Avoid the Threat of Token Articles

Attracting people to your blog requires captivating content that is both interesting and creative in its presentation. Token articles pose a threat to blogs as they tend to be quite dull – it takes just one lifeless article to fend off your readership for good. Disappointment sees a readership that surely will not return to your site.

What is a Token Article?

Writing in itself is an exhausting business; the meticulous attention to detail, a fresh way of arranging words to convey ideas and the art of choosing a topic requires a lot of energy. As soon as an employee loses interest in the task of writing a piece, it becomes just another item to check off the to-do list. They just want to get this process over and done with so that they can finish the rest of the work they have set out for the day. They write token articles. Articles that are of bad quality, which required minimal effort and minimal thinking to compose and right there is where your company gets caught in the token trap.

There are two primary reasons for this occurrence. Firstly, the employee is not a creative thinker, which means that the task of writing was assigned to the wrong person. The second and most likely reason is the depletion of energy. We live in the age of abundance, where there is no need to be energy-efficient. The problem is that the human brain has not quite evolved to realise this, so people tend to tire rather easily. Fighting against nature is the key to defeating this particular problem. Strength comes when you push yourself to the limits. This rule applies to physical exercise as well as internal or cognitive exercise. Accompanying the strength that comes from pushing your boundaries is a bounty of results. In writing, the brain must be trained, pushed for creativity to such an extent that it you can physically feel it when you put down the final punctuation mark in your text. That is one way of knowing that you gave it your best.

How can the token article trap be avoided?

One simple addition to your organisation: an editorial team. The editorial team will set up a content calendar, delegate who should write which articles and ensure that the grammatical, structural and overall topic of the article is of an excellent quality. The editorial calendar will ensure that time management is in place, relieving stress off employees and issuing attentiveness from those involved.

The role of the editorial calendar:

• Planning far ahead
• Defining topics to be covered
• Ensuring simplicity (articles full of jargon and complex thoughts are generally unappealing)
• Defining key points to be covered within said articles
• Assigns accountability to the employees, which contributes to quality control
• Leveraging of the team
• Sets a clear editing process in place

Some pointers for high-quality articles:

• Ensure facts are accurate
• Proofread the article, preferably more than once
• Comprehensible, it is simple for people to understand when they scan through it
• Style; ensure that the same style and voice is used throughout the article
• Consistency; all points mentioned in the opening of the article are covered and explanations or examples are given where necessary.
• Grammar and spelling without fault.
• Challenge your mind, expand on your vocabulary, try out different styles of writing – just get out of that comfort zone.

Avoiding the trap is quite easy, almost as easy as falling into it. A good idea is to implement the strategies above before your employees make the mistake of writing even one token article, also encourage the culture of lifelong learning among employees. Constant improvement of the mind is constantly satisfying; and what is better than being a better thinker?