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My firm does some of the same as you describe - creates content for clients with supporting inbound links for their websites.  We also do subsequent social distribution to our clients social venues and to our own.

We experimented with the automated distribution (and still employ it in certain situations), but have found that there isn't nearly as much engagement - which is what really matters as social signals if you're looking for SEO value.

Automated submission frequently misses images or picks the wrong one, totally skips video, and most importantly doesn't allow you to comment on what you're submitting - a key attention getter and response generator.

Yeah, it takes time, but so does good content, which is what it's all about.

Given that pages are viewed independently of one another, the only consistency that matters is if you're consistently using keyword strings that would tend to surface for the broadest range of queries 'remove chocolate stains'.  That said, competition may require that you get more specific, i.e., 'remove x stains from y'.  Consistency will make it easier to test and get a feel for what works over time.

Under the 'no panacea' category, Simon and Alan are right.  Authority means just that and the best way to become one and hence give your website some is to display it online.  It's hard and time consuming but it's the only method that builds and lasts.

I had a feeling that there was something inherently wrong with my approach which is why I asked the question.  Good to know that there's folks willing to help out - thanks for the clarification(s).  And the separate town pages is a good solution.  Thanks.

Would you pay to post good content on a site relevant to your audience that has good domain authority to boot? Depends on the site and depends on the content.

We don't charge our guest bloggers (yochicago.com), but we vet them pretty heavily - they need to contribute something to our audience.  But we do blog on behalf of sponsors - and since we're doing the writing - it's always relevant (to some degree at least).  Our readers comment on our (clearly identified) sponsored content's relevance occasionally, but generally understand that someone has to pay the bills.  It's a pretty effective means of advertising / editorial / authority-building in one.

I could see paying to guest blog on the right site as being more effective than starting your own under certain circumstances.