A ZilvaEdge Website Strategy gives you a researched plan for what your website should cover, which search topics to prioritise and how the content should fit together. Foundations covers the content plan, keywords, competitors, topic mapping and publishing priorities. Transformation adds site structure, detailed briefs, audit integration and deeper keyword mapping. The article also explains the research, how to use the strategy, ROI, who may not need one and pricing.
You are thinking about buying a website strategy. Maybe you have seen ours priced at $500 and you are wondering what you actually get for that. Or maybe you have been quoted $3,000 by an agency and you are wondering if there is a better option.
Either way, you deserve a straight answer. This post is not a sales pitch. It is a transparent breakdown of exactly what a website strategy from ZilvaEdge includes, the research that goes into it, and how it translates into results for your business.
The Foundations Website Strategy is a 25-40 page document. It is designed for businesses that know they need a content plan but do not have one. Here is what is in it.
A prioritised list of every page your website needs, organised by importance. This is not a vague list of suggestions. It is a specific plan that tells you which pages to create, what each page should cover, and which keywords each page should target.
For most businesses, this means mapping out service pages, location pages, blog topics, and supporting content in a structure that makes sense for search engines and visitors.
A researched list of the keywords your business should be targeting, organised by search volume, competition and intent. This includes head terms (short, high-volume keywords), long-tail terms (longer, more specific phrases), and question-based queries your audience uses in search.
The keyword research also identifies which keywords you should NOT target. Either because the competition is too strong, the intent does not match your services, or another keyword serves the same purpose better.
A breakdown of what your main competitors are doing with their content. Which keywords are they ranking for? Which pages appear to be driving their traffic? Where are they strong, and where are the gaps you can use?
This is not a surface-level glance at their websites. We analyse their content structure, keyword coverage, topic coverage and internal linking. The goal is to find opportunities they have missed and advantages you can build.
Your keywords and content plan organised into topic clusters. Each cluster has a central theme (usually covered by a pillar page or service page) surrounded by supporting content (blog posts, FAQ pages, guides) that reinforces the main topic.
A clear topic structure helps visitors and search engines understand how related pages fit together. It also gives you a practical way to cover a subject in enough depth without creating disconnected content.
A timeline for content production. What gets published first, what comes next, and why. Some content needs to go live before other content because it provides the foundation. The calendar ensures you build in the right order.
The Transformation Strategy is our most comprehensive offering. It is a 260-340 page document designed for businesses that need a complete website content overhaul. Everything in the Foundations strategy is included, plus the following.
A complete architecture for your website. Not just what content to create, but how the site should be organised, including navigation, URL structure, page hierarchy and how key pages connect. This is the blueprint a web developer or content team can follow to build or restructure the site.
Detailed briefs for every page in the strategy. Each brief includes the target keyword, secondary keywords, search intent, suggested headings, key points to cover, internal linking targets and word count recommendations. The aim is to give a capable writer a clear starting point for producing the page.
The Transformation strategy includes elements of a website audit. We assess your existing content, identify what is working, what needs updating, and what should be removed or consolidated. This means you are not just getting a plan for new content. You are getting a plan that accounts for everything you already have.
The keyword research in the Transformation tier goes significantly deeper. Full keyword mapping across every service, location, and topic area. Cannibalisation analysis for existing pages. Opportunity sizing for each keyword cluster. This is the kind of keyword work that agencies typically charge $1,500-$2,500 for on its own.
This is the part most businesses do not see, and it is the part that determines whether the strategy is worth anything.
Before we write a single line of your strategy, our content and marketing specialists research your market. Here is what that involves.
We look at your top 5-10 competitors and analyse their content in detail. Not just what pages they have, but which pages are performing, which keywords they are ranking for, and where their content strategy has gaps. This takes hours, not minutes.
We research the keywords your audience uses, but more importantly, we analyse the intent behind those keywords. Someone searching “plumber near me” has a different intent than someone searching “how to fix a leaking tap.” Your content needs to match the intent, not just the keyword.
Who is searching for your services? What questions do they ask before they buy? What concerns do they have? What language do they use? We build a picture of your audience based on search data, competitor analysis, and market research, rather than assumptions.
Search is changing. Google is not the only place people look for answers. AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews are increasingly where potential customers start their research. We assess how visible your business is in these AI-generated results and factor this into the strategy.
We study your industry. Not because we are specialists in your field. We are content and marketing specialists who research your industry deeply before we write. We learn the terminology, the decision process, the trust signals that matter, and the questions your customers are asking. This research is what makes the final strategy relevant and accurate.
This is important. The strategy is yours. You own it. You can use it however you want.
Take the content plan, keyword research, and publishing calendar and execute it with your own team. Everything you need is in the document. If you have a capable writer or marketing person in-house, they can follow the plan and start producing content.
We can produce the content outlined in the strategy. Blog posts from $150, service pages from $250, pillar pages from $350. Everything is already mapped out in the strategy, so production is faster and more efficient because the research is done.
If you have an existing content writer, agency, or freelancer, hand them the strategy. It contains the keyword targets, content briefs, topic clusters and internal linking plans they need. A good writer with a clear strategy has a much stronger starting point than a writer working without one.
There is no lock-in. We do not hold the strategy hostage to force you into buying content from us. It would be hypocritical to talk about transparency and then pull that kind of move.
Let us talk numbers, because a $500 strategy needs to prove its value.
Say the Foundations strategy identifies 10 blog post topics and 5 service pages for your business. You write or commission those 15 pieces over the next 6 months.
If each blog post brings in 100 organic visits per month (which is modest for well-targeted content), that is 1,000 organic visits per month from the blog alone. Add the service pages, and you are looking at 1,500 or more monthly visits from content that was planned, not random.
Now consider the alternative. What would you pay for 1,500 targeted visitors per month through Google Ads? At $2-5 per click (conservative for most industries), that is $3,000-$7,500 per month. Every month. Forever.
The strategy cost $500. The content might cost another $2,000-$3,000 to produce. Your total investment is under $4,000, and it generates traffic that compounds over time instead of disappearing the moment you stop paying.
That is the useful way to think about content strategy ROI. There is no guaranteed return, but a strategy gives you a researched basis for deciding where to invest instead of publishing content at random.
Not everyone needs this. We are not going to pretend otherwise.
If you have a 3-page website and know exactly what you need written, just order the content. A homepage, an about page, and a service page do not need a 30-page strategy behind them. Go to our content creation page and order what you need.
If you have already done thorough keyword research and content planning, you do not need us to do it again. If you have a clear content plan and just need someone to produce the content, skip the strategy and go straight to production.
If your website is very small and has little or no content, a quick conversation about your most important pages might be all you need to get started. You can always commission a full strategy later once you have a foundation to build on.
The Foundations strategy is most valuable when you have a website with some existing content, you know you need more, and you are not sure what to write next or how to structure it. That is where the $500 investment pays for itself fastest.
Website strategy pricing varies wildly across the Australian market.
| Provider Type | Typical Price | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional Agency | $2,500-$5,000 | Full strategy, often includes implementation |
| SEO Consultant | $1,000-$3,000 | Keyword research + recommendations |
| Freelancer | $500-$1,500 | Varies significantly in depth |
| ZilvaEdge (Foundations) | $500 | 25-40 page strategy with full research |
| ZilvaEdge (Transformation) | $1,250 | 260-340 page comprehensive strategy |
We keep costs down because our system handles the heavy lifting on research and analysis, while our content and marketing specialists focus on interpretation, strategy, and quality. You get the same depth of research at a fraction of the price.
If you have read this far, you are probably in one of two positions.
You know you need a strategy and you want to get started. Head to our Website Strategy page to see the full tier comparison, or go straight to Get Started and tell us about your business.
You are still not sure if a strategy is what you need. That is fair. Read Why Every Business Website Needs a Content Strategy for a deeper look at what happens when you publish without a plan. Or get started and we will tell you honestly whether a strategy is the right investment for your situation.
If you want to understand why the research phase of the strategy matters so much, read Why Research Is the Most Important Part of Content Marketing.
