Content strategy and topic maps
Up to 60 topics, grouped into clusters, each one pointed at the page on your site that makes money. Then a 12-week calendar, so you know what's coming and when.
$1,250 fixed · included in month 1 of every Cadence plan
Book an editorial reviewBuy the topic map, $1,250Most content plans are a spreadsheet of keywords sorted by volume. Ours starts at the other end, with the pages you sell from. For each one we ask what someone searches before they're ready to buy, and what they search after. Those questions become clusters: a pillar guide in the middle, shorter pieces around it, every one linking back to the page it exists to support. If a topic can't point at anything you sell, it goes on a separate list called "maybe later." That list is usually long.
One cluster, drawn out
This is how a single cluster looks on the map we deliver. A full map has several.
Pillar guide · 2 slots
Roof replacement: cost, timeline and what to ask a contractor
The service page it feeds: /roof-replacement/
Article · 1 slot
Shingle or metal in hail country?
Article · 1 slot
How long a roof replacement takes, day by day
Article · 1 slot
Will homeowners insurance pay for a new roof?
Article · 1 slot
Repair or replace: what to look for from the ground
Article · 1 slot
What happens to your gutters during a re-roof
Every article links up to the pillar and across to the service page. The pillar links down to all of them.
Illustrative cluster for a made-up roofing company. Not a real client.
The first five weeks of a 90-day calendar
| Week | Piece | Type | Slots |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roof replacement: cost, timeline and what to ask a contractor | Pillar guide | 2 |
| 2 | Shingle or metal in hail country? | Article | 1 |
| 2 | "Winter roof checklist" (last touched 2021) | Refresh | ½ |
| 3 | Will homeowners insurance pay for a new roof? | Article | 1 |
| 4 | Three gutter posts into one | Merge | 1 |
| 5 | How long a roof replacement takes, day by day | Article | 1 |
Sample, no client data.
What's included
- Up to 60 topics, grouped into pillar and spoke clusters
- Search intent for each topic, and the page on your site it supports
- A priority score, with the reasoning written beside it
- A 12-week calendar showing the slot mix week by week
- Three sample briefs, so you can see what a writer gets
- A brief template you can keep using
Not included
- Writing the pieces: SEO articles, $575 each, or a Cadence plan
- A verdict on every page you already have: the Content Decay Audit, from $1,450
- Reworking links across the whole site: Content architecture, from $1,900
- Keyword research for paid ads. We don't run ads.
Whose map is it?
It's a spreadsheet and a calendar document in your own shared drive, not a login to a system of ours. Pay the invoice and the copyright comes with it, so the map can go to your in-house team, another writer, or us.
Price
$1,250 fixed, for the map and the calendar
Included in month 1 of every Cadence plan. A quarterly re-plan of an existing map is $650; on Cadence 14 it's included.
Full pricing and slot rulesHow to buy it
In a Cadence plan
On the desk, no call needed
Quarterly re-plan, $650: invoiced, not sold on the desk.
Questions people ask
What does $1,250 get us?
$1,250, fixed. That buys the map (up to 60 topics in clusters, each with its intent, a priority score and the page it supports), a 12-week calendar, three sample briefs and a brief template. On a Cadence plan it's part of month 1, so you don't pay for it separately.
How long from kickoff to a finished topic map?
8 business days after your kickoff questionnaire comes back. The questionnaire is short: your site, what you sell, who buys it, and anything you already know works or doesn't.
Who owns the topic map once it's delivered?
If you bought it from the desk and cancel before it's finished, we refund the price minus the time we've spent (at $125 an hour) and send the clusters and calendar as they stand. That partial map is yours as well. We'd rather earn the writing than lock the plan up.
What won't the topic map do for us?
The map doesn't judge your existing pages one by one; the Content Decay Audit does. It doesn't restructure links across the site; that's Content architecture. And beyond the three sample briefs it doesn't write anything; that's SEO articles or a Cadence plan.
What goes into the kickoff questionnaire?
The completed kickoff questionnaire: your site, your services or products, who you sell to, and any topics you want or want to avoid. Search Console viewer access helps if you have it, because it shows what already ranks. We never ask for passwords.
Not sure you need a map yet?
Run the cadence planner first, or book the free review and we'll tell you whether the map is the right first purchase.