outline of who you (field) are and whether or not you know what you are talking about.
Great write up, regards James.
Actually, it’s these days where pillar posts are more important if you’re hoping for more traffic via the search engines. Back in the day we could get away with 300 and 400 word articles as long as it was new and consistent traffic. I wouldn’t put as much stock as you have in people getting to know you on social media. For all the people following me on Twitter, I’d bet less than 20 actually know me better than cursory. It’s just the nature of the beast; that’s why blogging works better.
HI Mitch,
That’s a great post about pillar post. I am implementing this technique on my blog sites. I think this would work better than my competitors. What do you think?
I’ve pretty much already said what I think lol
Pillar articles are really great in boosting rankings for your main article or content that you want to rank higher in search engines. I usually write longer than 1000 word articles for the Pillar and 3000 minimum for the main article and I can say it was really effective.
That’s good stuff Matt. My way is that I write as much or as little as I need to most of the time, and that suits me pretty well. Then I have those moments when I’m in the mood to pontificate on something a bit deeper than the norm, and that’s when I end up with something truly epic.
Thanks for these tips. I’ve tried writing pillar posts. If you’re not interested in the topic, it can be really hard. Now the competition has reached new heights. Now they’re writing 10,000 words articles and they hire professional writers to churn out mass amount of articles.
I’ve written pillar posts, and I’ve written two books. I know the work it takes to do it, but that’s why I write on topics I know something about already. I understand the wish to make money blogging, but having a couple of pillar posts will help you go a long way towards establishing your authority.