People are looking for answers to their problems. There is an enormous amount of discussion going in the e-world regarding the choice between the long and short form of content. Check out the post below to find out the best form of content that helps you drive traffic, rank better as well as make money online.
The world is getting connected in a digital world at a pace faster than ever before. People are looking forward towards the e-world for all their problems and queries. As a blogger or a digital content developer, it becomes your responsibility to produce stunning, engaging and relevant content that serves netizens needs.
Things are not as easy as they sound. It may happen that the user is looking for an in-depth answer but your short content fails to impress the user. Vice Versa is also true.
Your 2000 word article might fail to impress your users but a 300-word blog might just go viral!
There are many variables that come into play while drafting the content for a digital marketing strategy.
The renowned blogger Neil Patel always prefers long-form of content. He shares in his post that only if the content meets the user goals, it is perfect else it is a total waste of time. Neil says that word count is not a factor in Google rankings but it has been proven that a long-form of content ranks best for organic searches.
So, there are essentially three major factors affecting your best content type and they are:
- intent of the user
- knowledge level and interest of the user
- source from where the traffic is coming
In a nutshell, there is no thumb rule for the content length as it totally depends on the services/product, audience and business goals.
What is long form of content and short form of content?
Content can be of various types such as blogs, vlogs, podcasts etc. Any piece of content using more than 2K words could be considered as a long-form of content. For example: eBooks, whitepapers, case studies, how-to guides etc.
Social media posts, blogs, email, etc. typically written between 800 and 1000 words can be taken up as short-form of content. Long form of content is detailed and comprehensive while the short form of content is skimmed and precise.
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When should I use long-form of content?
Long-form of content is best for organic searches. Products and services that need to show quality and commitment need long-form of content. Such products need information-based marketing as the B2B cycle is more complex and long too.
This form of content works best in the initial marketing phase as at that time we need to build awareness amongst the people regarding the product and services. Dealing with technical products and services too requires long-form as it requires a proper pitch to explain the complex aspects.
When does short form of content marks the strongest impact?
In today’s time when people don’t have enough time, short form of content work wonders such as news feed, podcasts, social media posts, PPC ads etc. You should choose short form of content when the audience is familiar about your product/services.
If you have a loyal customer base or the customers are ready to make a purchase decision, using the long form of content may frustrate them.
How to find the “best” length for your copy?
Here are some tips that will help you decide which form of content works for you.
1. Customer Awareness
If your product or business is unknown to a larger audience, long-form of content really helps you build your online presence and a grasp on the niche. This form of content gives you an opportunity to share all the information about your products and services. It helps you build the trust factor amongst the prospective clients.
On the contrary, if the customers are aware about your brand then short-form of content significantly boosts your conversion rate.
No matter what form of content you are using, it should be optimized and well-curated to answer the queries of readers and get them into buying mode.
2. User Intent
If the readers are interested in your product/services they may have an interest in reading about your new products/launches and other useful information. If they aren’t interested then you have to use smarter and impressive CTA (short form of content) to garner their attention. No one is going to read the long content if the users don’t want to learn about your products.
This will further frustrate and annoy them. This may damage your online reputation and you may lose customers as well. Taking the help of Google analytics would significantly help you in drafting the best length content.
3. Use Keywords
After deciding the length of your copy, work over a set of keywords that you would be integrating in the final draft. The keywords should be chosen as per the user intent. There are many free keyword tools available on the internet that will help you leverage your organic ranking.
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Always remember, do not produce content just for the sake of stuffing your website. You need to ensure the content’s freshness, engagement and relevance. This boosts the online reputation of your business as well.
Pro Tip:
Posting a single Q/A or FAQs with a few sentences might be treated negatively on Google search rankings. Rather, combining these short articles into one big one would make sense as it positively impacts the rankings.
So, now you know that there are various factors involved in developing content. Identify your best form of content that helps you drive more traffic as well as boost conversions.
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