People have differing opinions about the precise word count that makes a piece a longform article. However, the vast majority of individuals agree that it's more than 1,000 words. Also, a longform piece goes into depth about the topic instead of sticking to the basic, surface material.
Perhaps you've mostly or always published short content but are ready to incorporate long articles into your content strategy. Here are some practical and straightforward ways to do so, no matter your industry or area of focus.
1. Consider Using a List Format for Your Content
People like list formats for blog posts for several reasons. Seeing the content set up in that way can be a roadmap for readers, especially if your title has a number, and each subheading does too. Lists also allow you to prioritize your content in order of importance or relevance to the readers.
A joint study from Backlinko and BuzzSumo also found that lists get more shares on social media. The companies analyzed 912 million blog posts to get an idea of what made some material perform better than others. The results showed that list posts got an average of 218% more shares than how-tos.
Bear in mind, though, that this statistic applied to all posts in the study, not only longform content. The company did clarify that the social sharing "sweet spot" was articles ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 words.
Instead of getting caught up in the specifics of word count, ask yourself if a list format might make the piece more appealing to your audience. For example, if you're writing about the necessities a person must tackle before moving to a new city, it may help to present that piece as a list. However, that's not necessarily true when giving people tips to overcome their issues with housetraining a puppy.
2. Keep Your Content Well Organized
You may feel worried about holding readers' attention with longform content. That concern will occupy your mind less if you organize the information thoughtfully. Help people feel confident that they're progressively growing their knowledge by reading the article.
Begin by thinking about what a person would want to know and when. For example, if you're writing about zero-energy homes, the smart thing to do is define what makes those abodes different from others. Then, you could go into the pros and cons associated with them, what people should know before building them and so on.
You shouldn't talk about the specifics of building a zero-energy house before providing a definition, however. If you did, many people would likely get frustrated and stop reading. Present the content in a logical order, and you'll be more likely to encourage people to read through to the end.
3. Let the Content Present You as an Authority
One of the benefits of longer content is that it gives you more chances to answer questions. Then, your readers don't have to look all over the internet to satisfy their queries. Plus, getting the content from you urges them to view you as a trustworthy source ready to meet their needs.
Statistics show that longform content generates nine times more leads than shorter pieces. Think about what you'd want to know as someone interested in your company and the topic at hand. Then, write a well-researched, engaging article that convinces the reader you are an excellent resource.
When people can find your long articles and get all or most of their questions answered, they'll be more likely to have favorable impressions of your company. Additionally, the authoritativeness conveyed via your longform content should increase dwell time, a measurement of the seconds or minutes between when a person comes to your page and then go back to a search engine.
A longer dwell time suggests people found what they needed at your site and felt content to stay there instead of navigating somewhere else. This time also determines how relevant your content is to the visitors who arrived. If it's disappointingly short for your first few long articles, don't despair. Assess how you could make the content more applicable and go from there.
4. Improve Readability with Sections and Bullet Points
Unlike short content that’s easy to skim, longform pieces encourage people to settle in and prepare to exercise critical thinking. However, that’s not to say there aren't things you can do to make the content more readable.
Establish the article in segments by adding headers that describe the content below. You can also rely on bulleted lists to group related content and prevent it from getting lost in a large section.
Headers and bullet points are ideal for longform pieces about highly technical topics. For example, if you need to give details about the types of physical testing a client might require for their materials, such formatting helps readers quickly locate the sections that apply to them.
You may also wish to have a table of contents at the top of the page and include section-specific links within it. People can click on them and go directly to a particular part.
5. Instruct Readers with Your Longform Content
While creating longform content, think about taking an instructional approach. This possibility has a two-fold effect. It shows your authority while helping people feel empowered by consuming your content.
Think With Google published a piece to help people nurture brand loyalty with longform content. The material centered on videos, but you can apply the tips even if solely focusing on text-based content. For example, Target released a YouTube video on its official channel to teach people how to make a snack and beverage vending machine from readily available materials, like cardboard. The camera zoomed in on the person’s hands as they took various actions to build the item.
Other people use longform content to describe how to go through an exercise routine, clean a house thoroughly or play an instrument. The topics you choose for instructional material are virtually endless. Make sure they fit with your brand and your focus, however.
If you want to release written content rather than videos, consider using pictures containing close-up shots of each step, tip or technique. The best thing to do is make the content so immersive that people have no doubts about how to proceed.
6. Drive More Traffic to Your Content by Repurposing It
We’ve already discussed how to increase the chances of people reading your longform content in its entirety. However, unless readers already see you as an established and trustworthy outlet, getting them to click on a longer piece initially could prove challenging.
Fortunately, you can change that by repurposing your longform articles into shareable social media content. These posts can stimulate someone’s interest and make them want to learn more by clicking into the full longform article. One possibility is to pull quotes or statistics from your longform pieces and use them for social graphics. The goal is to cause a positive emotional reaction that increases the curiosity people have about the content as a whole.
You might also create a text-motion video that combines an approximately 100-word snippet from your longform post, plus animation and other moving elements captured in a short clip. That kind of content offers a preview of what people can expect if they get engrossed in the entire piece.
People often scroll through social media feeds until they find things that grab their attention. If you can show off the longform content in exciting, social media-ready ways, it should be easier to bring more traffic to the full-length material.
7. Pay Attention to What the Audience Wants
Another useful way to make your longform content succeed is to base it off of audience feedback. Have various people said they’d appreciate an explainer article on a highly technical topic? Perhaps you touched on a subject in a previous blog, and individuals chimed in and said it’d be great if you could take a more in-depth look at it.
In cases like those, you can and should tune in to what the audience says they want to consume. If you haven’t gotten a lot of clear-cut feedback through reader comments yet, examine the metrics associated with your existing content.
Find the pieces of content people visited most frequently or spent the most time consuming. The number of social media shares could also aid in determining which articles or videos people found the most useful or fascinating.
8. Ensure That the Content Moves the Material Forward
Most people have a maximum amount of time they’ll devote to a piece of content. Someone might watch a feature-length movie on Netflix for a half-hour before deciding whether to finish it. The time readers give to internet content is significantly shorter, however. Some experts assert that you must get the reader’s attention within the first paragraph when writing an online article.
Your job is not over if you accomplish that goal, though. The content should make people glad they decided to continue after getting past the opener. Scrutinize your sentences to check that each one helps the content flow rather than weighing it down with unnecessary words. Are any of the sentences confusing? Do all of your subheadings closely relate to the topics underneath?
It may make the most sense to review your longform article after writing the whole thing. Another option is to read each paragraph after composing it. If working with longform video, go over the content in 30-second segments to see what to remove and keep.
Write Longform Content with Confidence
All the talk about people’s dwindling attention spans may have caused you to plan on spending less time on longform pieces this year, but that could be a mistake. Regardless of your industry, longer articles can get people interested and make them care about your brand or company, all while viewing you as an authoritative figure.
Follow the tips here, and track any metrics at your disposal to gauge what works and what doesn’t. The suggestions above are strong starting points, but you should always view the statistics associated with each piece to get a clear idea of how to engage with and please your audience.
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Kayla Matthews is a MarTech journalist and writer, whose work has been featured on Marketing Dive, Contently, Outbrain and Convince and Convert. To read more posts from Kayla, please visit her personal tech blog, Productivity Bytes.
