Create a cohesive blog strategy in 4 easy steps - examples included

A blog has many purposes, but its primary goals are to provide valuable content that engages visitors and improves your search engine visibility – all while building trust with your audience. When these objectives are met, a blog can not only drive organic web traffic and help potential clients find your business online, but also help you establish yourself as an expert in your field.

But how do you blog effectively? And how do you decide blog topics?

Blogging is a powerful way to reach potential clients, grow your business, and establish your expertise, but to maximize its potential, you need a solid blogging strategy – an organized way of weaving topics together so your entire blog flows seamlessly.

Think of your blog strategy like a spider web. Each blog post represents a strand that connects to others, creating a network of interlinked ideas and resources. The ‘spider web blogging’ approach provides a cohesive experience for your readers and ensures that no blog post stands alone.

Clear as mud? Don’t worry. We’re going to break this down further. Here are the four steps to creating an effective blog strategy.

Step 1 – Organize your blog topics into 3-5
content buckets.

When starting your blog strategy, it’s essential to consider the bigger picture. Instead of focusing on compiling a list of individual blog topics, create a unified structure by organizing your content into content buckets. Content buckets represent the broad themes that guide your blog’s overall direction.

By developing primary themes or content buckets first, you not only showcase your expertise but you also build trust by ensuring your blog consistently addresses the topics most relevant to your audience.

For example, if you are a therapist, three content buckets for your blog may be…

• Content bucket 1: Therapeutic techniques

• Content bucket 2: Mental health education

• Content bucket 3: Self-care & wellness

Step 2 – For each content bucket, come up with at least two pillar pieces to start.

Pillar pieces are typically long-form blogs/articles that relate back to the core theme in a direct but broad or ‘overview’ type of way. These high-level pieces of content serve as launch-pads for more hyper-specific or niche topics. Let’s add on some pillar piece ideas to our previous example, and remember, we want broad topics for our pillar pieces. Choose article topics that could easily spin off into 3-5 other more specific blog topics.

Content bucket 1: Therapeutic techniques

• What to expect in therapy

• What type of therapy is right for you

Content bucket 2: Mental health education

• Understanding depression and anxiety

• Understanding polyvagal theory

Content bucket 3: Self-care & wellness

• Understanding mindfulness: An overview

• Understanding self-care: What self-care is and what it’s not

Step 3 – For each pillar piece, come up with at least two to four spin-off ideas.

By structuring your blog strategy this way, every blog post will undoubtedly interlink with at least one to two other posts. And when every article reinforces or supports at least one other blog, your blog will become a dynamic, multi-dimensional system that keeps site visitors reading and engaging with your blog. (You can reference the completed blog strategy example below.)

At this point, you should have around ~25 blog topics - around a year's worth! - ready to go. Once you start implementing and writing these blog topics, trust me... More relevant blog ideas will naturally emerge. You'll find yourself working on one blog and think, "This should really be two blogs," or, "We really need a blog covering _____ before we post about this topic..." etc. And that's ok! That's wonderful! Authentic momentum is the best momentum.

Step 4 – Thoughtfully curate your content.

Content curation is what gives your blog a web-like structure, encouraging readers to stay on your site longer, explore different topics, and ultimately return to your blog in the future. It also helps with SEO, as search engines like Google favor websites with a clear, organized structure and internal linking.

By linking posts from different buckets, you create a rich, interconnected experience where every blog serves as a steppingstone to more valuable information. Curating your content also helps ensure that no blog post acts as an exit page. (An exit page is when a visitor reads one blog post and leaves the site without exploring further. Web pages with high exit page statistics are not generally favored by search engines.)

Blog strategy example for therapists:

Content bucket 1: Therapeutic techniques

• What to expect in therapy – Pillar piece

  • How to prepare for a therapy session

  • How to know when to seek therapy

  • What to look for in a therapist

• What type of therapy is right for you – Pillar piece

  • What EMDR is, how EMDR works, and how to know if EMDR is right for you

  • What’s the difference between regular therapy and trauma-informed therapy?

  • Understanding somatic therapy

  • When to seek therapy

Content bucket 2: Mental health education

• Understanding depression and anxiety – Pillar piece

  • Symptoms of depression

  • How to calm a panic attack

  • Building emotional resilience

  • Mental health myths

• Understanding Polyvagal theory – Pillar piece

  • PTSD v cPTSD

  • Types of trauma – chronic, acute, complex, etc.

  • Attachment theory – Exploring the attachment types

  • How to heal past pain – how to ‘move on’

Content bucket 3: Self-care & wellness

• Understanding mindfulness: An overview - Pillar piece

  • The power of gratitude

  • Powerful grounding techniques

• Understanding self-care: What self-care is and what it’s not – Pillar piece

  • Creating a self-care routine

  • Healthy boundaries

  • Stress management tips

You get the idea! Use this structure to build out and grow your blog content strategy and add on new topic ideas as often as you'd like. Quick note... These ‘topics’ are not necessarily great blog ‘titles.’ Please be sure to research keywords and use appropriate SEO tools to ensure all your blog titles are SEO-friendly.

Summary

A well-organized content strategy offers multiple benefits. Not only does it help establish you as an expert in your field, but it also increases your visibility online and keeps your readers coming back for more. By organizing topics into clear content buckets and curating content appropriately, you create an interconnected system that promotes exploration, engagement, and SEO growth.

Learn more:

• Top 3 reasons why every company website needs a blog

• Content marketing – Turn one blog into at least 10 pieces of content

  Btw...This ^ is an example of curating your content. So is the 'SEO tools' link above. 😉

Looking to outsource?

As a marketing consultant and SEO-specialized ghostwriter, helping businesses owners develop and execute cohesive blogging strategies is one of my superpowers. From ideation to implementation, I’ve got you covered. Please contact me to schedule a consultation or discuss outsourcing your blog. Or feel free to just say hi! 👋🏼 I'd love to hear from you!