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

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  • They are time resistant – not outdated easily, stays true for a longer period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?



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