When it’s time to take your inbound and content marketing to the next level, creating content silos are the next step. They help to drive leads and customers, as well as deliver automation – with relatively little effort.
Content silos allow WordPress businesses like you to make assumptions about your leads and customers, while increasing conversions. WordPress businesses (and your customer’s) blogs can better target their audience and drive more useful content to people. It all starts with three blog posts – and anyone can do it.
What is a Content Silo?
A content silo is a method of grouping related content together in a way that makes the most sense to the targeted customer.
Topics are split by vertical, content delivery is horizontal
Content silos take topics and keep the blog posts, lead magnets and product sales communication WITHIN that silo. We have blog posts at the top, lead magnets for lead and email capture and products within those silos.
Notice that products can stretch across silos as the results which that product gets, might suit both silos.
The basic concept is that if you’re writing a load of content about SEO. Or your customer is writing about kitchen knives. It’s a fair assumption that if we offer a lead magnet in exchange for an email address also about kitchen knives, that’ll appear more interesting.
We’ve found conversions increase when we put topic specific lead magnets or light bulb moments in front of readers.
When they’re in your email database or marketing automation software, make sure to tag them or group users by what topic they were interested in. Now we can send them topic specific content via email knowing that they’re interested in a certain subject.
Do we always keep them in that silo? Of course not. For a start, they’re more than able to download further lead magnets in other subject areas. However we can also offer other content silos to them, by asking if they want different results.
In many cases, the displayed content in a content silo does not need to be created from scratch. Blog posts, landing pages, email communication to customers, recordings, networking conversations, proposals, documents, and product discussions are all examples of ways in which to re-use content.
A shortcut on the road to creating content silos is to audit all available relevant content. While it may seem like more work to be done upfront, it’s a real investment because you’ll see just how much content you’ve got already. Once the content has been combed through, it’s time to take the next step – producing the easiest blog posts for the top of the silo.
Spinning Off of the How-To Guide
How-to guides are typically the easiest pieces of content to write and produce as you already likely have the ideas and processes you need.
Create the How-To guide based on topics already written about previously. Rather than writing the blog post all over again, use what is already in front of you to begin. There is no magic number of topics to begin this process – business owners can choose three topics or 115 topics.
For example, outside of the How-To guides driving traffic to a company website, create variations. Below are some examples:
- How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
- How to Drive Killer Traffic to Your Website via Social Media
- How to Drive an Insane Amount of Traffic to Your Website and Social Media via Email Campaigns
The possibilities in creating content silos within one topic, such as the above example, truly are endless. Making a list and combing through it for validity can yield endless possibilities – for you and the customer you’re engaging.
Lead Magnets and Cross-Selling
The next step in a successful content silo process is to develop common questions and offer something the customer should know. Taking two or three blog posts may be taken from the site and converted to pdf as re-packaged material to issue in another form. This new pdf becomes the lead magnet. All of a sudden, the interested parties who stumbled upon your site in the first place are awakened and connections are maintained via special offers and downloads. An alternative to the pdf route is to create a slideshow with voiceover content and present the package to the buyer that way. Regardless of the delivery, creating the lead magnet from content that already exists is critical in keeping time low and revenue high.
Creating cross-selling experiences would be the next step in the process. Once the customer’s interest has been piqued and the lead magnet has been formatted for consumption, offer a cross-sale. For example, asking the question: “Have you also thought about building your email list?” and then offering, “Well, here’s the absolute guide to building an email list.” Boom.
The topic that most interests your client is now staring right at them in the face in a different opportunity – one that is irresistible.
An example might be a cookware store where knives are being sold. The store clerk, after helping the customer find the perfect knife set, makes an inquiry about the type of cutting board used at home. Once the customer answers, offer a different suggestion toward the product you desire to sell. Explain the reasons why the new chopping board suggestion would be better able to handle the type of knife being purchased. The customer is intrigued by your knowledge and expertise and is able to better question their motives in purchasing an item they didn’t even walk in to buy. Whenever possible, add value to the deal as a sweetener.
Starting with the simple three blog posts suggestion offers endless possibilities to create new business over and over again. The process can be duplicated for any business or customer.
For example, a business owner runs a running store. Marathon runners and long distance runners look to the business owner as a means of support. She offers one-on-one client care as a massage therapist working on their tired and achy joints and muscles. They receive a bevy of information on the proper way to run, how to create a marathon training plan that works, and suggestions on how to avoid injury. Common topics that interest runners may include: running shoes, injuries, and training plans. Creating a blog post, initiating the lead magnet at the bottom of the landing page, and cross-promoting via related topics is absolutely possible in this example – and it’s so easy anyone can do it. The runner is already interested in the content because they landed on the page itself. They are already attached to a training plan (or hope to be soon). The interest is there – you just have to harvest it.
Anyone can create content silos that work effectively and relatively quickly. Start with what you know and expand. Begin by researching appropriate keywords and then offer something the target audience might want. Answer the questions your audience is hoping to understand – how to avoid injury, for example. “How often should I be running if I want to run a marathon?” is another example. Make sure to know your audience and marketing to them effectively will be a piece of cake.
Or, take a look at how I build them
Look, this is a lot to digest, I get that. If you’re serious about building content silos, or marketing funnels, you need to see our recording on How To Build A Marketing Funnel With WordPress. No registration or waiting, just sign up and we’ll send the entire video – plus every template and worksheet we use – straight to your inbox.
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