It’s no secret that small businesses are often strapped for time, budget, and clarity. Everyone says “content is king,” but what does that actually look like for a team of two people who are already wearing ten hats each? You don’t need a marketing department or a full-time content strategist to win online. What you need is a system. That’s where content pillars come in.
Content pillars are foundational topics your brand can speak on with authority. Think of these like the load-bearing beams in a well-structured house. If your business were a home renovation project, your blog, emails, and social media posts would be the wallpaper and fixtures. Content pillars are the framing inside the walls—less glamorous, but crucial.
I’ve helped clients from dog groomers to architectural firms in Franklin—and across the country—transition from sporadic, unfocused content to strategic, pillar-based systems that saved hours of decision paralysis and actually moved the needle on SEO, email opens, and client trust. This guide will take you through the step-by-step of building your own content pillars, with empathy, examples, and enough nerdy breakdowns to make you feel like you’ve got a mini content strategist in your pocket.
A content pillar is a broad topic that your business specializes in. It supports a variety of sub-topics (called cluster content) created to inform, build trust, and boost visibility around that core idea. It's not a blog post—it's the overarching theme around which many blog posts, videos, emails, and social updates can be created.
For example, a wellness coach might have “Holistic Nutrition” as a pillar, under which they'd write about meal planning, emotional eating, gut health, and plant-based recipes. Each of these could be their own blog post, Instagram carousel, or newsletter segment—but they’re all rooted in one strategic area.
Without content pillars, small business marketing becomes reactive. One week it's a post about a sale. The next, a random article inspired by a client question. It's like trying to train a puppy by shouting different commands every day—you don’t build consistency, or results.
Content pillars offer a way to tie everything together. They help you:
This approach mirrors how humans actually learn. Think scaffolding—each piece of content builds on previous knowledge, deepening your authority and your audience’s understanding.
I can’t tell you how often I’ve sat in a discovery session listening to a business owner describe their content struggles, only to realize that they never defined what success looks like to begin with.
Are you trying to:
Your content pillars should not be defined until these goals are. For instance, a home builder in Middle Tennessee might assume their pillar should be “Luxury Custom Homes,” but if their real goal is to attract first-time buyers from nearby Nashville suburbs, they’re better off with a pillar around “Designing Affordable Homes You Love Living In.”
There’s often a mindset block that needs untangling here. Many clients want to sound smart, so they pick overly complex topics. But your content should connect first, then educate. If a small business confuses people—or talks past their level of experience—they scroll or bounce.
Ask yourself: What does my dream client Google at 11 p.m. when they’re stressed? Your pillars should be designed to answer that.
Once you’ve locked in your business goals and audience pain points, the brainstorming begins. There’s no perfect number, but 3 to 5 content pillars offer enough variety without diluting your focus. Each pillar should be:
Let’s take an example from a real-world client I worked with: a boutique accounting firm.
”Numbers By Nicole” focuses on Denver-based creative entrepreneurs. Her original blog had 12 unrelated posts spanning tax laws, client red flags, and mindset shifts—none of which connected. When we created her pillars, we focused on:
Suddenly, her blog came together like a magazine issue. We sprinkled in real client stories, questions from her DMs, and turned them into content clusters all rooted in those three themes. Engagement went up, and so did discovery call bookings.
Now that you’ve got your pillars, it’s time to give them legs. Think of each pillar as an umbrella, and your subtopics as the spokes underneath.
Say one of your pillars is “Local SEO.” A content cluster could look like this:
Notice how all of these could be their own pieces, but they’re unified. When published together and internally linked, Google recognizes that you're a topical authority on local SEO. That's why this strategy is also called the "topic cluster model" in SEO circles, popularized by HubSpot and further researched by content strategist Andy Crestodina.
Each tool is just a conversation starter between your expertise and your audience’s curiosity.
Most folks I work with assume SEO requires arcane keyword wizardry. In reality, it’s more about structure and intent.
Google doesn’t just rank information—it ranks confidence. When your site has multiple, interlinked articles around a niche topic, it signals authority. That’s why content pillars make such good SEO strategy. And it’s one your competitors often overlook, instead chasing short-term keyword trends that are disconnected from their real offers.
Let's take a look at a service-based business: a boutique salon in downtown Franklin.
They had a site done on Squarespace. Their website covered services like balayage, bridal hair, and men’s cuts—but no content beyond that. We built a blog under their core content pillar: “Confidence Through Custom Hair.” Subtopics included:
Not only did these add long-tail keywords to the site, but they let potential clients feel seen and empowered. The result? A 22% increase in form submissions in the following 3 months.
To help your SEO foundation grow over time, be sure to:
In Webflow, I structure CMS collections for clients around pillars with dynamic filters so the blog develops a library-like experience. Wordpress can do this with tags or post categories, too—same idea, different tools.
One of the main reasons I believe in content pillars isn’t just for SEO—it’s for sanity. When your content is unified, you can reuse and repurpose across platforms without starting from zero each time.
Say you’ve written a blog on “Why Clear Website Messaging Increases Sales.” If “Psychology of Brand Messaging” is your pillar, then you can extract:
Instead of 5 new ideas, you’ve created one strong piece that you multiply. It’s not lazy—it’s strategic. Most audiences aren’t seeing everything you post anyway. And people need repetition to remember information.
You don’t need to publish weekly to win. What matters is having consistency and a system. Here’s a workflow I often guide clients through:
That’s it. If you only write one blog per month and support it with posts and emails, you’ll still be far ahead of most small businesses stuck thinking content means daily dancing reels or blog spam stuffed with keywords.
If you have a writer or VA helping, create a Notion doc or simple Google Sheet where you match each pillar with its ideas, deadlines, and uses. Treat it like a tiny editorial calendar. Don’t overcomplicate.
Pillars aren’t static. Just like a therapist helps clients reframe based on new insights, your content strategy should evolve as you gather more feedback and analytics.
When metrics align with certain pillar themes, lean harder into those. Retire the ones that feel forced or stale. Strategy is iterative.
One client of mine thought her best pillar would be “DIY Branding Tips.” But her audience skewed toward hiring help—not DIYers. Her posts around “Brand Strategy for Ambitious Founders” hit way harder. We shifted her focus and her conversions went up 3x.
Content pillars aren’t a magic bullet, but they are a powerful compass. They give your content strategy structure, empathy, and purpose—all qualities that small businesses often forget while chasing quick wins.
When you choose the right pillars, align them with audience pain points, and keep your content tied to business goals, you stop shouting into the void. You start building a library of useful, search-friendly, trust-building ideas people actually want to read, share, and follow up on.
Whether you’re DIY-ing this on Wix or consulting with a partner like me, know this: You don’t need to post daily, or go viral, or write like an academic. You need to care, think in systems, and build content that reflects who you are and the clients you serve. The content pillar approach lets you do that, thoughtfully and sustainably.
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