After writing for long periods of time, you often begin to use ideas and words just to fill up space or lengthen your word count.

Everyone is guilty of using filler content to extend the length of an article, but how guilty are you?

Filler content is not just useless content that you place in the middle of a blog but it can be wordy sentences and disorganization.

If your content is beginning to seem less and less useful, it’s time to stop writing and start editing – the filler content must go.

What Words to Avoid

Don’t simply open a document and delete the words that are listed, but there are several ‘filler’ words that are only used to take up space.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone who consistently uses ‘like’ to transition their sentence?

“So like, we went to the store and he was like, totally at the mall, where we like…”

Then, the conversation ends and you are completely oblivious to what they were talking about because you were primarily focused on how many times the word like was said. Some of the other filler words that are more distracting than helpful are:

• Just
• Really
• Like
• You know?
• Like I said

These words or phrases add absolutely no substance to your content and don’t do you any justice. They are extra words you’re using, as a writer, to fill up more space or re-explain something that requires no explanation.

Make a Point

What is your content even saying? If you cannot answer the question with a simple explanation, you’re using filler content to avoid making the intended point clear.

Anecdotes and short stories can help sell a product or prove a point, but if you don’t have a plot or story line that is relevant to your piece, you are filing the article with information is not useful.

If you’re writing an article about customer service, sharing a story about a brief encounter you had with poor customer service is a great way to speak highly of your business and its customer service, but avoid going into detail. It’s unnecessary to say which restaurant you were at, what you ordered, who you were with; keep the details minimal because too much information will flood the brain of the reader and cause them to leave your page confused.

Organization

While organization is not necessarily filler content, it can be distracting enough from the point to be considered for this category.

Be sure your article has a beginning, middle and end. There should be no confusion when it comes to explaining what each paragraph is about in your article. Reread your content – if you cannot decipher what point each paragraph makes, your content is probably filled with irrelevant information.

If you’re having trouble organizing your writing, create an outline before you begin. This can help you place things properly in your article so that they not only make sense but the reader isn’t going through the article over and over trying to figure out where everything fits together.

Less is More

When you’re avoiding filler content, remember that less is more. Many writers get caught up in focusing on their word count or thinking that a lengthy article means more useful information – it is a terrible assumption.

In no way, shape or form does word count directly relate to substance. The phrase ‘quality over quantity’ should ring strongly when writing an article. Being too wordy is distracting and using too many words is confusing.

Have you ever read the back of a Vitaminwater bottle? There is a short paragraph on the back of each bottle describing what the product is, what it does and how it makes you feel. It is interesting, to the point and full of information. Your content is clearly going to be longer than a paragraph, but focus on what it says, not how long it is.

Content marketing is an effective way to get the point across about your products to the readers, but at times, can be difficult. If you’re having trouble or need exclusive content marketing tips or any other marketing advice, contact us today more information.