I've heard the term' pillar page' before in content marketing, but I'm not entirely sure what it means or how a pillar page should function. Any insights here?
A pillar page, or, as we also call it, a Competency Page, is essentially a "kitchen sink"-esque blog post that attempts to be as all-encompassing as possible or, at the very least, provides the reader with a general introduction to a topic, issue, product, or service. These posts are called pillar posts as they often lend themselves to a series of subsequent content pieces that relate to the central topic of the pillar post.
Pillar posts should run around 4,000 words, which might seem excessive, but you have to remember these posts are designed to be extensive, sprawling, and cover quite a bit of ground in one place. Pillar pages should also be well-cited, should use a multitude of sources, and can also contain a variety of examples, brief use cases, customer testimonials, infographics, and other dynamic elements such as links to other posts or content pieces to provide the most in-depth investigation and explanation possible.
While conceptualizing and executing pillar-style blog posts might appear daunting, their ROI is critical in generating new leads and converting them into eventual sales. For example, a recent Curata study indicated that longer, in-depth blog articles generate 9x more success in lead generation than short blog entries. Pillar pages also benefit content creation and management by providing a launchpad for additional blog entries to build on the concepts and discussions you broach in your pillar post.