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The Good and the Bad of Fillers in Blogs

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Fillers are words that add no substantive meaning to a sentence and merely fill the space, Wordvice.com explains. Whether you’re writing a journal article, a research paper, a dissertation, or a blog, creating sentences that are strong and concise is important in conveying your message to your audience.

Wordvice.com offers three examples of sentences that can be shortened by eliminating filler words:

  • “There is an octopus sitting on top of my car.” (Better: “An octopus is sitting on my car.”)
  • “This is actually an interesting question.” (Better: “This question is interesting.)
  • “In order to apply the new method to our entire system, perhaps we should perform a local test.” (Better: “We should perform a local test before applying the new method to our system.”)

In speech, grammarly.com notes, while fillers such as “ums” and “uhs” don’t add meaning to your statements, they do allow you to take a second to think about what to say next. In writing, though, unnecessary adverbs and empty phrases add length but not substance.

Filler words and phrases commonly used in writing include: basically, just, really, highly, needless to say, in my opinion, okay, totally, and literally.

Blog content fillers and SEO
Unfortunately, blog content writers often insert fillers for the sole purpose of increasing the word count of each post. Based on the perception that search engines use article length as a ranking signal, writers intentionally use word fillers to “plump up” their content with an eye to SEO.

Since search engines do measure reader time on site, instead of fillers, writeonline.io suggests “grease-slide copy”, which are phrases that create smooth transitions between paragraphs and sentences and keep readers on the page.. Grease slide text might include questions such as “Have you wondered why…..?”i..Ever noticed how…..?” “Want to know a secret…?” or provocative statements such as “Be honest….” or “We’ve all done it….”

Problogger.com ,  meanwhile, suggest “killer fillers”, which are shorter posts requiring less original in-depth research, including guest posts, interviews,  link roundups, and reader discussions.

At Say It For You, we have found, the most effective length for any one blog post is as long as it takes to show readers that “right here” is where to find answers. I teach the importance of keeping a very specific focus within each post, avoiding either extraneous words or extraneous material.

“Fill” your blog with valuable, “killer”, content, but avoid fillers that have little value to add.

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In Blogging for Business, Clarity is Better Than Originality

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We never want to alienate readers “just for the sake of it”, cautions Moriah Richard, editor of Writer’s Digest. Readers want to be surprised, but they don’t want to be tricked, she explains.

Camilla Allegrucci agrees. She has good news and bad news for writers all wrapped into one: “New ideas are not a thing”. Rather than original ideas, she says, you need an original voice. Sure, you might need some work to refine your “voice”, but you can express yourself in the best way your voice allows. When it comes to content writing, it’s all about answering your audience’s queries, so why reinvent the wheel when people are already telling us what they want to read about? Write from your own perspective and

An audio course for book authors, Brainstorming a Better Book Title, emphasizes the same concept. “The number one requirement for your book title is, does it clearly indicate what the book is about? If you can come up with a title that’s both clear and clever, all the better, Marci Yudkin says. But if you must choose between clarity and cleverness, clarity is more important for success.

“Cutesy is for dolls, not blog post titles,” is my own Say It For You motto. Yes, titles are important, very important. In fact, titles represent crucial elements in capturing the interest of both search engines and online searchers. But, aside from Search Engine Optimization considerations, the title of a blog post constitutes a set of implied promises to visitors: The main promise is simply this: lf you choose to click on this title, it will lead you to a blog post with information on the topic named in the title.

It helps to bring in less well-known facts about familiar things and processes, and even more when you suggest new ways of thinking about things readers already know. New ideas may not be “a thing”, but new insights and opinions can be. At Say It For You, our advice to business owners and their content writers is that you must offer an opinion, a slant, on the information you’re serving up to readers. No, it’s not “new information”, and you’re not re-inventing the proverbial wheel. What’s “new is the clarity of your views on the subject.

In blogging for business, clarity is better than originality – every time.

 

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In Blogging for Business, Go Ahead and Be a Secondary Source

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Historical novels are stories informed by the past, Hunter Liguore explain in Writer’s Digest. But when doing research, should you start with primary or secondary resources? Primary evidence comes from the diaries or biographies of people who actually witnessed an event. In contrast, secondary sources analyze and interpret information.

Often, Liguore points out, with primary sources you can stumble upon fascinating details (whether people in that era or region used forks or what their chief source of light was). But primary sources don’t offer opinions or insights or draw any conclusions from those primary facts. Primary research gathers; secondary research analyzes and interprets.

At Say It For You, we realize, all of us freelance business blog content writers are creating secondary research. Our job, in fact, is to interpret and synthesize information and put it in terms others can understand.

There’s much more to it than that, however. Bloggers for business now need to go beyond providing information and become “thought drivers”. Whether it’s business-to-business blog writing or business-to-consumer blog writing, the blog content itself needs to use opinion to clarify what differentiates our client’s business, professional practice, or organization from its peers.

The primary distinguishing fact of secondary research is analysis or “slant”. A point I often stress in corporate blogging training sessions is that whether you’re blogging for a business, for a professional practice, or for a nonprofit organization, the content must be driven by a unique slant on the information you’re serving up for readers. Yes, you might choose to just aggregate information, but that’s unlikely to result in readers coming to your client’s business or practice for service, products, and advice.)

Be sure the things you choose to say in your blog posts (about what you sell, what you do, ad what you know about) also make clear why readers should care about any of those things. Bottom line, after all, is that while you may be the “primary source” in running your business or practice, the content needs to interpret and opine, showing readers why and how your information can make a positive difference for them.

In blogging for business, go ahead and be a secondary source!

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Blogging to Share Your Process

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If you do something unknown, unfamiliar, or unexpected, your clients are going to feel their security is in jeopardy, Luke Agree cautions financial advisors. And, no matter how you slice it, Agree adds, that’s not good for business.

Financial advisors who share their process with their clients are able to avoid that risk. Sharing must include not only your value proposition (what makes you different or better than other professionals in your field), but also your process of operating the business and delivering client services.

What are your “habits”? How frequently do you report progress? Do you prefer email, phone calls, texts, or letters? What updates will you be providing and how frequently? How will you provide continuing education – seminar? Podcasts? Newsletters? A blog? How responsive is your office set up to be to inbound inquiries?

In sharing your process, Agree makes clear to his audience of financial advisors, you’re really sharing promises.

Blog marketing is also a matter of making – and keeping – promises, we teach at Say It For You. Over my years as a freelance blog writer, I’ve seen many companies launch a blog marketing strategy with great expectations, but poor implementation. Just as in the world of finance, value is based on a the market’s perception of whether a company is likely to keep its promises about future growth, it is essential for any practitioner, product or service provider to keep promises and deliver predictable and consistent results.

In creating a content marketing plan, I like to begin by challenging the owner of a business or professional practice to answer the following question: “If you had only eight to ten words to describe why you’re passionate about what you sell, what you know, and what you do, what would those words be?” In other words, whether the business owner him or herself is doing the writing, or whether they’re collaborating with a writer, the first steps I creating blog content involve clarifying, and then sharing, the “process” and the promise to follow that process.

Blog to share your process!

 

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In Blog Marketing, Controversy Can Start – or End – Conversation

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Ban the word “must” in your pitch to an editor, Estelle Erasmus advises writers in Writers Digest. “We must do more for starving children” is not likely to get you an op-ed, because no reasonable person would argue the point. Editors are looking for something that can be legitimately part of a debate, she explains, so as to start a conversation.

When it comes to blogging for business, common intuition is that more controversy generates more buzz, Zoey Chen and Jonah Berger find. Yet, while controversy does increase interest initially, it also generates discomfort.

Research demonstrates that people care deeply about three Bs: behavior, belonging, and beliefs. If you create division around any of these things, people will seek to either confirm or disprove what you’re saying, which creates buzz. On the other hand, what you don’t want to create is backlash against you and your product or service.

Still, as Fractl writes, “Creating a piece of content that incites an emotional reaction or discusses a polarizing topic can bring valuable attention back to your brand.” To avoid backlash, she advises: a) Don’t choose a side or have an agenda in presenting the issue. b) Look at the lighter side of the story.

A controversy “do” includes offering a unique perspective, looking at a situation in a way that many people might not have considered, theEword.com points out. Also important is creating timely content, showing that your business is up on current affairs. Be balanced and a fair moderator, adds blogherald.com.

At Say It For You, I’ve always emphasized to content writers that blogs must have a strong, “opinionated” voice. Posts must go far beyond Wikipedia-page-information-dispensing and offer the business owner’s (or the professional’s, or the organization executive’s) unique perspective on issues related to the search topic.

Controversy can start – or end – conversation, to be sure. But, given that there is always going to be controversy, blog content writers need to use it as a tool for thought leadership.

 

 

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