When discussing the trend amongst content creators lately, I used the term "micro-videos" to describe the short (less than a minute) clips I've started noticing in my SkyTube feed. It got me to thinking about the future of blogging and I wondered "Is Long-form Content Dead?" In today's post, I'll cover where we are and where I think we'll be going. I also get to share the first graphic I created using Canva thanks to the post How to use Canva by Josediccus.
When I blog, I'd say my typical post length is between 400 and 600 words. This gives the reader something to chew on while being mindful of their time. But I also like to keep Google well-fed, and write with them in mind as well. To me, a long-form post is a piece of 1000 words or longer. Posts of this size can give you the runway to really optimize your SEO by allowing you the sheer space to combine different variations of your keywords and key-phrases in a natural-sounding way.
A post of say, less than 200 words, doesn't offer enough digital real estate unless it resembles nothing but a keyword-packing mess. Yes, I've seen that on what I call "zombie pages" which are throwaway junk websites created just to rank on the search engines. We don't do that here on Hive.
Some stories need more background in order to be told properly, and I like to write in such a way as to put you right there with me in the scene. So on a regular basis (at least once a month, or once a week if I have the time) I like to write an epic post of over 1000 words. This allows me to really flesh things out and take the reader on a deeper journey.
Long-Form Content Examples
As we all know, people are busy and attention spans are short, so these long-form posts tend to be read less than the shorter ones. One of the things I'll do is to break them up into part 1, part 2, in order to shorten them for easier consumption. But sometimes a story needs to be told in as few parts as possible, and that's when I let the event speak until its natural conclusion.
Five days ago, I posted an almost 3000 word epic post about the night I almost died while in the Navy. The post: Life is Precious #8 - The Night I Almost Died, Yet Learned To Live... (Part 2), was the second entry from the first one published a few years ago. It's a good long-form content example which tends to leave a powerful impact in the mind of the reader.
It speaks to overcoming fear and adversity on what was the scariest night of my life, describing the events that led up to containing that fear and finding a way out. The truth is, I would not be here today if I had not fought through the obstacles in order to save my own life. The point of the piece is that if I can do it, you can too.
Of course, just like the first one, it saw few readers on Hive and no comments, which didn't surprise me. It needed to be that length in order to convey the fear and emotions I felt that night, and I wanted to get the account on the blockchain while memory of that event was still fresh in my mind. I will always be thankful to @felt.buzz for being the only one to comment on part 1. It was good to know that somebody read it.
But like I said, I also write with Google in mind, so the hope is that somebody having a rough ride in life, might read my post and draw encouragement themselves. If either of the two-part series helps even one person hang on whenever they're contemplating giving up, it will have been worth it. As writers, we need to keep in mind the good that our words can do.
Long-Form Content SEO
So while shorter posts can do very well here on LeoFinance and Hive, the benefits of long-form content SEO cannot be denied. long-form content can give your site more authority in the minds of your readers. More backlinks on a site can also help move your blog higher up in the search rankings. With the top spot on Google having 3.8 times more backlinks than the rest of the top 10, it's worth it to try and make it to that first page.
This is why since I started on Steemit five years ago, I've always listed my last 5 published articles at the bottom of each post, as I've done with this one. Every single one of them counts as a "backlink" to my other work, and is what I suggest every Hive blogger should be doing to improve their blogs SEO.
I also link out to other non-Hive sites in order to make my posts more informational so they aren't simply linking to the same domain. This also provides a little assist with SEO, and used together with other site optimizations, can help your blog stand out from the rest.
The general consensus is that posts between 1000-2000 words tend to populate the first page of Google search results. So even if no one here sees your long-form post, there is a huge content-hungry audience on Google just waiting to gobble it up! And with any luck, you'll land on the first page (that is, until Google changes their algo again).
Time on site and time on page are also ranking signals tracked by Google, which is yet another reason to incorporate longer posts into your content creation strategy.
Short-Form vs. Long-Form Content Writing
I think that the type of information you're trying to share should guide the length of your content. When dealing with a simple subject or just trying to make one point, writing a short-form blog post will suffice. So if I'm writing a travel-related blog post about where to sit on a plane in order to have the best view of the northern lights, that will be a good example of effective short-form content.
Think of them as "clips" that help to give readers a bite-sized snack of your work, with backlinks leading to the main course. Picture the short Joe Rogan clips on Spotify where he showcases some of the best bits of his podcast, enticing you to come back for more, that's the idea here.
A deep dive on a complex subject or a vivid personal narrative, requires more elements to explain the topic, or set the scene of an emotional story. There was no way I could have put you inside my head in 200 words or less, as my arms were tiring from holding on to the ship, and I was about to tumble into the mighty Atlantic Ocean. I was able to tell part 2 in just over 2900 words, and that was exactly what was needed. Long-form content writing can inform, inspire, and share the sometimes tragic beauty of this thing called life, but it needs to be given the space to do so.
Your choice of blogging styles depends on who you're trying to reach. The typical blockchain enthusiast may have no problem devouring a whitepaper-length blog post, while Joe-Six-Pack may prefer much lighter fare. We need to feed them both. So the answer to the question "Is Long-form Content Dead?" is a resounding "No!" Each type of writing has its place in the toolkit of a professional blogger. I think a good mix of short, medium, and long-form content, can help us to reach a larger audience, while touching the hearts and minds of readers all over the world.
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Image Credit: [1] Created using Canva by @EverNoticeThat, 2