Fencing Strength
This implements the strategy, it doesn’t replace it
The Fencing Strength — Organic Growth Plan artefact (v1, 24 Sep) is the source of truth: the goal, the market, the model, Richard’s three pillars, tracking and risks all live there. This page and the Jekyll code build one of those pillars — Pillar 2 (Content), J4G’s core lane — and nothing here overrides the artefact. Everything below is driven by _data/growth_model.yml, which mirrors the artefact.
Where Pillar 2 sits in the plan:
| # | Pillar | Owner | This build |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finish the funnel | Richard leads; J4G supports tracking | — (in the artefact) |
| 2 | Content | Shared — J4G’s core lane | ✅ implemented here |
| 3 | Branding & positioning | Richard leads | — (in the artefact) |
The ceiling to respect: Pillar 3 (Branding & positioning) is FS’s backlink/authority engine, and DR 9 with falling referring domains caps everything Pillar 2 can achieve. Content quality won’t outrun a shrinking link profile — so this plan assumes Pillar 3 keeps moving in parallel.
The model: topic × segment (not service × location)
The artefact is explicit — the right cut is goal (topic) × segment (audience), not location. Six goals across three segments = the clusters to stand up (weapon is a deferred third axis).
Segments (Richard’s funnel split): Youth · Adult · Veteran Weapon (later): Épée · Foil · Sabre
| Goal | Maps to existing category | Program it converts on | Head keyword |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explosive lunge | Speed and Explosiveness | Explosive Fencing Training | explosive lunge training for fencing |
| Footwork speed | Speed and Explosiveness | Explosive Fencing Training | fencing footwork speed drills |
| Strength | Strength Training | Strength Training for Fencing | strength training for fencing |
| Injury prevention | Injury Prevention | Custom Fencing Training | fencing injury prevention |
| Endurance | Conditioning | Fencing Endurance | fencing endurance training |
| Recovery | Recovery & Nutrition | Custom Fencing Training | recovery for fencers |
Each goal × each segment is a content cluster (6 × 3 = 18 clusters to build out). Today’s posts are filed by topic only — the build task is to re-cut them (and all new pieces) so they carry a segment as well, which is what turns a topic cluster into the topic × segment model the artefact wants.
The production line (film once, rank four ways)
Straight from the artefact: YouTube-first -> cut to IG -> keyword-optimised blog (video embedded, NOT a transcript) -> Reddit value-comment -> email. The blog post is original written copy with the video embedded — never a transcript, or it won’t rank. J4G’s job (artefact §4) is to stand up the three segment clusters and run the repurposing pipeline on Richard’s existing long sessions.
What this Jekyll build ships (local, for review)
_data/growth_model.yml— the artefact’s model as code (segments, goals, pillars, tracking). Single source; edit the artefact first, then this._includes/related-posts.html— on every article: a “train this — {goal}” CTA to the goal’s program page + up to three cluster posts + the hub link. Readsgrowth_model, so it always reflects the model._layouts/post.html— the module wired under every article._data/content_roadmap.yml+ this page’s roadmap table./growth-plan/— this page.
Old topic-only _data/pillars.yml was removed — superseded by the segment-aware model.
Content roadmap — by segment × goal
Priority favours the funnel pieces the artefact names (youth & veteran free plans) and the thin goals (footwork speed, recovery). Each is cut from a long session per the production line.
| P | Segment | Goal | Working title | Keyword | Cut from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Youth | injury-prevention | Knee Pain in Young Fencers: The Prep Work Nobody Does | knee pain young fencers |
existing long session on youth conditioning |
| 1 | Adult | explosive-lunge | How Adult Fencers Get a Faster Lunge: The Stretch-Shortening Cycle | how to get a faster fencing lunge |
existing explosive-lunge session |
| 1 | Adult | footwork-speed | Footwork Speed for Fencers: Three Drills That Actually Transfer | fencing footwork speed drills |
new session — thin goal, high desire |
| 1 | Veteran | recovery | Fencing After 40: Recovering Between Bouts When You Can’t Train Daily | fencing training over 40 |
new session — thin goal + funnel entry |
| 2 | Youth | strength | Fencing Strength Training by Age: What to Do at 12 vs 16 | youth fencing strength training |
new session — cornerstone |
| 2 | Adult | strength | The Minimum Effective Strength Program for Busy Fencers | fencing strength program |
existing strength session |
| 2 | Adult | endurance | Energy Systems in Fencing: Why Steady-State Cardio Is the Wrong Answer | fencing cardio conditioning |
existing conditioning session |
| 2 | Veteran | injury-prevention | The Veteran Fencer’s Warm-Up: Protecting Knees, Hips and Lower Back | veteran fencer injury prevention |
repurpose the injury-prevention session for the veteran segment |
| 3 | All | recovery | What to Eat on a Fencing Competition Day (Hour by Hour) | fencing competition nutrition |
new session |
Tracking (Pillar 1’s lane — J4G supports)
Measurement runs on the J4G Intent UTM scheme: lowercase source / medium / campaign / content. It applies to external channel links only — internal post → program links stay untagged so they don’t pollute channel attribution.
- Tag each destination so a Linktree click reclaims as
instagram / organic-social, notlinktr.ee / referral. - Rows to add — youth & veteran free plans, IG Story links, YouTube descriptions, Reddit, per-creator (Marie/Edriss) Calendly base URLs.
- Google Ads — rely on auto-tagging (gclid); manual
google / cpcis a fallback only.
What is deliberately out of scope here
Pillars 1 (Finish the funnel) and 3 (Branding & positioning) are Richard-led and live in the artefact — this build only touches Content. The two hard dependencies to keep visible: Pillar 3’s link/authority work (the DR-9 ceiling) and Pillar 1’s tracking rows (youth/veteran free plans, IG Story, YouTube, Reddit, per-creator Calendly links). If either stalls, Pillar 2’s ranking gains stall with them.
Measuring it
In GSC, track organic clicks + impressions per goal cluster and per program page, segmented where the data allows. The leading indicator that the model is working: the six program pages climb as their goal × segment clusters fill and interlink — that is the number that becomes enquiries. Nothing here is committed or pushed — run bundle exec jekyll serve to review, then it’s yours to adjust.