The Blog Content Strategy I Use to Grow All of My Sites
My first blog was a total bust. And my second one was nearly a miss too.
I struggled to get sustainable traffic or establish any real authority. And one of the biggest reasons for this was I lacked a good, clear content strategy.
My writing was full of fluff, my planning was chaotic and my topics were sporadic. But I’m glad I stuck with it, because I got better. And now I run four different websites – I freaking love it!
So this is my website content strategy guide. This is how I plan and grow all of my websites.
Now let’s do this!
What Is a Blog Content Strategy?
A blog content strategy, or a website content strategy, is the planning, creation, publishing and promoting of your content.
A blog content strategy is made up of some key parts, including everything from topic ideation and keyword research to writing, SEO and promotion.
Here’s a graph showing the key pieces:
*The steps in the post cover all of these key content strategy pieces
Importance of a Blogging Content Plan
Match content to the reader’s journey
Write more impactful and effective blogs
Improve your content organization
Strengthen your topical authority and SEO
Build a solid content strategy foundation
Look more professional and cohesive
Spot content gaps and opportunities easier
Explore more:
➤ Personal Blogging 101 (where to start)
Steal This Blog Content Strategy (11 steps)
1. Start With Good Research
My website content strategy begins with fully understanding my niche, my audience and my topics. A good blog starts with good research.
For target audience research, I like to create a reader persona. This means getting clear on things like reader pain points, values, interests and demographics. I always aim to write my blogs for this one specific person.
For niche research, I like to choose a niche that checks at least two of these boxes:
Something I’m passionate about it
Something I’m knowledgeable about it
Something that’s profitable
As for topic ideation, this is brainstorming ideas for your site. From internet research to cafe conversations, topic ideas for your blog are everywhere. You can learn more about how I do content ideation here.
And finally, keyword research is turning your topic ideas into actual search queries that have real data and search volume.
As a blogger, research is an ongoing process. I’m constantly finding new keywords, exploring my niche deeper and getting to know my target audience better. It’s just a part of our “job”.
Explore more:
➤ How I do Keyword Research
2. Create Content Goals
“Content goals are helpful. They’re like a North Star – guardrails to keep you focused and on track.”
One of my biggest blogging mistakes early on was aimless publishing. I covered too many niches, too sporadically and with too little intention. But content goals keep me focused.
Ideally (for simpler organization and SEO), all of your content should tie back to a single website purpose or goal.
For example, my core goal for this site is to inspire and educate you on how to use blogging to build your personal brand. All of my topics and blogs somehow tie into this core theme.
I call it personal brand blogging.
This helps me choose only relevant topics and creates a more cohesive website architecture.
So, what do you hope to achieve with your content?
Explore more:
➤ 50 Epic Blog Goals to Work Towards
3. Design Your Blog + Site Architecture
Your site architecture is the structure of your website. This includes your main pages, content pillars and how everything connects to each other.
My goal when building a site is to always make things as simple as possible. That means having easy navigation, clear branding, good UX and staying super intentional with what I include on my website.
Here are the most important characteristics of a good blog:
Include at least your core pages
Homepage
Blog page
About
Contact
Legal pages (T&C, privacy policy and affiliate disclosure)
Define your cornerstone blog pages
These are your pillar pages for your brand and niche
For example, ultimate guides
These are often more competitive terms
These are posts you link back to from shorter, longer-tail articles
Organize topics into clusters
These are groups of related sub-topics that all interlink
Clusters create topical authority
I organize my topics into categories, tags and clusters
I then schedule and publish content one cluster at a time
Explore more:
➤ My Best Squarespace Design Tips
4. Build Topic Clusters
Topic clusters are groups of related keywords that support a main subtopic or theme for your website. Together, they established topical authority and credibility.
Topic clusters are one of the best ways to grow your traffic and establish trust in your niche.
For example, let’s say my niche is travel for digital nomads. Obviously, digital nomadism is a core pillar. So I should create topic clusters around this main theme.
Here’s an example of a topic cluster centered around a main pillar post for a digital nomad blog:
[PILLAR POST] How to Become a Digital Nomad: The Ultimate Guide
Best Cities for Digital Nomads to Visit
Essential Equipment for Digital Nomads
Networking for Digital Nomads
26 Digital Nomad Lifestyle Facts
Digital Nomading: Pros and Cons to Know
Best Remote Jobs for Digital Nomads
You can see that all of these articles are related to each other and establish trust and authority around the topic of becoming a digital nomad.
Topic clusters are great for organization, branding and SEO — so make sure you use them!
5. Funnel Readers With Content Mapping
Your content should follow a journey, where one article naturally leads to the next, funneling readers towards some ultimate goal. This is referred to as content mapping.
It’s when you create a content plan that addresses potential buyers at every stage of their journey.
A popular way to do this is working from top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content to middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) articles all the way to bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) posts:
TOFU content
Awareness content
Example: “What is…” posts
MOFU content
Consideration content
Example: “How to…” posts
BOFU content
Ready-to-buy content
Example: “Best of…” posts
Remember, every reader that visits your blog is on a journey. It’s your job to meet them where they are, based on the keyword they’re searching for.
The stage your reader is on should guide your writing tone, offers, CTAs and which articles you link to for further reading.
6. Publish Regularly
“Want to know the biggest factor in your blogging success? Simply showing up and publishing consistently.”
Blogging has a lot of moving parts — keyword research, SEO, etc. — but honestly, if you continue to show up (and learn), you’ll naturally get better at those things.
So my best advice? Get into the habit of publishing regularly.
Sticking to an ideal blogging schedule is simple but powerful. SEO takes time, but eventually, things will start to compound in exciting ways. And a consistent cadence helps.
An ideal blogging schedule is based on your preferences, writing speed, lifestyle and blog goals.
But I recommend publishing a new post at least once a week.
If you can do more, that’s better. As you grow and build a library of content, you can relax more and take breaks, but I like to build momentum quickly (especially in the first year).
7. Pull the Right Monetization Levers
Blog monetization is simple in theory, but tricky to do (well).
When I first started blogging, I signed up for every affiliate program I could get my hands on. And I thought affiliate marketing was simply ranking a blog post, throwing in an affiliate link and then watching the sales roll in.
Oof, not quite!
While this strategy has gotten me a few sales, it’s hardly sustainable or meaningful. Because more traffic doesn’t guarantee more money (I talk more about this in the last tip).
Instead, it’s important to pull the right monetization levers, at the right time and in the right places.
Here are some key tips for doing that:
Write compelling sales copy
Use social proof and reviews
Actually use the products you’re reviewing
Build an email list using lead magnets and a funnel
Always think about search intent
Remember, sales happen at the BOFU (usually)
8. Use Content Strategy Tools
You don’t need fancy schmancy tools to build a blog. But they do help.
I like to keep things pretty minimal with my blogging stack. Here are some of my favorite tools for building a website content strategy and growing a blog:
Hypertxt – AI writer, pulls UGC data from Reddit
Scalenut – a Swiss Army Knife for SEO and blogging
Claude or ChatGPT – have AI create your content strategy
Infography – automatically turns your blogs into infographics
Ahrefs, Semrush and Keyword Planner – for keyword research data
Explore more:
➤ Best Blogging Tools for Beginners
9. Consider Traffic Diversification
If Google’s helpful content updates taught me anything, it’s the value of traffic diversification. Because seemingly overnight (in March of 2024), I lost around half of my traffic.
Put another way, it’s no longer smart to rely solely on Google traffic. So what’s a blogger to do?
Don’t worry, you have options!
Many bloggers use Pinterest as a way to diversify their traffic. I haven’t explored this channel much yet, but for many site owners, it creates exciting traffic increases. So I’ll definitely be testing this platform soon!
But there’s more than just Pinterest.
X is another solid channel to explore – especially if you’re into social blogging. And even Instagram or TikTok can be great ways to boost your reach through social media.
But building an email list is probably the most valuable asset you can have – so start this one early!
As we move forward into the future of blogging, I see it becoming increasingly hybrid. So here are some other traffic strategies to watch for:
Optimizing for AI overviews
Perplexity Pages
Voice-generated search
Social search / social SEO
10. Collect Data – Optimize
“My first blog started as a self-development and lifestyle site. But after publishing some travel articles, I noticed they performed way better – more traffic, higher engagement, longer dwell time...so I listened to the data, and I doubled down on the travel niche.”
Not everything you write will rank. And not everything you do will work out. This is the reality of blogging (and of life).
But, some things will work. Some articles will perform really well. So when you do get those positive signals (rankings, engagement, etc.), it’s smart to dissect that post, its keywords and the structure.
Learn why it’s performing so well and then replicate it.
This could be the blog post structure, the topics you covered or the type of images and UX you had.
Pay attention to the data and make better decisions based on it. This is how you optimize your website’s content strategy and grow a successful blog over time.
I use three main places for data collection (all of which are free):
GA4 (Google Analytics)
Google Search Console
Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
As for which data to pay attention to, here are some key metrics I usually pay attention to:
Traffic trends *over time
Top ranking keywords
Session time
Sessions per visit
Bounce rate
Engagement rate
Conversions (email signups or sales)
11. Set Realistic Expectations
“Growing a blog takes time. It can take many months before you see results from an SEO strategy. So setting realistic expectations is important.”
Part of the reason I love personal blogging so much is because it’s not on-demand or short-form. It’s more passive and hands-free. It’s like patient content creation — and I like that.
So think in years, not in months.
But there’s more than timeframes when it comes to blogging expectations. Income expectations is another element to stay aware of.
How much money do you believe your blog can realistically make?
Honestly, the sky's the limit! But there are factors to consider.
Potential income isn’t just how much traffic you get. For example, some sites and audiences (like US-based readers or blogs in the finance or travel niches) have much higher CPMs (how much advertisers pay per 1000 impressions).
And your ability to sell relevant and compelling offers dramatically influences your earnings. This was actually one of my greatest weaknesses – selling.
There are people with less than 1000 followers earning six figures – but then there are people with millions of followers who barely get by.
So stay aware of your bottlenecks and be realistic with your niche opportunities and timelines.
Setting realistic expectations keeps you motivated and consistent.
Explore more:
➤ How Long Does it Take to Grow a Blog?
Later ✌️
Your blog content strategy is how you create and grow your blog. Choosing the right topics and understanding your niche and audience are key starting points to making this whole blog thing sustainable and profitable.
I also funnel my content and create topic clusters to build authority and a clean site architecture.
Your website’s content strategy is a data-driven, dynamic process. But with intention, consistency and the right (long-term) mindset, you can craft the perfect website.
