350, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000… all of these numbers have been thrown at us when it comes to creating blog content. Some sources say shorter blogs are better because your audience doesn’t have time to read. Other sources say longer blogs are ideal because they build credibility, authority and SERPs. Finally, there are still more sources that claim shorter is better because it does everything a long blog does in a short, sweet package. So, which is it?
OK, so lately I’ve seen “shorter is better” circulating around on the Internet. While we DO have only 33 seconds to grab attention on a home page, a long-form blog over 2,000 words will actually get you noticed in search engine rankings. If you have a really good, poignant message in 100 words, but Google never ranks it—good luck Charley! Getting found is most important, and you can’t get found with a blog less than 500 words.
Ideal Blog Length: Short Content versus Long Content
Since Google dropped the Hummingbird patch, there’s been a new secret ingredient to getting noticed on the Internet: longer content equals higher rankings. Google indicated that content totaling 2,000 words versus 500 or less will rank higher on search engines. We here at Express Writers were skeptical at first. After all, up until this tidbit of information was released the rule of thumb was “less is more.”
We conducted our own case study in an effort to test this new secret ingredient out. We switched from writing 300 to 600 word blogs to publishing 1,500 to 2,000 word blogs. We made the switch in mid-November 2013. We posted our new lengthier blogs daily. Each post included at least one, sometimes two, stock images. We followed our usual search engine optimization techniques and shared each post socially. By mid-December 2013, we watched in excitement as our rankings took a huge leap upwards! Before switching to lengthier blogs, we had 7 keywords in the top 3 rankings on Goggle. After switching, we had 35 top keywords in the top 3 rankings on Google!
So, is shorter content better for blogging? Based on our study, we say this belief is a myth.
Myths about Content Length
When it comes to content length, we receive tons of input from all sorts of sources. Unfortunately, some of what we hear may sound great, but is really a myth waiting to be debunked. Let’s consider three:
Reputation trumps content length. Tell me if you’re heard this: “He can write 100 words and get 100+ shares on it. Why? He’s been blogging for more than 10 years, and he reportedly blogged every day for that time. Today’s, he’s the “top blogger in the world.” Sometimes it takes that long to consistently build up a name.” Awesome! He built a name for himself. But the second his blogs lack value, his audience is likely to jump ship.
Status means more than content. Consider Google’s Webspam Robot-Man. We like him. But really. Since he LEADS Google’s Webspam team, he can also write100 words and the entire world (well, Internet, well most of it…) listens. The rest of us can’t depend on our status to carry our content.
Shorter content equates to more sales. When’s the last time you bought a product or service from a sales page that amounted to 500 words or less? In all likelihood, you haven’t. Potential customers want to know why they should buy from you. They don’t want hype and sales fluff, and they absolutely don’t want to be pressured. They want to be educated consumers, the sort who understand their purchase and clearly see how it will benefit them today and in the future. You can’t accurately convey this type of quality information in short content and expect to appear credible.
What Truly Matters, Content-Wise
QuickSprout.com published an article about long copy effects on rankings and the truths of content. They covered three truths that are inescapable when it comes to blog content:
Quality content is king. According to a serpIQ analysis, Google doesn’t prefer lengthy content simply because it feels more valuable. Google also prefers it because the data indicates that audiences like longer, meatier content. The average length that scored as “most liked” was 2,416 to 2,494 words long.
Sites rich with content get more links. The trend is that people feel more content offers more value. If your website is rich with well-written, longer content, it will attract more people and result in more links.
Social media prefers lengthier content. A writer for Quick Sprout took the 327 blog posts they had written for Quick Sprout and sorted them into two categories. The first category held posts of less than 1,500 words. The second held posts greater than 1,500 words. The writer discovered that the posts with a length greater than 1,500 words received 22.6 percent more Facebook likes and 68.1 percent more tweets than posts that were less than 1,500 words.
Lengthy content is also on the rise due to a notable change in user search engine queries. According to Hitwise, 8-word search queries have increased in use by 34,000 percent. People are far less likely to enter a keyword of 2 to 3 words into a search engine query. More and more users are using long tail keywords, or keywords that are anywhere from 4 to 8 words in length. The longer your content is, the more words you use and the more likely you are to rank when a person uses a long tail keyword.
Does Short Advertising Sell More?
Over the years, we have been conditioned to think that less is more and shorter ads sell more. While this might well have been true twenty years ago, today we live in a customer driven time where the customer’s want for knowledge outweighs our want to keep things short, sweet and simple.
BusinessInsider.com published an article covering just why short copy doesn’t sell more. They gave five “most common” reasons to support the notion that shorter blog content sells more; let’s take a look at how easy it is to debunk these five anti-truths:
People don’t like to read. Granted, not all of us enjoy reading. But there is something we all do: we skim. We quickly look at titles and headings, pick out the tidbits of information that interests or applies to us and suddenly… we don’t mind reading at all—in fact, we LIKE it—because there’s something in it for us!
People have short attention spans. True, most of us are forced to have short attention spans because we’re so insanely busy. But let’s face it: if something is important to us, or a topic catches our attention and speaks to something we’re trying to solve, then short attention span, “be gone!” We’ll read the content without hesitation and probably follow a link for further intelligence.
People are in the habit of reading short messages. We’re texting in shorthand all of the time. We’re used to bursts of little information… when it comes to our social lives. When it comes to relevant topics, we’re ready for meatier info. We want to be educated consumers, not impulse buyers.
People are too distracted by multiple media channels. How many social media accounts are feeding into your phone? At last count, I had 7. A friend of mine has every social media app available running on her phone. Yes, that’s a lot of channels, but most of us aren’t distracted by them. Those channels are our portals to thought provoking and attention grabbing topics that we’ll take time to read about, especially if the content is inviting, relevant and entertaining.
People have their noses buried in their mobile devices. You better believe we do! That little handheld device is our window to the world. We can research anything from the palm of our hand. And guess what? We’ll READ the content we find if it’s relevant, beneficial and clearly has something in it for us.
While these five reasons could be used to support the argument that shorter content is better, they can just as easily be used to show how people are willing and eager to read longer, meatier content. The truth is people want quality. They want to know what’s in it for them. They want solutions to the problems they face today. And they aren’t afraid to tackle some moderate reading if it will benefit them.
So, is shorter better for blog content? Based on what readers and research are saying, no. This is a myth, not a truth. Your audience is interested in lengthier content, and lengthier content will get you noticed in all the right ways. A 1,500 to 2,000 word blog is more of a challenge to create, but it’s worth every ounce of blood and sweat. It’ll get your noticed, build your credibility, reflect your authority and accomplish the ultimate business goal: increasing sales conversions.
Some people copy content in order to fill a website; others have all original content except for a list of automotive parts that really can’t be reworded. The hot question circulating in the online community is how much duplicate content will hurt you?
Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, says that today “something like 25 or 30 percent of all the web’s content is duplicate content.” For years, duplicate content has been a search engine optimization issue that has caused much debate. Some say matching content has led them to ranking ruin, while others claim it’s mostly harmless.
Understanding Duplicate Content and Why It Must Be Avoided
Simply put, duplicate content is the content that shows up multiple times in numerous places on the Internet. Search engines are on a mission to provide the best search experience. As a result, they avoid displaying identical material. There are three big issues with duplicate content:
Search engine algorithms don’t know which content version(s) to include or exclude.
Search engines cannot determine whether to direct link metrics to a single page or separate it between several versions.
Search engines cannot decide which version(s) to rank for query results.
You should avoid duplicate content whenever possible. It will only serve to decrease your SERP ranking and decrease traffic potential.
Disclaimers, Legal Information, Terms, and Conditions
Depending on the nature of your business, your service or product website might need to display a disclaimer, terms and conditions or some other sort of legal information. Let’s face it; nearly every website out there has something along these lines—even if it’s as minor as the same copyright information displayed on every page of the website. Duplicate content of this nature is going to exist. It’s virtually unavoidable.
Here’s the good news: Google understands. If they were to rank websites negatively for duplications that arise from disclaimers, legal information and terms and conditions, they would likely cause a negative impact on overall search quality. In Cutts’ words, “I wouldn’t stress about it” when it comes to the necessary legal jargon.
Ingredient, Product, Service and Other Lists
Lists are another element found on almost any website. Companies display lists of ingredients, parts, specs, and so forth. Your website might have a list of affiliates. In general, these types of lists should not detract from your ranking. However, a word of caution does demand attention: if you have just an affiliate feed or the exact same paragraph(s) of text that mirror what everybody else on the web puts in their list, duplicate content could become a problem.
Quotations and Citations
Don’t worry if you use quotations or citations. It is okay to quote, provided you link to the original source and indicate that you are quoting. Google won’t see this as duplicate content. However, remember, quotes are the golden nuggets of copy. Don’t write copy that is quotation heavy. This will be seen negatively by Google’s eyes.
Avoid “Fly-By-Night” or Duplicate Content Branding
Duplicate content brands a website as “fly-by-night,” meaning the content was quickly copied and pasted from somewhere else just to get the website up and running with a shot at gaining quick SERP ranking. It’s important that your webpage content not give this deadly impression.
The solution is simple: use original content as much as possible. By using original content throughout your webpages, little duplicates (such as the ones we discussed above) won’t carry much weight because your original content will far outweigh any matching material. In essence, showing that you are a reputable, established presence depends on value. How valuable is your content to the potential customer and the researcher who wants to be educated and informed?
Keyword Stuffing is Deadly
One of the largest contributors to duplicate content on the Internet has been the previous SEO strategy of stuffing content with keywords and keyword phrases. Up until now, this used to be a solid way to show up on search engine result pages and generate website traffic. Today, Google is smarter. Their search algorithms are able to identify synonyms and extrapolate relevant search results to a query based on concept. What does this mean for your content?
Do not stuff keywords or phrases! It will create rapidly recognized duplicate information. Your search rankings will take a not so graceful swan dive, and you’ll likely be branded a “fly-by-night” website by search engines.
The Practices to Avoid to Stay Free of Duplicate Content
Cutts makes an interesting statement about duplicate content. He says that in general, “duplicate content is not really treated as spam.” Most of the time, it’s “treated as something that [needs to be] cluster[ed] appropriately.” It’s important to realize that search engines are endeavoring to preserve quality search results.
Put yourself in the shoes of your audience. If they are looking for a local mechanic, then their search engine results need to return with several unique hits. They will then surf their way through these before choosing which mechanics to contact. If their search query returned a page with 10 links, all to the same mechanic’s website just different pages, they would be frustrated. It’s likely they would avoid giving business to this mechanic due to the sheer frustration of only his pages appearing.
Google wants to ensure the audience is happy.They’ll weed out duplicate content as their algorithms allow, and you don’t want to be a weed that gets pulled. Here are the practices to avoid:
Keyword stuffing.
Using the exact same paragraphs over and over on multiple pages.
Reusing the same biography, about or general company/business information because that’s all there is.
Using lists that appear on other websites.
Creating multiple domains, subdomains, or pages with duplicate content.
The Practice to Adopt
How do you not worry about duplicate content? It’s really very simple: stay original.
One of the best ways to ensure your content stays creative and original is to hire a professional. An expert copywriter or copywriting agency can be an invaluable ally, able to adeptly craft engaging, original content that will preserve and even improve your SERPs.
You’ve heard the saying “you get what you pay for,” but if you’re not taking that literally when it comes to your website copywriting, you’re throwing your brand’s valuable resources away.
Quality Copywriting Not Your Concern? Well it Should Be.
Websites with thin content, repetitive information or irrelevant content won’t rank high with Google and other search engines and it certainly won’t go over well with readers.
Back in the day content didn’t matter. Instead search engines cared about links and keywords. Websites could sprinkle a few keywords (or stuff them depending on their tactic) and rank high without much effort. Today, however, search engines have raised their expectations and there’s no tricking their robots anymore.
Once Google’s Panda and Penguin came around starting in 2011 and 2012, how web pages were ranked fell heavily on strong website copywriting. If the content is low-quality, search engines don’t want it and they certainly won’t recommend it to users.
Understanding Poor Content
Search engines rank your website based on what content you have on it. Two major areas search engines look at include:
Length – If you only have a few sentences per blog post or on your web pages, search engine spiders will think your content is too thin. While there’s no minimum or maximum word count, you want at least 200 words or more.
Originality – If you’re just rewriting what’s already on the web, you’re not original and search engines won’t think so either. Review your content and make sure it has some personal touches even if you got your ideas and research elsewhere. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to run your articles and website copywriting through a plagiarism checker just to make sure you’re not featuring what is elsewhere on the web.
So Does High-Quality Content Matter?
High-quality website copywriting is crucial. If you fail to invest in quality services, you’ll not only risk your brand, but your revenue too.
Want to know some other ways poor-quality content hurts your business?
Poor Quality Website Copywriting Kills Your SEO
You’ve poured plenty of money and time into your SEO, but if your content is thin, you copy other sites on the web or you’ve stuffed your content with keywords you can be flagged or penalized by search engines. According to Brafton, 89 percent of consumers use search engines to find products, services and companies. If you’re flagged and not showing up on search results, you’re losing out. Even worse, the top three search results are the highest clicked by users—about 60 percent of clicks go to those top three according to Search Engine Watch—so risking your ranking does a lot more damage than you might realize.
You’ll Lose Your Rep
If you don’t check the facts or you copy your content from someone else, you risk losing a portion of your customer base. Once those customers are gone, it’s pretty hard to get them back.
You Won’t Have Much of an Audience
Consumers love to find stuff on social media. When friends, family and acquaintances are recommending something, consumers jump all over it. Low-quality website copywriting is rarely shared with social media and since social media is a hot way to gain a bigger audience, your website is missing out.
You’ll Lose Trust
Consumers rarely purchase from a company or listen to what that company has to say if they don’t trust them. Can you blame them? Low-quality content isn’t trustworthy content.
You Don’t Increase Loyalty—You Might Even Lose It
It’s said that 50 to 60 percent of customers put trust into businesses after they read high-quality content on their website. From a business perspective, it’s more expensive retaining customers than getting new ones; therefore, you need to ensure brand loyalty through the content you post on your website.
How Do You Find High Quality Website Copywriting Services?
Just about everyone these days calls themselves a copywriter, so how do you pick out the quality ones from the average ones? While some copywriting services offer general writing services such as: blogging or article writing, others are copywriting specialists who offer customized website copywriting services.
Look for an Eye for Detail
Website copywriting services should be perfectionists. They want to represent your brand in the best way; therefore, they should provide you with error-free, interesting content. If you’re looking at a larger agency, look for one that employs in-house editors in addition to their writing staff. That means a second set of eyes can review and proof the work before you see it.
Hire Someone with Experience
Great copywriters know how to write and can tackle a variety of industries and topics. Whether you’re looking for an entire website, a few blogs or sales copy, an experienced copywriter can get the job done better than one just starting out. Not sure how to tell if they have experience? Ask for references and a portfolio. And, don’t be shy about asking for a sample to prove their expertise.
Quick Turnaround
There’s nothing more annoying than a copywriting service that takes months to get the job done. If you’re looking for lightning fast turnaround times, you might want to consider an agency rather than a single copywriter. An agency has multiple copywriters on staff that can accommodate rush orders.
Extra Bang for Your Buck
A website copywriting service that offers multiple services in one gives you more options than a company that just writes for one industry or specializes in one section. For example, sales copywriters are excellent, but limited to only sales copy such as: landing pages or advertisements. If you needed general blogs or specialty copywriting services, your sales copywriters might not be able to provide you with those things. Look for copywriting services that offer SEO writing capabilities and consulting services. Often they can look over your website, help you devise a content strategy and even offer search engine optimization tips.
Over the past decade, the incontestable power of the Internet has brought millions of business owners from all parts of the globe together in investing their time and money in cutting-edge websites and suitable web content, elaborated according to their needs, specifications and expectations, with the pen of a content writer making their content happen. When it comes to articles that actually draw visitors and serve a higher purpose, most company owners spare no expenses and do everything in their power to identify the best content writer or team of writers available. Here are 5 important things that you should know about talented, active, sociable, Internet-savvy and creative freelancers who have what it takes to guide you towards business success.
Your Ideal Content Writer Candidate Should:
1) Write On a Daily Basis
We’ve all heard this lesson a thousand times: practice makes perfect. A content writer who spends more than a couple of hours a day writing informative, educational, entertaining materials for different clients with different needs and requests will always respond better to new challenges, unlike novices or other freelancers who only write every once in a while.
2) Be well-organized, do a lot of research and always Google before they tweet.
Extensive research is part of the job and professional content writer always take this important phase very seriously. The worst mistake one could ever make is writing and distributing inaccurate, outdated, ambiguous content. In such cases, readers flag low-quality web material and start looking for trustworthy sources of information, so make sure you count on content writers who check and double-check the information before making it public.
3) Have an amazing, writing style which is audience-friendly and engaging
Your content writers should make the most of their unique set of skills and their inexhaustible talent and creativity to promote your brand, services and products in an engaging manner, while embracing a truly accessible writing style.
4) Be great at social media.
Would you really trust a freelancer who refuses to profit from amazing opportunities available on social media platforms? Would you hire a writer who doesn’t spend at least an hour a day on major social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn, where all the important elements go viral and all the most relevant trends are anticipated and widely commented? Make sure you hire a social savvy writer.
5) Is proud of their masterpieces, charges the right price
Reputable content writers won’t hesitate to link their most relevant content pieces for you and promote their professional services in an effective manner. Perhaps in the near future business owners will be able to count on different ranking systems allowing them to determine the real value of a particular writer. Until then, Google Authorship will enable you to identify some of the most active, talented freelancers who might have what it takes to complete your writing assignments in a more than satisfactory manner.
Make sure you pay the right price for unique content writer to create your pieces; an insignificant fee could trick you into opting for low-quality writing services – a big mistake which could impact the profitability and popularity of your online business for a long period of time.
Neil Patel, a top Internet marketer, says that you should expect to spend $100-200 per post.
Conclusion
A content writer could be the biggest boon for your business this year and beyond. It’s the era of the Internet; and the Internet thrives on content. Don’t just throw this job on anyone. Make sure your writer meets the criteria above, and you’ll find yourself a good one.
So, you’re a new content writer. You’ve spent a few hours perfecting your latest blog post, and you finally hit the publish button, thinking to yourself, “This is a good one!” Satisfied with your efforts, you go out and have yourself a nice dinner, and when you come home several hours later, a depressingly barren inbox awaits you. No comments, no likes, no re-tweets, no shares? What happened? You may even sleep on it, only to discover the next morning that your results are still abysmal. What have you done wrong? Why are other bloggers doing so well, while your arguably superior work sits unnoticed in the annals of the Web? Well, let’s take a look at some of the secrets every content writer should know about getting the most out of every post.
