26 Ways to Screw Up Your Content

I work with a lot of writers. Some work for my clients, some are freelancers I hire to help me complete project work and some are colleagues and peers who want a quick editorial take on something they've written.

I wrote a blog post about how B2B marketers need to tune and hone their writing skills. In fact, when I come across a marketer today who doesn't write, doesn't want to write and thinks that content writing is something other people do, I wonder what their next career will be...

This said, there are a number of things that screw up content. Sometimes they're obvious and sometimes they're not. But, they are all issues that will impact your content's effectiveness in doing the job you've given it.

Here's a sampling of 26 issues I've seen lately:

1. The hook is buried somewhere farther than the 1st paragraph. In fact, sometimes it's missing altogether.


2. Paragraphs are too long to be read comfortably on a web page.


3. The writing is stiff, with a lot of big words that make you feel like the writer thinks they are important. Anytime the writing distracts from the point it's making, you've lost your reader.


4. There's no structure to the piece to help the reader build the ideas into a meaningful takeaway with the addition of each new sentence or paragraph.


5. The company is speaking to you like it's an individual, only there's no byline. Companies should not speak in first person. A human does that.


6. The content is focused on getting what the company wants more so than providing what the reader wants.


7. The content talks down to readers, emphasizing how stupid they are and how badly they will fail if they don't do what the company is telling them to do.


8. FUD - similar to the above but focused more on scaring people with fear, uncertainty and doubt as the motivator to get them to take action.


9. Acronyms that are never explained.


10. Acronyms that have different meanings depending on industry orientation that are never explained.


11. No call to action.


12. Misleading calls to action. This happens a lot on Twitter when you think you're going to get one thing, but land somewhere that has nothing to do with what you expected.


13. No takeaway big idea or impression.


14. Too long for the format - like a 1,500 word blog post.


15. Titles that make empty promises.


16. Commercial breaks within content to push your product. Just because you gave me 2 paragraphs of good information doesn't mean you've now earned the right to give me 6 about your product.


17. Chest thumping and bragging about yourself. The leading provider of... kind of crap.


18. Defensive content that tries to protect your position on something. Either stick with your position or don't, but whining about it doesn't help.


19. Offensive content that goes after a competitor. Really? Stop it. Do you think it makes you look better? Microsoft vs. SFDC comes to mind. Although it can be entertaining for the rest of us.


20. Content essentially "borrowed" from someone else. Imitation is not the best form of flattery in some cases...nuff said.


21. Content that tries to do too much all at once.


22. Monotonous content that has no change in rhythm or repetitious sentence structure.


23. Grammatical errors and typos. I know you know this, but if I didn't include it, you know someone would say something.


24. No source attribution for statistics. Research shows that... Come on, inquiring minds want to know that you're not making it up.


25. Too many cooks in the kitchen. I'm sure you've seen this happen. The piece is pretty good, on its way to being solid when the powers that be start adding their 2 cents. Pretty soon you've got a big mess on your hands and it ends up in the trash (hopefully).


26. The 49-word sentence. If you have to stop and take a breath when reading a sentence, it's too long.

I could go on, but you get the idea. One of the best ways to fix a lot of this is to actually read your content out loud. First to yourself, then read it to others or have them read it to you. Watch for eye rolling, stumbling over the words, too much alliteration, etc.

Don't depend on spell check to find all the issues. Different versions of words will pass muster, but may not be the correct usage (there vs. their, for example).

Refer back to your premise for the piece. Does the content actually address what it's supposed to? Is every sentence on point? Is it focused on addressing a specific audience in a specific stage of buying?

Look at each sentence to make sure it's necessary. If you removed it would your content suffer? Would the point not be made? Tighten your writing and eliminate superflous words that aren't necessary - adjectives and adverbs love to sneak in. A few is fine, but often there are way more than are necessary.

Did I miss any pet peeves you have about content? Let's hear them.

Comments

[Bob James]

The compound abstraction drives me nuts. A client of mine today insisted on calling a special event it's producing a "momentum accelerator." What the heck is that?

[Ardath Albee]

Hi Bob,

I'm laughing. This is not uncommon. We like to think we're really creative and that everyone will get it, but often without explanation that won't happen. I'm of the school that if you have to explain what it means, you need to rethink the phrase.

Thanks for sharing!

[Brandon Yanofsky]

This is a great article. Amazing tips. Especially keeping posts under 1,500 words. I think there is a time and place for these type of posts. But some blogs do this all the time.

[Ardath Albee]

Thanks, Brandon! And I agree. Blogs set an expectation of a quick bite of content, something you can chew on for a bit or choose to share after a read that takes a few minutes.

When confronted with a long post that requires a real investment of time, your expectations are challenged and that creates friction which has your finger itching for that back button to go take on something easier.

[Janice King]

For companies that market internationally, a frequent mistake is forgetting that many readers speak English as a second language. So the text includes too much American slang or implied meanings that may be completely baffling or misinterpreted by a reader.

[Ardath Albee]

Hi Janice,

Thanks for swinging by and sharing a great tip!

[David Crankshaw]

Great list, thanks.

Two more ideas that I have to constantly guard against in my own writing:
1. Use the active voice, not the passive voice.

2. And it's corollary, avoid "is" and "are" verbs. They allow the writer to simply link noun phrases together and disguise the actor. Ask yourself "Who's kicking who?" Then put this action into a simple active verb.

Active verbs will drive your writing and keep the reader engaged.

For more on active business writing, see Richard Lanham's "Revising Business Prose."

[Doug Kessler]

Great list.
I might add 'Copy that doesn't know what it wants the reader to actually DO.'
But these are terrific -- and all-too-common.

[Advertising Directory]

Good work Ardath Albee, better post as before. Am I first to admit, I have done all of these at least once or twice.
No doubt quality content does matter, but we prefer reputation, brand and perception to work in our favor.

[Ardath Albee]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for dropping by and sharing that tip - It's a good one. Content should motivate action.

To Advertising Directory (wish you had a name - a human one). This said, what do you think builds your reputation, brand and perception online if not content? I'm not sure you can have one without the other these days...

[Advertising Directory]

The way we consume and value content is different....We neglect quality sometimes.

[MatchesMalone]

For lack of the answer I originally wanted to post as I was rushed, #27 has to be, a combination of at least 3 of the above, in any order of priority....

[Ardath Albee]

Hi David C. -

Great point! Active voice is very important. I like your trick for testing - Who's kicking whom?

To Matches -

Thanks for your comment. Do you mean that most content you see has at least 3 items off the list? :-)

[Barbara Bix]

Hi Ardath,

Thanks for another great post.

You've probably written about the ideal blog length elsewhere, but would you repeat it here? <800 words? <500 words?

Here's my contribution:

Presentation counts. Subtitles and pictures can make content easier to digest.

If your content isn't perishable (about a current event), put it aside for a day to get perspective. When you come back, you may find content to strike or bits that require clarification.

[Ardath Albee]

Hi Barbara,

Thanks for adding your tip - I should have thought of that as I always find things to edit when I set content aside and return later. Great tip!

As for post length, I find that 350 words can produce a solid post with some meat on the bones. It takes the burden off for busy marketers. This said, I think any longer than 700 words is too many. Most of my posts come in around 500 - 600, although I have been known to go longer when I'm on a roll :-)

I think that in addition to length, we need to consider format. This post, for example is almost 800 words, but it's pretty easy to skim given the list format. Paragraph length can also shorten the impression of time as each chunk is easy to digest. Headers, bullets and graphics, as you point out, can also make understanding more immediate and deliver value whether the reader scans or slows down to read each word.

Rather than making a rule about length, I think posts need to be tightly focused and meaty with at least one solid takeaway idea for your audience. I've seen instances where the posts are too short to deliver much more than a vague impression of value, as well.

[Vaibhav Domkundwar - Nurture]

Great post, Ardath and I can relate to this as we come across this at Nurture all the time. Content is almost as important in marketing automation as the tool, and yet its surprising how unprepared a lot of marketing organizations are as far as story telling and content creation is concerned.

[Billee Brady]

Great list of things to focus on when writing, there really are so many factors that come into play when you are crafting a piece of content for the web.

I think you have outlined a great deal of them, thanks.
Billee Brady

[Virtual office assistant]

These tips are extremely beneficial. These are things that anyone can easily do to improve a blog. It seems self-evident to write what you love, to direct your content toward your community, etc. but these simple goals can often be pushed to the side in pursuit of sheer number of readers.

[Chris Rand]

Nice post! Always dangerous though to remind people to check for grammatical errors and typos: "Company's" in number 5?

[Ardath Albee]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for keeping me on the straight and narrow! It's fixed. Although it does prove the need to the need to have others read your work :)

[Ardath Albee]

Vaibhav -

Thanks for commenting, although I'd argue that content is more important than marketing automation, but then, I'm a bit biased :)

Billee -

Appreciate you taking the time to comment. Thanks for your comment.

Virtual Office Assistant - Name?

You make a good point about blogs, although these tips work for all kinds of content. I think the fascination with followers takes us back to wanting to be the cool kids on the block. I've seen bloggers with a very small following turn that into business and bloggers with a huge following struggle to make that conversion happen. It's about "who" follows you, not how many.

[David]

Hi ardath.

I am not good writter in my own language either in yours.

I am so glad to read this post and it makes think how a bad writter and how i need it fix it , Wow here is lot of good tips .

I Will continue reading since now.

Thanks for sharing.

[SuziCraig]

Great piece! What are your thoughts about writing with SEO as a top priority? In other words, shapeshifting your language as a quest for hits/high volume.

Your point about titles that offer empty promises is spot on. I signed up for a Webinar last week with the title of "What No One Is Telling You About Content Strategy." It stunk. The title grabbed me with hope that they really knew what I didn't know. Then the Webinar was 101 and I learned nothing new (except that I won't sign up for another one with that company).

[Ardath Albee]

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm glad to know you found some tips you can use. I wish you the best in your writing.

Hi Suzi,

I feel your disappointment. I've also been to webinars that didn't deliver what they promised.

I think that if you can "shapeshift" (love that!) your content to use keyword phrasing, that's terrific. But the quality of the content should not suffer for the sake of a quest for high volume. The goal is really to gain engagement with the audience you're targeting, rather than to aim for volume at the cost of engagement.

Some of the blog posts that I'm most proud of generated low-volume of page views, but much higher time spent in reading them. Interestingly, those posts have turned out to be the ones that really hooked those interested in the subject matter and resulted in emails, phone calls and projects. Not that a high-volume post can't do the same (they have), but be careful of the allure of volume over business goals.

[SuziCraig]

Beware the "allure of volume over business goals" -- absolutely!

I think that all good online writing should begin with what's true. What is truly authentic to what you're trying to say? Then, examine how it's said to alter it for SEO/traffic-driving prowess.

Our blog gets little traffic, but the traffic it gets comes from where we want it -- our core network -- because that's who it's built for. And, we know this, so we don't write to the random loiterers that might come by. But, there is always that little voice in my head about amping up the numbers. I don't think it's for the sake of volume, but more to see how a topic resonates (or doesn't) with our community.

Thanks for this -- lots of great things to think about and put into play!