long-form blog posts

Blogging. What comes to mind when you read that word? Maybe it’s chillaxing on the beach with a laptop and a martini while typing up your latest adventure? Yeah, that stereotype is about as old and tired as the content best practices from the last decade. (Not to mention unrealistic. Also, don’t take your laptop to the beach.) Maybe it’s the endless to-do list-slash-content calendar that’s one more dismal thing you have to do to make your business run – and what’s it even do, again? Oof. Hand me that martini. Here’s a bit of news: if your ideas about blogging fall into either camp, you’re doing it wrong. Here’s what blogging looks like in the 2020s, plus how to create long-form blogs that work FOR you (rather than being WORK for you). [bctt tweet=”What does #blogging look like in 2021? ? How do you create long-form blogs that work FOR you (rather than being WORK for you)? @JuliaEMcCoy has the answers on the Write Blog ?” username=””] What IS Long-Form Content? Like a lot of things in the content world, the idea of long-form comes from journalism. There, it referred to a story that ran over the typical length – about 500 words (or about 14-16 inches depending on the paper’s formatting). In content writing, long-form similarly refers to content that is longer than your typical content. It’s hard to pin an exact number on that average because it changes. In particular, it’s growing. Let’s paint a picture. The phrase long-form content has floated around on the internet for a long time – the first mentions start around 1998. This was the early days of Google before we’d really figured out the true magnitude of the search engine’s power. In those days, long-form content referred to anything over 300 words. That’s about the length of this section. However, by 2018, the average had crept up to 1,100 words. Blog posts that went over that frequently ranked higher, got more engagement, and enjoyed more widespread sharing on social media. And guess what? Marketers noticed. By 2020, HubSpot found that the average blog post was 2,164 words – almost double what it’d been two years earlier. Blog posts have been trending longer for some time. Blog post length is creeping up over 2,000 words. Source: Orbit Media. So, what is long-form content in 2021? According to BuzzSumo, long-form content is anything over 2,000 words. According to HubSpot, it’s anything between 1,000 and 7,500 words – buuut you want to hit 2,500 words minimum to get the most shares and backlinks. However, according to Core DNA, your content doesn’t get to wear the badge of long-form until it’s a whopping 4,000 words (about 2.5 times the length of this article). This brings us to another point… When to Use Long-Form Content If longer articles catch more eyeballs, win more clicks, and result in more shares, then longer is always better. Right? Wrong. Like everything, long-form content is a tool with some very good applications. Use it when: You’re building pillar content. One meaty, well-researched article full of links to articles that deep-dive into subtopics can transform your content. Long-form content is excellent here. You’re trying to outrank competitors with long-form content. If your competition is routinely posting 2,000-word articles, your little 1,100-word work of art won’t cut it. In these cases, long-form content combined with the skyscraper technique can work wonders. The topic needs it. What’s worse than bad content? Content that fails to fully address the topic. If the topic needs 2,000 words, don’t try to squeeze it into an 800-word blog article simply because you have to publish four articles per month. You’re better off having your writer do one 2,000-word article that really delves into the topic than four 800-word posts that scratch the surface. The content will land in front of the reader in the deeper stages of the buyer’s journey. A 35-minute read might be intimidating to a casual browser or someone with a short attention span. Target serious seekers with your long-form content. You’re building authority or thought leadership. Long-form content helps improve a site’s Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness – or EAT, one of Google’s quality guidelines. [bctt tweet=”If longer articles catch more eyeballs, win more clicks, and result in more shares, then longer is always better. Right? ? …Wrong. Long-form content is a tool with some very good applications. Learn WHEN to use it here ?” username=””] How to Create Long-Form Blogs That Everyone Will Love So, you’ve got pillar content planned that will position you as an authority in your industry. Great! Here are four tips to follow when creating long-form blogs that will impress both your readers and the search engines. 1. Break Out the Statistics! Did you know that blogs are considered the fifth-most trustworthy source of information? And having statistics in your blogs is one of the easiest ways to boost that trustworthiness rating. Statistics have a lot of benefits, especially when they’re unique to your business. They give your readers some brain candy, and they prove to Google that you’re an expert in your industry. Therefore, DO: Compile unique statistics to give to your writers whenever possible. Emphasize fresh statistics (within two or three years, depending on your industry). 2. Diver Deeper into Topics Are there 26 blog posts already on the topic you want to write about? Think about another way to attack the topic. Differentiating yourself in the search engine does more than just give your readers something fresh. It also sets you apart from the competition by showing original thought leadership – you aren’t just rehashing what someone else has already said. DO: Find angles and leverage your content differentiation factor. Look for studies or research that hasn’t been used by others. Do your own case studies and incorporate them into pillar content. Want to learn the ins and outs of creating not just long-form blogs, but long-form blogs that create ROI? Check out The Expert … Read more