It’s widely accepted tha successful blogging requires you to publish frequently. Moreover, your copy should be optimized based on keyword research. Once you have these basics, it’s important to understand the foundations of an authority-building blog: cornerstone content. This post explains what cornerstone content is and how to use it tol help you build authority, improve your SEO, and, most importantly, connect with your dream clients.

What is cornerstone content?

Think of cornerstone content as laying the groundwork for your marketing and branding. It refers to a small handful of blog posts that are very informational rather than directly marketing your services. The point is to prove yourself as an authority and all-around helpful human for potential clients. 

In addition to building authority, setting a few blog posts as cornerstone content will help you avoid keyword cannibalization. If you have multiple posts optimized for very similar keywords, demarcating cornerstone content is how you tell Google which post it should prioritize. This clarification could help your ranking.

Not all platforms are created equal as far as SEO is concerned. If you use WordPress, the Yoast plugin allows you to set a blog post as cornerstone content. Of course, you can create it on any platform! At House of Nash we’re partial to the level of backend customization possible in WordPress blogs..

How do I use it effectively?

Now that you know the purpose of cornerstone content for your blog, there are a few keys to using it effectively. It is the perfect place to tackle keywords that are difficult to rank for. In other words, a post optimized for one venue probably isn’t the right one for this type of content. Think big picture about your marketing goals for your photography business.

Since your cornerstone content is foundational for your blog and your brand, link back to it often. Google sees this as an indicator of its importance. Again this helps you rank for those keywords with high SEO difficulty.

How do I create cornerstone content?

Cornerstone content is often called “evergreen” because it tackles topics that are relevant regardless of the season. This isn’t the time to optimize for “fall wedding inspiration.” Think bigger picture about your potential clients and, potentially, the region you serve. What do marriers in your region need to know? (For specific prompts, check out my What to Write Guide: Blogging Prompts for Busy Photographers.)

Update your cornerstone content periodically. Google loves updates because it assumes the post has new and improved content for users. Schedule time to update it biannually if not quarterly.

Here’s the thing about cornerstone content, though. To be effective, the blog post needs to be long. I’m talking at least 1,000 but ideally 2,000 words. Long posts rank easier because they’re seen as having more helpful information. 

Does the idea of writing 2,000 words exhaust you? It might be time to outsource. The House of Nash would love to create the blog content that will be the foundation of your marketing. Reach out to us today!