Pillar Post Guide
Basic requirements of the post
General Writing Guideline
Description of the post
This post is a comprehensive post.
You need to:
– Really understand the topic and identify factors which a reader should be aware of
– Teach the reader to be able to make decisions based on what they have learned in this article
Additional Requirements:
– My favorite blogger is Brain Dean from backlinko.com, especially with his relaxed style of writing, as if he’s talking to a friend, so I hope your writing should be as relaxed as he is.
– You can write in first person throughout, and I want the reader to read as if they’re listening to an interesting old friend chat.
Example of the pillar post
Import from China: The Ultimate Guide 2020
Writing Guide
These posts are how we start ranking for more competitive keywords.
For pillar posts, write about 3,500 words of incredibly helpful content on a topic.
Here are some examples:
– Answer a big question — this is like a response post, but for a more competitive keyword and with a lot more content
– 101 things — this is basically a really long list post, like some of the topics you use in shareable articles
– Big tutorial article — This is basically a how-to article, like you wrote in your shareable posts, just bigger. Write pillar posts for those how-to guides that require a lot more explanation than what you can fit into 2,500 words.
This may take you a few days to research and write. That’s okay. Take your time. It’s also really good to make a thorough outline before you start writing.
3,500 words can be tough to write all at once. So break it into sections.
Structure of a response post
For each of your articles, please strictly follow the structure below, which will determine whether I accept it or ask you to rewrite it.
TITLE — Less than 60 characters
– Exactly as written on our specs list
– Capitalize words as if book a title
Section 1: LEAD IN
50 words max
– The introduction should be short, concise and fluff free
– The exact keyword found in Asana should be used somewhere within the intro
– Talk as an author and explain why you are writing about this topic and why it is important to you and the reader
– Try to include an enticing fact or figure to lure people in
ANSWER SECTION — Up to 300 characters
The goal of this section is to quickly answer the question for Google to pick it as the featured answer.
Though short, this is arguably the most important part to get right. Optimize this for appearing in a Google snippet. Wordsmith this!
– Directly answer the main question
– Usually formatted as a paragraph
– Format as a list for how-to or multi-part info
– Lists with many steps don’t need this section
– Can be a table of data if comparing things
– Answer as if writing for an encyclopedia
READ ON — 1-3 sentences
– Convince the reader you have more to share
Section 2: Several In-depth Sections
More in-depth sub-arguments around the main argument, You’d better write this article as a thesis.
Section 3: Conclusion
50 words
Conclude this lengthy paper with a concise sentence, and consider asking questions to provoke deeper thought from the user.