Content Hubs: 7 Steps for Beating Big Competitors

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Competition for attention online is fierce. Literally, millions of articles are published every single day.

But take a moment to think about the nature of that competition. Competition is specific to topics. In Google, in social media, and in the minds of your audience, the battle for attention is fought topic by topic.

Some categories and topics, like HDTVs and mattress reviews, are insanely competitive. They’re crowded with famous blogs and big companies that have invested in content for years.

They’re impossible.

Other topics, such as hedgehog tricks and telescope repair, are not competitive at all. A small player can win attention, but these niches are so narrow that you can’t generate enough visibility to thrive.

They’re useless.

So how can you compete and win against the big players for more valuable topics?

No matter the arena, the winner is winning because they have a large body of high-quality, interconnected content, focused on their specific topic, with a body of work that covers all of the related subtopics. They are totally focused on satisfying the specific information needs of their specific audience.

So to beat the established players, you need to be?focused and structured, building up a body of work around a specific topic. You need to build a hub of content.

• DON’T:?Build a pile of medium-quality blog posts that all say similar things.
• DO:?Create a well-organized collection of diverse, interconnected assets, in many formats, in many places, co-created with influencers.

When a brand stays focused on a topic, it’s as if the content builds up, reaching high above the competition and gaining greater visibility. Like a mountain, with a central peak surrounded by a wide base of subtopics.

But many marketers just aren’t that focused. They publish a bit here and a bit there, deciding what to write based on whim, not publishing a strong central piece, not staying on a topic for long and not connecting content in strategic ways.

They create small hills that never rise high enough to be visible.

Joanna Wiebe, Founder,

COPYHACKERS

“We’d been blogging for about a year when we published our first cornerstone piece: a blog post on every copywriting formula ever. We’ve updated that post every year since. And around it, we’ve published related posts – on our site and off it – plus created videos and webinars on copywriting frameworks, copywriting formulas and conversion copywriting. Everything connects together but isn’t so tightly connected that it all feels the same.“

Elements of a content hub

A content hub is a set of content organized around a specific topic and a central page. That page is typically a very detailed article or a sales page promoting a product or service. In either case, the central piece is search optimized and targets a relatively competitive phrase. Sometimes it’s designed to capture email addresses through gated content.

These pages are sometimes called “pillar pages” or “cornerstone content.” It’s all the same idea.

The central piece is surrounded by articles that support that piece in multiple ways. Each of which is a content marketing strategy covered elsewhere in this book. Here you are simply combining the various approaches in a structured, organized way.

A. Content on interrelated topics

The posts or pages support each other, inviting the visitor to dig deeper through internal links, like a mini-version of Wikipedia. This triggers longer visits and gently guides visitors toward the center.

B. Content targeting related phrases

The center of the hub targets the broadest, most popular, most competitive keyphrase. It is supported by many pages that target more specific, related phrases, forming a large set of internally-linked keyphrase-focused pages.

C. Content in various formats

The structure includes many formats from the?Periodic Table of Content . It goes beyond blog posts and includes infographics, guides, videos, original research or even audio.

D. Content published on other websites

Not all of the content is on your website. Some of the articles are bylined articles and guest posts, published on other websites. Others may be published on other platforms, such as YouTube and LinkedIn.

Especially in the beginning, before you’ve built up your audience. Content published on other sites will increase your visibility (and?increase your Domain Authority ) fast.

E. Content co-created with influencers

The content isn’t created in isolation. It is collaborative, co-created with relevant influencers and media partners. These may be bloggers and editors, podcasters and journalists and anyone else who has already built an audience that you’d like to reach.

How to build a content hub in 7-steps

This approach requires forethought, planning and persistence. Some content strategists build a hub each quarter and plan the rollout using a publishing calendar. Depending on the topic, this process may take much longer.

Continue to the full article.