Writing Pillar Content For Your Newsletter Business Site - 5 Parts

Knowing how to create valuable pillar content for your newsletter business website is one of the most important skills you could ever acquire as a newsletter business owner.

In this article you will discover…

1. What pillar content is

2. Why having pillar content on your website is important

3. Seven effective tips for creating pillar content that inspires visitors to subscribe to your newsletter

4. Two effective ways to leverage pillar content on your site when you officially launch your business into the marketplace

5. And much, much more…

Here are two key things you must understand about pillar content before you learn about writing this kind of content for your business.

1. Pillar Content = An Amazing Marketing Asset - Pillar content is one of the absolute best marketing assets for your business. The pillar content you create for your site will never “get old” or “get stale” for your audience no matter what their current knowledge level about your newsletter’s topic is. Pillar content will always add value to new visitors who visit your website, and will inspire people to sign up for your newsletter email list.

2. Pillar Content = New Visitors And Revenue Forever - When you implement a “Strategic pillar content creation and marketing strategy,” the return you get over the long run is worth its weight in gold. Traffic coming into your website will get to a point where it will effortlessly flow into, and through your website via many different traffic channels on a daily basis. New traffic equals more subscribers, and more subscribers equals more advertising dollars (and a better valuation) for your newsletter business in the future.

Let these two points sink in really well before you move forward in this article, because they will be important for you to keep in mind at all times.

Also…make sure that before you read any further, that you have read and completed the steps in the articles linked below! Skipping ahead won’t help you here, so get this stuff done for your business before moving forward!

1. Starting A Newsletter Business? Do These 5 Things First

2. The 5 Things To Consider When Creating A Name For Your Newsletter Business

3. Buying A Domain Name For Your Newsletter Business - 5 Things To Figure Out

4. 18 Smart Questions To Ask (And Answer) Before Buying Newsletter Business Software

5. The Quickest Way To Create Your First Newsletter Business Logo

6. 3 Ways To Set Up The “Sign Up Process” For Your Newsletter

7. Writing The First “Post” On Your Newsletter Business Website

Table Of Contents

PART 1: What Is Pillar Content For Your Newsletter Business Website?

PART 2: 5 Important Reasons Why You Should Have Pillar Content On Your Site Before You Launch Your Newsletter Business

PART 3: How To Think About Writing Valuable Pillar Content For Your Newsletter Business Website

PART 4: 7 Tips For Writing Pillar Content For Your Newsletter Business Website

PART 5: Using Pillar Content To Drive Traffic: 2 Ways You Can Use One Article To Drive Traffic And Subscribers Into Your Newsletter On Launch Day

PART 1: What Is Pillar Content For Your Newsletter Business Website?

Pillar content is a type of “website content” (like what you are reading right now here on our site) that can be created and published on the Internet.

Every pillar content article that is published on any newsletter business website satisfies these specific conditions below for new and/or returning visitors:

1. Valuable - Pillar content is always valuable to your website visitors and newsletter subscribers. Pillar content articles deliver an immense amount of value to visitors who come to your website (Just like this article is providing value for you right now).

2. Timeless - Pillar content is always considered timeless. Every pillar content article on your website can be read right now or in the future, and still remain relevant to website visitors and newsletter subscribers over the long-run (You will always be able to read this article again, and it will still be as relevant today as it will be in the future for you).

3. Relationship - Pillar content is the beginning of the “relationship” that you build with website visitors and future email newsletter subscribers. When new visitors get exposed to pillar content articles on your site (like this one you are reading right now), it is the first opportunity you have to build a trustworthy relationship with them (if you like this pillar content article on our site, make sure you sign up for our email newsletter at the bottom of this pillar content post).

As your pillar content continues to saturate the internet through your strategic content marketing plan, and as your newsletter subscriber list continues to receive your email newsletter on a consistent basis in their email inbox, your ability to grow a massive newsletter subscriber list (and keep people coming back to your site and newsletter for more value over time) will only get easier.

To be even more clear…

The pillar content that is created at the beginning of your business helps you start the small “marketing snowball” that you push down the “snowy mountain” on launch day.

Imagine this…

You are standing at the top of a snowy mountain in the alps.

While standing at the top of the mountain, you create a small snowball that fits in the palm of your hand.

After you finishing making the perfect snowball, you then put the snowball on the ground and barely touch it, so it can start rolling down the mountain.

You then watch the snowball grow in size and increase in speed as it works its way to the bottom of the summit.

While the snowball is rolling down the hill, you notice that as the size of the snowball gets bigger…the speed at which it moves also increases as well.

Before it gets to the bottom of the mountain, it is already the size of a massive boulder (and maybe even the size of a house) that is moving as fast as a freight train that is nearly impossible to stop.

In this visual picture…

The snowball is like one pillar content post that you create and publish on your site at the beginning of your newsletter business.

The size of the snowball as it rolls down the hill illustrates the kind of traffic that is generated into the specific website page (article) over time (the amount of traffic continually grows and builds the longer the article exists on your site).

The speed at which the snowball moves down the hill before it gets to the bottom of the mountain illustrates the “momentum” each pillar content article gets over time.

For example…

It is harder to go from 0 to 100 visitors per day through one pillar content post, compared to going from 1000 visitors per day to 1500 visitors per day.

This is due to the fact that before you achieved 1500 visitors per day through one pillar content post, you already had 1000 visitors per day to “work with” before pursuing the goal of achieving the 1500 visitors per day goal.

With all of that being said…

Here is the key distinction that you should never forget about when it comes to creating and marketing pillar content on your newsletter business website:

When it comes to pillar content, and this visual picture of rolling a small snowball down the hill, there is no “bottom of the hill” on the internet where things come to a proverbial “halt.”

The size and speed of the snowball rolling down the hill (on the internet) can continue getting bigger and bigger over time until you have totally and completely dominated the market that you are serving.

Because of your pillar content…

The market eventually “chooses you by default” over anyone else in the niche because of how you “served them” with the pillar content that you created at the beginning of your business, and how fast it reached the majority of the people in your market who were searching for what you created.

Word of mouth eventually takes over, and then achieving your newsletter business goals becomes even easier.

While it may be frustrating and time-consuming to create the necessary amount of pillar content at the beginning of your business (before you officially launch)…

Hopefully you can see that by investing this kind of time time on the front end in your business to create massively valuable pillar content articles, it will pay you massive dividends on the backend in the traffic, subscribers, links, SEO, and revenue that it will generate for you over the long-run.

As you work your way through this article further, you will understand what that last paragraph means even more, so let’s continue.

Here is a second way to think about what pillar content is…

A pillar content article is like an “on-ramp” to your newsletter business website.

These “on-ramps” (that will expose your newsletter business site to brand new visitors) will help you achieve every goal that you have for your newsletter business over time.

Here are a few of the positive things that can happen when you publish and promote a pillar content article on your newsletter business website…

1. Visitors can/will find and consume your pillar content

2. Visitors can find and read your content, then become subscribers

3. Visitors can find your content and share it on social media

4. Visitors can find your content and then link to it on their website

5. Visitors can find your content then be loyal for life because of the value it delivers

6. Visitors can find your content and then refer their network to your content and your site

And on, and on, and on…

Pillar content helps you build a powerful traffic stream to your newsletter business website over time, and when your pillar content strategy is executed effectively, you will never have to worry about traffic, engagement, monetization or subscribers in the future ever again.

The best thing about creating pillar content is that you can create as many “on-ramps” as you like for people to enter into your site.

Again, please remember this before moving to the next section…

Now that you have somewhat of an idea what pillar content is…

How many pillar content “on-ramps” will you have on your newsletter business website?

That answer will ultimately be up to you.

Let’s continue into the next section.

PART 2: 5 Important Reasons Why You Should Have Pillar Content On Your Site Before You Launch Your Newsletter Business

As you are starting to realize and understand why having pillar content on your newsletter business website is essential as a serious newsletter business owner?

Good!

Below is a list of the five reasons why you should be serious about creating pillar content for your newsletter business website before launch day happens.

#1 You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression

It’s true. When a visitor comes to your website, you only get one shot to grab their attention, and inspire them to engage with what they see.

If a new visitor doesn’t see anything they like, they will click off your site never to return again (unless you get lucky).

When you create pillar content for your newsletter business site, you want it to accomplish these 4 goals.

1. Goal #1 - The content grabs a new visitors attention

2. Goal #2 - The content instantly gives a new visitor what they are looking for

3. Goal #3 - The content delivers on the promise made in the headline of each pillar content article

4. Goal #4 - The content makes it clear to the visitor what they should do next after they finish reading the article (the ideal call to action at the end of each pillar article should be to subscribe to your newsletter)

The bottom line is…

You really can’t lose when you create pillar content that effectively accomplishes each one of these goals.

Remember…

When you do a great job at creating and promoting pillar content for your business on launch day (and in the future), a percentage of those who read your pillar content articles the first time will also become brand new newsletter subscribers.

That is when you have struck a “marketing goldmine” that will grow your business exponentially over time. Getting a brand new visitor to read a pillar content article, and then watching them subscribe is an amazing thing to see and experience as a newsletter business owner.

#2 Build Trust and Position Your Newsletter Business Website As An Authority During Launch Day, and Into The Future

Pillar content can also be described as “content on your site that creates the ‘wow factor’ for brand new visitors.”

When you “wow” your visitors on the first visit, it builds trust with them instantly, and positions you as an authority in your particular niche as a newsletter business owner.

You can’t “buy” this trust with new visitors, you have to earn it. The easiest way to do that is to create amazing pillar content before you launch your newsletter business website.

The reason you want to make sure that you have pillar content on your website before you launch everything into the marketplace is because it goes back to point #1 in this sections about making an amazing first impression, and creating an experience where a new visitor feels like they don’t have to look anywhere else online to get what they need.

When you make an amazing first impression with pillar content everything literally falls into place for you after that.

#3 Pillar Content Gives Brand New Visitors An Excuse To Share Your Pillar Content With Their Network (After Reading A Post That Adds Value To Them)

Aside from making an amazing first impression that “wows” brand new visitors, it also gives them an excuse to share any of the pillar content articles on your newsletter business site with their networks and social media pages.

If a new visitor is a person who is looking for specific kinds of content that your website and newsletter has created for them, there is a very good chance that they also have other specific contacts in their network who would be interested in the same kind of content as well.

This is what creates a nice “Viral Spin” for your newsletter business website traffic that will show up in your website analytics over time.

Sometimes out of nowhere you will see random spikes in traffic inside of your analytics program come out of nowhere because of this one “traffic generation layer” that you can never plan for.

Word of mouth marketing eventually begins taking over, and when that happens it is totally awesome because…

When your newsletter business website begins driving a lot of word of mouth traffic into your site, you will see your traffic continually increase over time…which will also effectively grow your newsletter subscriber list without much effort on your part.

#4 Having Pillar Content On Your Site Makes It Easier To Build Links Back To Your Website On Launch Day And In The Future

When you have a lot of people reading your pillar content and sharing it with their specific networks and social media pages on launch day…

Another beneficial thing starts happening that you need to be aware of even though it isn’t happening for you right now.

Here’s the deal…

As more people see the pillar content you have created on your site, you will also start the process of building links back to your website content.

Website owners in the same niche want to always be adding value to their audience via their website. Eventually you will get to a point where other website owners in the same niche will link over to your pillar article content because of the value it can deliver to traffic already coming to their website.

When website owners do this for you, their traffic has the potential to become your traffic as well…given how they choose to position the link back to your article on their site.

These specific links back to specific pillar content articles on your site will help you rank higher in the search engines for the keywords used in the pillar content articles that were created.

As your word of mouth traffic continues to increase…

1. The traffic from social media increases

2. The traffic from other websites who link to your content continues to increase

3. The traffic from search engines continues to increase

4. Your subscriber list continues to increase

5. Your revenue continues to increase

And most importantly…

Everything else continues falling into place!

Aside from letting this link-building process happen organically, you can also proactively reach out to website owners via email letting them know that you have created pieces of content that may be beneficial to their audiences to read now and in the future.

The only way these website owners will consider linking to your content is if it is good, and delivers on the promise of the headline.

As you start seeing specific pillar content posts be linked and shared all over the web, that is when “magic” starts happening for your website.

We want to make one thing very clear before you move to the next reason.

This process doesn’t happen overnight, and it takes a good chunk of time on the front end to get to this point in your business.

But…

When the “magical situation” happens (as described above) there is absolutely nothing you can do that will stop it, unless search engines start banning your site (but that is highly unlikely if it adds a massive amount of value).

#5 Pillar Content Can Always Be Used For Specific Content Marketing Campaigns During Launch Week And Beyond

One final beneficial thing to be aware of when it comes to creating and publishing pillar content on your website is understanding how pillar content can be used during launch week, and in future paid advertising campaigns.

Using Pillar Content During Launch Week (No Advertising)

During the week you launch your newsletter business, there are many specific ways you can leverage your pillar content.

Let’s say that you first decide to reach out to a warm market contact in your personal network.

When you reach out to them, you are going to share a few things with them…

1. Share #1 - The news that you are starting a brand new newsletter business

2. Share #2 - One of your pillar content articles that you published on your site before launch day

3. Share #3 - Your “subscribe page” so they can sign up if the want to be a part of your business as a subscriber

By approaching your warm market contacts this way with the news, a pillar content article, and your “Subscribe to our newsletter” page…

It will increase the likelihood that your warm market contact will visit your website, read your content, and subscribe to your newsletter (assuming they are interested in the topic, and were “wowed” by the content they read in the pillar article you shared with them).

Using Pillar Content In The Future (Using Advertising To Drive Traffic)

After launch week, where you will at a minimum contact those who you know in your network to let them know that you have launched your newsletter business, you will start thinking about how to leverage the pillar content you created in paid media campaigns.

Because the pillar content itself is valuable, it can be marketed like a normal advertisement across multiple platforms during and after your newsletter business’s launch week.

Using paid media to drive traffic into pillar content articles will be another way for you to…

1. Goal #1 - Build trust with your market

2. Goal #2 - Drive new traffic from different traffic sources

3. Goal #3 - Generate new newsletter subscribers

4. Goal #4 - Help you build backlinks to your website during the campaign, which will help you rank higher in the search engines

If your pillar content is good enough, and adds enough value to the niche you are targeting like it is supposed to in your ad campaign, it makes a lot of sense to send paid traffic into specific pillar content articles.

Before you fire up your advertising account on one of the many networks you can utilize…

Make sure that that you have everything in place on your site to track what is important during the campaign!

You don’t want to be running paid ads without knowing how the traffic is responding on your website during the campaign because that is a total waste of money if you can’t track what happens.

Now that you have a thorough understanding about why it is important to create pillar content for your newsletter business website…

Now it’s time for you to learn the way you should be thinking about the creation of pillar content on your site before you implement the 7 tips you can follow right now to help you execute your pillar content creation and marketing plan.

PART 3: How To Think About Writing Valuable Pillar Content For Your Newsletter Business Website

Knowing how to “think about writing pillar content for your site” VS actually “writing pillar content for your site” are two entirely different disciplines, but they work hand in hand with one another.

Think about writing valuable pillar content like this…

First you need to assume that new visitors will potentially read all of the pillar content on your website before they choose to subscribe to your newsletter.

Get into that specific mindset right now and then…

Answer these three key questions about your future visitors:

1. Question #1 - Where do you want your newest visitor to “be” in their mind before they actually sign up for your newsletter?

2. Question #2 - What do you want visitors to read (and know) before they choose to subscribe to your newsletter, so that you can serve them in the best possible way in future email newsletter issues you publish?

3. Question #3 - What do you want your new subscribers to expect for the first newsletter issue they receive, knowing that they have already reviewed all of your pillar content on your site?

Take Action: Write down whatever comes to mind when you ask yourself these three questions right now.

Example Answers: Here is how a future newsletter business owner could have answered these questions above if they were creating a newsletter business for entrepreneurial-minded people who want to start their first business, (but who haven’t yet).

1. Answer To Question #1: “I want the future visitors to my website to be individuals who are inspired to start their fist business, but for whatever reason they haven’t started their first business yet.”

2. Answer To Question #2: “I want to make sure that my visitors have access to the content, tools and resources on my newsletter business website (via my pillar content) that helps them choose the idea for their first business and inspires them to get started.” My ultimate goal with my content is to get them to get them into action where they start their first business, and generate at least one customer in 90 days or less from the time they first visited my website.”

3. Answer To Question #3: “After a visitor subscribes to my newsletter (assuming that they have read all of my pillar content), I want the first newsletter to deliver valuable content that will keep them up to date with the best possible trends and tactics to implement in the entrepreneurial space on a consistent basis, so that they can continue to create success with the business they started and launched from reading my pillar content to begin with.”

As you think about how new visitors will read every pillar content article on your site before they subscribe, it will help you create the first set of pillar content articles that make sense for your newsletter business website.

After you have written down the answers to those three key questions, then it is time for you to…

Answer this one question about the future of your newsletter:

1. Knowing what your future newsletters issues will be about, and knowing how your newsletter will be formatted and packaged for email newsletter subscribers, where do you want your newest newsletter subscriber to “be” when it comes to their level of knowledge and awareness, so that they can get the maximum amount of value from the newsletter you send them on a consistent basis?

You have to think about the “knowledge gap” you want your pillar content to fill for new visitors and subscribers before they actually start receiving your email newsletter.

Here are some other things to consider and think about as well when crafting the initial set of pillar content articles for your newsletter business site…

1. Before The Click: What will a future visitor see and/or read before they click on a link that gets them to one of the pillar articles on your site? An example of this would be…”What is the image and/or text a potential visitor will read in a Facebook Newsfeed Ad before they actually click the link?”

2. What Makes Them Click? - What will inspire your potential visitors to click over to your website (in a Newsfeed Facebook Ad), and where do you want to meet them in the current “conversation they are having in their mind when they click”…before the page actually loads for them?”

By being clear about the role your pillar content plays on your site, and how it is tied to the way future newsletter issues are created and positioned for your subscribers…

Your goal is to create a “content consumption experience” for new visitors (and subscribers), so that new and seasoned subscribers never want to leave your newsletter list…because of the value that is inside each email newsletter issue you send them in the future.

Once you figure out these key pieces for your pillar content and newsletter business marketing strategy (pillar content to create + how to position the pillar content so that it sets up the sign up for your newsletter effectively)…

Then…

You will have every single thing that you need before you actually invest the time to create and publish the first pillar content article on your newsletter business website.

Remember…

Assuming that all visitors will read every pillar content article on your newsletter business website…before they ultimately choose to subscribe…

And knowing that you will most likely reference this pillar content in future newsletter issues when appropriate…

Make sure that you take the time on the front end to really think about how your newsletter will add even more value to subscribers beyond the pillar content that you publish on your site.

If you execute this pillar content marketing strategy effectively with the content that you choose to include in your newsletter, new visitors who decide to become newsletter subscribers will stay subscribed to your newsletter forever.

This “become a subscriber forever” situation will happen for new subscribers because the long-term value delivered in your newsletter will continually add value above and beyond the pillar content you initially produced for them on your site.

PART 4: 7 Tips For Writing Pillar Content For Your Newsletter Business Website

Everything that you have read in this article up to this point boils down to these 7 tips for you to read and execute as you begin the process of creating pillar content for your newsletter business website.

Tip #1: Think About The Question: “What Do I Want My Audience To Already Be Exposed To Before They Sign Up For My Newsletter?”

Exercise your empathy muscle here.

Look at things from the eyes of your new visitor that you hope will become a subscriber.

Ask the hard questions, and invest the time in creating pillar content that will matter to them right at the beginning of your relationship with them!

Tip #2: Think About Your Pillar Content Like The Foundation Of A House You Are Building. What Kind Of Foundation Do You Want To Build For Your Potential New Subscriber That Is Visiting Your Site For The First Time?

Again…you will exercise your empathy muscle here.

Begin with the end in mind when you visualize the “Pillar Content House” you want to build before launching your newsletter business website into the marketplace.

Plan your work, work your plan, and get your pillar content created before launch day as fast as possible, so you can begin the process of building your subscriber base while bringing revenue into the door.

Tip #3: Think About Your Pillar Content In The Context Of This Sentence: “These Pieces Of Content Can Be Used In A Paid Media Campaign In The Future, What Topics And Headlines Make Sense For A Future Campaign?”

Take some time to think about what specific pillar content would be valuable to create for a paid media campaign in the future.

Put yourself in the shoes of your market, and visualize them being on a different website when they see your ad promoting a specific pillar content article.

What will the ad say?

What will the ad look like?

Where will it send them after they click?

Write down all of your thoughts, and use them as a guide when creating the initial pillar content articles for your site.

Tip #4: Create Your Pillar Content In Such A Way Where Visitors Want To Read More After Finishing Their First Pillar Content Article (Remember: Formatting Is Everything)

We know that we sound like a broken record, but step into the shoes of a future visitor again.

Think about how you want the content to look and feel as it delivers the value your visitor is looking for.

How will you use blocks of copy, images, bolding and different font sizes?

Delivering value in your pillar content is one thing, but packaging it to be consumed in an easy way is something that is also just as important.

Do everything you can to find the balance between both of these variables that will work best for you!

When you get people reading more than one pillar content article on your site (when they first visit), it means that what you are creating for them is resonating and building trust with them.

Your analytics will show this all broken down when you take the time to look through them each week.

Tip #5: Make Your Pillar Content As Long As It Needs To Be To Deliver The Value You Promise In The Headline Of The Post

Don’t stress about the length of your pillar content articles.

Make each pillar content article as long as it needs to be to deliver the value you promised in the headline.

This idea that pillar content articles need to be a “certain length” for website visitors is a bunch of hogwash from someone trying to sell you a different idea.

Don’t listen to them. Follow your gut, and create what you know your audience will love so that they want to subscribe to your email newsletter.

Tip #6: Create Pillar Content That You Know The Search Engines Will Love

When you create pillar content that ranks well in search engines for specific keywords, it means that the content is helpful to the market of people searching for it.

When you create content that a lot of people read, and create it in a way where the “time on site” metric is high, your probability for a higher ranking in the search engines increases.

Focus on making valuable and helpful content that will help individuals in the specific niche you are focused on serving.

Tip #7: Create Content That You Know Other Websites In Your Niche Would Love To Link To If You Asked Them To

This tip makes sense without needing to explain much.

When you make something that other people (and website owners) will find valuable, it makes it easier to ask other website owners to link to you over time.

The search engine value (and your rankings) will only increase as you continue building valuable links back to your website, and other pillar content articles you have created.

Are you ready for the final section of this article?

Let’s do it!

PART 5: Using Pillar Content To Drive Traffic: 2 Ways You Can Use One Article To Drive Traffic And Subscribers Into Your Newsletter On Launch Day

In the final section of this pillar content post, we are going to share two specific tactics you can use with a pillar content article during your launch day (and week).

These two tactics will help you drive new traffic into your newsletter business website as you begin building your newsletter subscriber list.

#1 - Introducing Your Newsletter Business To Warm Contacts

On the launch day of your newsletter business, when you reach out to friends, family and everyone else that makes sense, make sure to do these 5 things…

1. Let your contact know the news about your new business

2. Share the link to your newsletter sign up page

3. Share a link to one of your pillar content articles

4. Share your first newsletter issue with them so they get an idea (the link that allows them to read your first newsletter issue on your site)

5. Invite them to subscribe to the newsletter if they are interested

Following these 5 steps would be a smart thing to do when contacting your list of warm market contacts on launch day, and during launch week.

#2 - Leverage The Network Of Your Warm Market Contacts Who Subscribe To Your Newsletter

As you continue reaching out to your warm market contacts, and as you take note of who subscribes and who doesn’t, it is smart to connect again those who sign up for your newsletter list with a very small favor to ask.

If one of your warm market contacts chose to subscribe to your newsletter, approach each one and ask them for a quick favor to help you promote your newsletter on their social media profiles.

When you ask them to promote your newsletter business, make sure you give them something they can easily “copy and paste” on their social media profiles (make the process as easy as possible for them).

The message they post for you should include the direct link to your sign up page, and a link to one of your pillar content articles (at a minimum).

Also don’t forget to ask them for referrals as well after they prove that they are willing to help you build your business any way they can.

You never know who they can put you in contact with, and how it will impact the future of your business.

Now That You Know The 7 Tips For Writing Pillar Content On Your Newsletter Business Site, Now Is The Time To Take Action…

Here at The Pursuit Newsletter, we are focused on serving the “online newsletter business owner” who wants to reach their newsletter business goals as quickly as possible.

The content on our site and in our email newsletter, will absolutely give you the “entrepreneurial edge” you need as you start, build and grow your online newsletter business into what you know it can become.

The content you will find on our website, and in our email newsletter, will absolutely help you in a major way as you continue your pursuit of being an online newsletter business owner that reaches their goals.

Make it a great day!

-The Pursuit Newsletter Team