{"id":634,"date":"2023-03-14T16:18:05","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T16:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/?p=634"},"modified":"2023-03-23T08:32:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T08:32:13","slug":"style-vs-substance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/style-vs-substance\/","title":{"rendered":"Style vs. Substance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For quite awhile, I was using images in my posts frequently.\u00a0 Almost daily.\u00a0 Enough that stock photography company\u00a0Shutterstock took notice\u00a0and we worked together to create a blog outreach program.\u00a0\u00a0Images\u00a0<em>are<\/em>\u00a0vital to modern blogs.\u00a0\u00a0<em>But<\/em>\u00a0images are, in essence, style.\u00a0 Important, but mean nothing without substance.<\/p>\n<p>And images are just one element that could be considered style.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>So is a funky design\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Or a creative logo\u2026.<\/li>\n<li>Perhaps clever formatting within posts\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You get the idea.<\/p>\n<p>It goes beyond blogging, and actually permeates all aspects of\u00a0content marketing\u00a0and even marketing at the macro level.\u00a0 Many companies are great at style but lack substance.\u00a0 Some have substance but lack style.\u00a0 Few have both.<\/p>\n<h2>Style:<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Helps you stand out amongst your peers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If everyone else wraps their ideas in bland looking packaging \u2013 you can position yourself against them by having something that\u00a0takes chances.\u00a0 Glen Allsop at\u00a0ViperChill\u00a0knows how to make his content\u00a0 stand out through unique styling.\u00a0 So does the team at\u00a0Smashing Magazine.\u00a0 So does\u00a0Dustin Curtis.\u00a0 Do you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Needs to be strategic to create the right kind of connection with prospects<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For example \u2013 if your market is the\u00a0Digg\u00a0crowd, do you think an overly corporate site is going to attract them?\u00a0 Unless you\u2019re being ironic, probably not.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Makes people take you more seriously<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I already stated the\u00a0benefits of having a custom theme\u00a0for your blog.\u00a0 If you\u2019re devoting any\u00a0time\u00a0(something far more valuable than money) to digital publishing, it makes sense to invest in a unique style for your site.\u00a0 Think RSS and the real-time stream are all that matters?\u00a0 Wrong. A majority of people still view content itself on site.\u00a0 Ask anyone with a blog to look at their web stats and they\u2019ll say the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just blogging:\u00a0 any digital content you publish should have style if you want people to take you seriously.\u00a0 It just shows you care.\u00a0 Even if you\u2019re willing to prove yourself and create substance-worthy content for years, style is a shortcut to gain attention quickly.<\/p>\n<h2>Substance<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Trumps style<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Style is important,\u00a0<em>but<\/em>\u00a0if you have substance it can be forgiven to have a lack of style.\u00a0\u00a0Robert Scoble\u00a0has a decided lack of style (sorry Robert the default WP theme lacks style).\u00a0 So does\u00a0Louis Gray\u00a0(sorry Louis, that blogger theme is not visually interesting).\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 They\u2019re A-list tech bloggers with insane amounts of\u00a0trust\u00a0from the digital community.\u00a0 Substance trumps style every time if you\u2019re that good.\u00a0 The better you are, the less you need the flash.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>I<\/em><em>s<\/em>\u00a0style (in writing)<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re smart enough to craft writing that has substance, it will inevitably also have some sort of style.\u00a0 Unless you\u2019re 100% robotic in your content and know nothing but technical writing, style is part of what makes up substance.\u00a0 Do you read\u00a0Outspoken Media\u2019s blog?\u00a0 You should.\u00a0 Their writing defines style and substance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nurtures authority<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As noted by Brian Clarke in his must-read \u201cAuthority Rules:\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Authority is powerful stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Authority can be abused and it can definitely corrupt\u2026<\/p>\n<p>But it can also build trust, admiration, and respect.<\/p>\n<p>And when it comes to online marketing\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Authority is what works.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Without substance, you have no chance at authority.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is timeless<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The nature of a real-time web creates a constant churn of content always pushing what\u2019s old down and what\u2019s new up.\u00a0 But great content that has true substance is timeless.\u00a0 Valeria Maltoni, author of\u00a0Conversation Agent\u00a0has an aptly titled section on her site\u2019s sidebar titled \u201ctimeless.\u201d\u00a0 Apt, because the content has substance and is still referential to this day.\u00a0 If you have true substance, you can cut through trends and the ever-quickening nature of disposable content and stand the test of time.<\/p>\n<h2>Other thoughts on style vs. substance<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Style and substance are subjective<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your style could be my substance, and my substance could be your style.\u00a0 They are subjective and open to interpretation.\u00a0 But style and substance that hits the mark for your target will embody the items mentioned above.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Balance between style and substance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Can you have too much style and not enough substance?\u00a0 Sure \u2013 and it can go the other way too, especially if you don\u2019t have the reputation yet to create something thick with substance that lacks style.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Style is necessarily to hook people<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As an\u00a0electronic music artist\u00a0who mostly writes instrumental music, I\u2019ve learned the importance of hooking people with having some style at the start of songs.\u00a0 While it\u2019s fun for me to write a 10 minute+ long song with a drawn out introduction that undergoes many progressions and transitions, if there\u2019s no initial hook with style no one will listen.\u00a0 Perhaps that\u2019s OK as I create music purely for intrinsic reasons and not to pay the bills, but if I want people to listen I need to have style to go with the substance, and it should be apparent at first glance.\u00a0 Do you think marketing is really any different?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Do you ever stop and consider the balance of style and substance in what you\u2019re doing?\u00a0 If you don\u2019t, you should.\u00a0 As a content creator, marketer, blogger or web pro, or artist understanding this is key to creating ideas that stick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For quite awhile, I was using images in my posts frequently.\u00a0 Almost daily.\u00a0 Enough that stock photography company\u00a0Shutterstock took notice\u00a0and &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Style vs. Substance\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/style-vs-substance\/#more-634\" aria-label=\"More on Style vs. Substance\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz","category-digital-marketing-and-pr","resize-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":635,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions\/635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}