Write Pillar Articles, but don’t overdo it (please)!

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Posted in » Articles, Blogging Tips - by Ades on January 12th, 2008

sample pillar articleDon’t you just hate those posts that have too many unnecessary and not important bullet points inside? Writing pillar articles is one thing, but overdoing it is totally opposite.

Writing pillar articles in its true sense will bring you more traffic (Diggs, Stumbles, Reddits, linkbacks), more readers (your blog will be bookmarked more, RSS count will increase) and more advertisers (you will earn more), but overdoing it will have the totally opposite effect. When you overdo it, it sends a message to your readers that you are incompetent and don’t know what you are talking. But before we proceed…

What is Pillar Article?

Pillar articles are complete articles, that start with proper introduction and end with proper conclusion. Body part of the article will contain points, arguments, or sub topics. Usually they are bulleted, numbered, or simply put under separate sub-headings.

It is this part (body) that gets abused. Some bloggers just want to make their article longer, and thus enter all sorts of bullet points, even if the points are insignificant. It’s not the length of the article that counts, it’s the substance, the ingredients of your article that is important. Therefore, do not bother if your article falls short of its intended or desired length. Your article is complete before you add those additional points.

Characteristics of a Pillar Article

Pillar articles have one ore more of the following characteristics:

  • They are complete articles - have introduction, body, (recommendation), and conclusion parts.
  • They are usually longer articles - more than 600 words
  • They offer value to the reader - reader actually benefits from the article
  • They are original - shows author’s capability and expertise
  • They are time resistant - not outdated easily, stays true for a longer period
  • They take long hours to write - author usually spends long hours to research, analyze, deduce and write the article
  • And most importantly, they are not overdone! ;)

How do you know if you are overdoing it?

Well, when you write an article you will always list the most important points first. This usually happens very fast. You jot them down quickly, then there will be a long pause… then you think… and then you write additional points. Just consider those additional points if they are really important. If you think they are, then include it, if you doubt their importance then you should most probably discard them.

Another way to know if your pillar article is getting out of order is, when you start to consider putting your posts under titles like “60 ways to do this” or “101 ways to do that”. These kind of articles get dug (digged) a lot but I find them pretty useless most of the time.

And finally, human beings are created with built in common sense judgment. That means you know it when you are doing something wrong (come on you know it), and this applies to overdoing your pillar articles as well.

Your say…

I have purposely avoided giving sample posts from other blogs that have overdone their pillar articles. But I think you got the idea what I wanted to say, right? What’s your thoughts on this? Does the length of the article is any importance to you vs the substance?

Have a great weekend!

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21 Responses to “Write Pillar Articles, but don’t overdo it (please)!”

  1. By Alan Johnson on Jan 12, 2008

    Adding information just for the sake of making your article longer is definitely not something I would recommend. You can have as many bullets as you want as long as they actually add value to the article and not just make it seem that you artificially want to increase your article’s length.

    Alan Johnson

  2. By CompuWorld on Jan 12, 2008

    I totally agree with you. No doubt I have been writing short article in last few weeks in my blog just because the solution seems to get wrapped up in few lines itself.

    I am happy that I am not asking my readers to read anything useless.

  3. By Web 2.0 Internet Traffic Resource Center on Jan 13, 2008

    Once thing I notice right away in reading your post was how you actually practice what you preach nicely done. I think the problem with most online articles writing just comes down to proper training. There is that ‘I created it and I think it is great’ attitude in that everyone thinks their child is the most beautiful which can be disastrous when beginner writers start to strut their stuff.

    On the flip side practice makes perfect and good writing develops over time. I bookmarked this post for the next time I attempt to write a new article. I will try to follow your guidelines and we’ll see if I can construct a more beautiful child.

    I know some of my work from a few years ago when I first started out makes me cringe. I would like to disown most of it! : )

  4. By Alan Johnson on Jan 13, 2008

    Exactly, falling in love with a certain article or with your website is something I would never recommend. If the answer to the “why do I like my website/article?”-question is “because I’ve created it”, I am afraid that it’s back to the drawing board :)

    Alan Johnson

  5. By Thomson Chemmanoor on Jan 13, 2008

    I completely agree with you the length of the article doesn’t matter but the quality inside that body of the article should be interesting to the readers.

    Some bloggers just to make their blog post bigger they try this tactics.

    Thomson Chemmanoor

  6. By Little Guy Network Review on Jan 15, 2008

    I think that people are lazy to read long articles maybe only some interesting ones, its better make it short ans straight to point, thanks form my experience.

  7. By Alan Johnson on Jan 16, 2008

    It really depends on your writing style. Any good copywriter will tell you that the title needs to convince visitors to read the article and, after that, each sentence should make people want to read the next one.

    It also depends on why the reader is visiting your blog: if they’re interested in research then they will definitely look into any long article which they think will be interesting.

    Alan Johnson

  8. By Platform Beds on Jun 24, 2008

    You are right about pillar articles. Although it is quite informative, it gets to be boring at the end because there are so much written on it. I agree that what are important in an article are the substance and not the length of it. It is important not to overdo it.

  9. By Web Hosting on Jan 16, 2009

    Actually i don’t like pillar articles at all.. short simple articles with more knowledge are worth reading..just like your blog posts :)

  10. By barbi oyunlari on Mar 14, 2009

    I think that people are lazy to read long articles maybe only some interesting ones, its better make it short ans straight to point, thanks form my experience.

  11. By PS3 on Oct 26, 2009

    social networks are really good if you have unique content. in fact, i got about 15k unique visitors per day with the help of Digg and SU.

  12. By Rent Textbooks on Dec 15, 2009

    And being able to write that article without completely rambling about how pople rambel in forum posts.

  13. By DoFollow Blog List on Dec 23, 2009

    So you’re saying I do not have to actually number each leg of a centipede in my “How many legs does a centipede have” post?

    Sheesh back to the drawing board I go.

  14. By vektör on Jan 12, 2010

    I think that people are lazy to read long articles maybe only some interesting ones, its better make it short ans straight to point, thanks form my experience.

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