Hewitt New Jersey USA
What wins in the short form vs long form content contest?
Before I share my experience I want you to know that different strategies work for different bloggers. I experienced some success publishing a high volume of 600 word blog posts. But publishing some 1200 word long blog posts – usually 1500-2000 words – did drive greater organic traffic to Blogging From Paradise. Plus, you offered me glowing feedback based on these types of posts.
Publishing the proper type of content for your:
- readers
- customers
- clients
increases both your traffic and profits.
Your community will accelerate your blogging success if you solve their specific problems with content meeting their preferences.
What Is Short Form Vs Long Form Content?
I frame 1200 to 1500 words (or longer) as being long form content based on my observations.
Short form posts tend to typically be 600 to 1200 words per post.
Should you employ short form or long form content to increase your blog traffic and profits?
I intend to share my experiences with each content type to help you make an informed decision.
Reader Perspective
My readers somewhat enjoy my 600-1000 word blog posts. Short form content does OK for the Blogging From Paradise community. I nab a wee bit of social media shares and a low volume of comments reacting to my short form blog posts. But my readers never offer a resounding reaction in response to my 600 word blog posts.
I feel some readers love the “message” conveyed via a 600 to 1000 word post. Perhaps you need to hear a message loud and clear via a short, punchy blog post. However, building a high volume of blog traffic and steady stream of blogging profits seems difficult to achieve via short form content. From my experience, even volume publishing beneficial, targeted 600 word posts makes for a stout uphill climb in traffic and profits terms. Readers generally enjoy but do not heartily endorse short posts because endorsements grow as blog post depth expands.
Some short form bloggers achieve professional blogging success because their readers vibe with a short, punchy delivery. At the end of the day do what vibes with:
- your audience
- you
Experiment with short form content to observe your reader reactions. Does your community flood your blog with comments, share your short form posts freely across social media and do these short and punchy boosts increase your traffic and profits? Note if a 600 word post elicits a comment spike and deluge of social media shares. But if your short posts seem to fall flat simply focus on creating long form content.
Spot your reader’s preferences as a guide toward what type of content best serves these individuals. From there, best serving their needs creates the greatest traffic and profits increase.
Writer Perspective
Admittedly, I thoroughly enjoyed publishing one, 600 word post daily for years. Finding my writing flow plus volume publishing helpful content let me carve out my place in the blogging tips niche.
But my short form posts did not make a seismic impact consistently. I also put pressure on myself to publish one blog post daily. From my writer’s perspective, writing and publishing short form posts:
- seemed like an easier solution compared to publishing long form content
- did not produce stellar returns over the long haul
I did OK publishing a high volume of short form content but seem to be doing far better publishing long form content over the past month. BFP readers favor 1200 to 1500 word or longer posts on this blog.
Blog comments spiked for these in-depth posts. My blogging traffic increased quite a bit during those days. Profits increased at a greater rate for long form posts versus short form offerings.
Currently, I only publish long form posts to Blogging From Paradise because this content increases my:
- organic traffic
- blogging income
- passive exposure
compared to short form content.
You guys told me that you preferred long form content based on feedback – and metrics – so I publish it.
What Is the Chief Benefit of Publishing Long Form Content?
Publishing long form content cultivates:
- clarity
- confidence
- trust
in most bloggers. In essence, you feel good, accomplished and successful by publishing rich, long form content. Feeling good brings good results because where your attention and energy goes, grows.
I never felt relaxed and abundant publishing 600 word posts. If anything, I hurried the process and naturally experienced diminished results.
Reader Feedback
Readers prefer my long form content and have told me so via:
- specific feedback via blog comments
- social media messages
- increased social media shares
- increased eBook sales
- a high volume of positive blog comments
Publishing long form content less frequently:
- saved my time and energy as I worked less
- leveraged my time and energy as I increased my traffic and profits while working less
- allowed my happy readers to promote the post more for me through word of mouth marketing
- allowed the content to promote itself through the value inherent in the post
Detailed blog posts behave like assets which work for you 24-7, 365, through Google and other organic channels.
Observe Neil Patel. He publishes highly-detailed, in-depth, long form content which generates heavy organic traffic.
Neil’s posts pop up on:
- authority blogs
- lesser known blogs
- various other channels
His long form content also passively generates high quality backlinks.
Ultimately, longer posts make every post work for you around the clock. Detailed content convinces readers to share it through marketing channels you may or may not even work. My blog posts pop up on sites like Reddit even though I have not visited the Q and A portal in years. Long form content wins again.
Focus on Depth and Value Not Just Word Count Numbers
Before you proceed I want to make one clear point; writing long form content solely to reach a specific word count does not accelerate your blogging success. Bloggers often write 3000 word posts not to publish an in-depth, detailed resource but to stretch out a post with:
- bloat
- excess verbiage
- blogging fat
The end result seems to be a poorly written post turning off far more readers than attracting loyal followers.
Keep:
- value
- details
- practical tips
- benefits
- thoroughness
at the front of your mind before publishing long form content. List details. Lay out practical tips. Stress strategies. Dig deep into techniques. Traffic and profits boosting long form content drips heavily with a high number of details. Drilling down into each tip creates expansion which pleases readers and Google.
SEO Considerations
I want to discuss SEO considerations by comparing how short form vs long form content performs on Google.
Short Form Content
My 600 – 1000 word, short form posts rarely if ever ranked on page 1 of Google for more than one day.
For 1 day, the post reached page 1 of Google, position 3, for: “how to submit a guest post”. Forbes and one other world famous brand outranked me. But the competitive nature of the keyword along with the thin nature of the post meant that it vanished from page 1 after a few hours. Ranking short or long term for any short form post proves to be rare for Blogging From Paradise content.
Scanning Google page 1 results for both competitive and low competition keywords reveals how short form content rarely sneaks onto page 1.
Google demands more.
Readers generally demand more too.
Some short form content appears on page 1 but usually associated with sky high DA, world famous sites employing armies of skilled contributors.
Yep; this is why Forbes, Entrepreneur and Business Insider rank highly for thin posts. Building a content mill with a large contributor base is one way to game the system, in essence.
It is what it is….
Long Form Content
I am not a big stats guy as veteran Blogging From Paradise readers know.
But one reader notified me as of this date that my blog generates 3,000 plus organic visitors each month via Google.
All of these posts are long form. Most ranked on page 1 only after I updated each with timely content.
What About the Traffic and the Profits?
The main reason why I do not share specific traffic and profits results as proof or testimony is because I adopt a “take it or leave it” approach to my blogging content. Take it and use it because you trust me or leave it and do not use it because you do not trust me, or because my advice does not resonate with you. Both choices are on you and how you choose to see the world through your mind.
Since I began publishing only long form content to my blog:
- social shares increased
- eBook sales increased
- the number of Blogging From Paradise blog posts ranking on page 1 of Google increase
- blog comments increased
- organic traffic increased through Google, social media and other channels
New Perspective on Long Form Content
Most bloggers – the old me included – overlook two aspects of long form content even if posts never rank on Google:
- increased time on site
- increased profit potential from time on site
For example, readers who consume my long form blog posts:
- spend at least 5-10 minutes on Blogging From Paradise to actually read the blog post
- notice more on Blogging From Paradise because you spent 5-10 minutes reading this post
- feel more comfortable shopping on Blogging From Paradise since you spent more time at this “store”
You do it. I do it. Spending more time in a store goads most to buy more stuff.
I do not want you to make impulse buys on Blogging From Paradise. Invest only in what helps you. But use this concept of long form content and time spent on site to:
- help your readers
- prosper indirectly
Experiment. Publish a few long form posts spanning maybe 1500 plus words. Add practical details to these posts. Give readers a reason to spend more time on your blog. Be a little more helpful than the average blogger.
Don’t be surprised if one, two or five long form posts on your blog:
- keep people on your site far longer
- increase shopping on your blog
- attract new readers through referral marketing
Meditate on this idea of keeping readers onsite for a longer stretch of time by publishing detailed, in-depth, long form content. Help not only more people but help them for a sustained chunk of time. Keep people browsing your blogging store for 3, 5 or 10 minutes versus a quick 60 second glance.
Influence readers to mill around your cyber store-blog versus being window shoppers.
The Verdict
Long form, SEO-optimized content spanning 1200-1500 words (or longer):
- performs quite well on Google
- increases organic, quality blog traffic
- increases blogging profits
- makes readers happier, more content (see the play on words?) and willing to offer highly positive feedback (thank you guys for your helpful blog comments)
Short form content spanning 600 to 1000 words, based on my personal experience:
- does not generally perform well on Google
- requires a highly prolific publishing schedule to slowly increase blog traffic and profits
- does not elicit a high volume of positive feedback from readers
At the end of the day, I offer these observations based on my intimately personal experience.
Follow your intuition. Everybody is different.
However, more often than not, you will tend toward creating long form content to increase your traffic and profits slowly and steadily over the long haul.
