eps and examples to help you write long-form content

Do not be intimidated by any piece of content that exceeds 1,000 words.

It is possible to create long-form content in a similar way as a 500-word article.

Although it will take you a little longer, there are many benefits to spending your time on long-form pieces.

One reason is that longer content performs better than shorter content. It is more likely to be found on Google’s first pages because it has earned more backlinks.

bloggers continue to report that ebooks and guides are the most effective content formats. Bloggers who post long posts (3,000+ words) are 2.5x as likely that they will report strong results than those who publish shorter posts (1500 words or less).

Writing long-form, effective content is a skill. Once you master it, you can use it to achieve your content marketing goals.

What is long-form content and why does it matter? It is important.

Any piece of content with more than 1,000 words is considered long-form.

While some people may disagree about the word count, almost everyone agrees that short form content should not exceed 1,000 words. This means that a good benchmark for long-form content is at least 1,000 words.

This is not the only important factor in long-form content. depth is required for long-form content to be considered truly long-form. It must be able to provide valuable information and dive into a topic. It should be useful for readers, providing them with the information they require.

Long-form content is a great way to achieve three related goals for SEO.

• Rank higher on search engines: Comprehensive Content outranks Thin Content. Comprehensive content is usually long-form, but not always.
• Keep leads engaged and on your website. Long-form content should contain valuable, interesting information that is specific to the reader. This will engage them and keep them on your site longer. It also improves your bounce rate.
• Build your brand: Long guides and blog posts show your industry expertise and establish trust. Your authority will grow if you publish many long-form, high-quality posts.

As we enter the age of multimedia content, it is important to not discount other content types when discussing long-form formats.

Webinars, podcasts, and videos can be as rich and detailed as written content. They can also help you achieve your goals and may even encourage more engagement.

7 steps and examples to help you write long-form content

Long-form content writing doesn’t need to be a tedious task. It can be fun if you view it as a puzzle that must be solved.

Writing long-form content can be simplified by breaking it down into smaller chunks, or the pieces. Here’s how.

1. Select the right topic

It is important to realize that not all topics are suitable for long-form content.

You’re likely to have a difficult time writing a lengthy piece if you pick a topic that isn’t appropriate for the task. It’s likely that you won’t have enough material to write about, and you may end up writing just to make it longer. This is a recipe for useless filler and fluff that no one wants to read.

These errors can be avoided by critically considering your topic before you start writing. For a long-form piece, the right topic will be:

• Complex. It will have many parts that need to be explained or walked through.
• Specific. Your reader won’t be able to understand the topic if you only give a general overview.
• Uncommon or unique knowledge. Because the knowledge is rare or unusual, your audience should not have a deep understanding about your topic. This will depend on the audience you are targeting. Make sure to get to know your audience before you start searching for long-form topics.

House Beautiful’s “The Pros’ Guide To Renovating Your Bathroom” is an excellent example of a blog that shares uncommon knowledge about what to do when renovating a bathroom.

2. Learn the search intent for your topic

Once you have a topic you can comfortably carry the weight of many words it is time to determine how many you should use.

Your guide to planning a European vacation should be 1,500 words. 2,000? 3,000 or more

You can look at the top Google results to find out what people searching for your topic are looking for (their Search Intent).

• What information are your target audience searching for in relation to this topic?
• What amount of information is required to fully understand it?
• What amount of information is sufficient to satisfy a searcher seeking answers?

Google “How to Plan a European Family Vacation” will bring up a lot of helpful guides with different word counts.

These results are worth looking at (and taking notes).

All guides at a basic level include tips and tricks for families traveling to Europe. The top two guides provide more information about booking accommodations and airfare. However, the top guide (“European Family Vacation Itinerary + Tipps” by Somewhat Simple) went beyond what was expected and included a complete itinerary for traveling from London through Paris to Italy.

Based on this, how many words do and long-form guides need?

• If you are unsure how many words to write, take the average word count of the top three results for your topic. Then aim for that number. For the topic above, I would recommend a guide of between 2,500 and 3,000 words.
  • A word counter tool such as Word Counter Plus can be used to determine the word count for any page on the Internet.
• Consider what you can do to make the topic more useful than it already is. What can you do to add value to the topic with your brand expertise?
• Remember to look at the top Google articles missing. Do you have any gaps that you could fill?
• Include the basic information searchers need. Here, I would add tips and strategies for families traveling to Europe, as well as tips and tricks for booking flights, hotels, and transport.

3. Make a plan and organize the content

You should have some notes from your search intent research about the content of your long-form article. It’s now time to combine that information with any additional research you have done on the topic to create an outline.

Why? Long-form content must be well organized and structured to maximize engagement and readability. This structure can be created by using outline.

For long-form content, you should always sketch out a rough outline. Outlining is useful for adjusting the order and flow in your points, since it gives you the structure of your post. Do they flow logically? Are they all necessary and useful?

The skeleton outline will also give you the key areas to place headings within your final piece. Each major point should have a heading attached. Headings help with SEO by organizing the post and breaking up the text.

Here are some headings that you should use for long-form content.

• H2– Useful for titles and main ideas.
• H3– Use this to support your main idea in H2.
• H4– This is used for sub-points that support H3.

You won’t use H5s very often, and you probably will never use H6s so don’t worry about them. H1s can only be used for the title of your post.

MagnifyMoney’s guide on how to balance your checkbook is well-structured. It probably began with an outline of the main points that also serves as the headings.

4. When you write, think about your audience.

Your audience is paramount as you research, plan, and create your long-form article.

What do they want to learn about the topic? What do they need to learn?

These are the things you gained from research and interactions with people. These details should be included in your content.

Let’s say, for example, that I write a post for beginner photographers. One of my team members shared with me that they struggle to understand exposure and need help remembering basic concepts. This could be incorporated into my long-form article and dedicated an entire section to explaining exposure using pro tips.

Long-form content should be influenced by audience research, just like what you learn about the competition and Google. This will often help you differentiate your content.

5. Continue to expand on your points, and then answer the question “Why should I care?”

Don’t simply give rote explanations as you fill out your outline. As they scroll through your content, ask the implicit question.

“Why should you care?” ”

Explain to them why this information is important. Tell them why it’s important in the scheme of things. How it benefits them. What it will ultimately help with.

This Salesforce article, “3 Ways To Promote Efficient Growth With Resources You Already Have”, is a great example. It explains each point and why business owners should pay attention. Salesforce even provides data explaining why this matters.

6. To break up long-form content, add visuals like videos and images.

Long-form content is more visual than any other type of content.

These include headings. But, more importantly, relevant images and videos must be included. Your engagement won’t be as high if you don’t include these elements.

You don’t want your blog looking like this.

It should be easy to read, easily scannable, and engaging. A good rule of thumb, in addition to smart structuring, formatting, is to include one image or video for every 200 words.

Expert Photography’s beginner’s guide to photography includes colorful custom diagrams and images that demonstrate key concepts.

7. Create a table with contents

Do you want to write a long-form, epic guide? Consider adding a table to your post if it is more than 2,500-3000 words.

This will help you ground your reader when faced with a sea of information. This will give them an overview of your post and help them to navigate the topic.

It is extremely helpful for all types of readers, regardless of industry. MagnifyMoney has a great example of this. It includes key takeaways at the top and a table with contents.

You might also be interested in other types of long-form content

Don’t forget to include non- written long-form content such as videos, webinars and podcasts.

While these content types require more planning and research than long-form written content, they can be equally effective in building authority and trust among your audience.

Webinars

Demand Gen found that webinars are preferred by B2B buyers over all other content types (tied with ebooks at 57%).

Webinars can be described as live presentations that are broadcasted over the internet to select groups of people. You can view the presentation online and take part in it.

Brands create educational webinars for the exact same reasons as long-form content: to build trust and grow brand authority. You can also record webinars and publish them as separate long-form videos (“replays”) so that people who were unable to attend live can view them later.

This webinar hosted by UX Testing is a great example of a webinar.

For 24 hours, the webinar featured several speakers who spoke on UX topics. More than 7,000 people around the world signed up for the webinar.

Videos in long-form

Long-form videos can be anywhere from 15 to an hour long and explore the same topic as written content but with a visual focus or storytelling.

Lush, a cosmetics brand, is one example of a company with a large library of video content. Lush, a cosmetics company, has a lot of long-form videos that focus on haircare and skincare, like their guides to henna hair color and refreshing your hair regimen.

Podcasts

Podcasts have gained popularity over the past decade. 78% Americans are familiarized with podcasting and more than 50% have listened.

It makes sense. You can listen to them in your car, on public transport, while you do chores or cook dinner. These songs can be downloaded or streamed from your smartphone. There are many topics to choose from.

Podcasts can also be used to create long-form content. You can share stories with your brand and get the same benefits from podcasts as long-form content.

The Dear Headspace podcast is a good example, created by the Headspace team.

Meditation experts answer listener queries and offer mindful advice.

Write long-form content, and improve your content strategy

Writing long-form content requires commitment, it’s obvious. It can also seem daunting if you don’t know what to do.

Although it takes longer to create than its shorter-form sibling (and more effort and resources), long-form will ultimately produce better results.

Long-form content is generally more thorough. This content aims to cover a topic in depth, show your brand expertise, provide valuable insights and teach your audience something that they don’t already know.

Done right, comprehensive content ranks better. This keeps readers coming back to your site for more. It builds trust more than short-form content.

Learning to write long-form text will not be wasted time. This skill is extremely valuable and will increase your content marketing’s ROI. It will also help you create content that attracts readers and search engines.

Search Engine land first published the post Long-form Content Writing: 7 Smart Steps and Examples.