Writing long blog posts can really be boring sometimes. There are days when you just feel that people won’t like what you’ve written. When you don’t feel like working on the same post for the entire day.

So, what do you do? Turn to writing short form content, right? It may seem tempting but shorter posts are not good for increasing your leads. According to quicksprout.com, longer posts perform better on every level. This is mainly because more number of words result in higher search traffic.

The more content you have, the more chance it has of appearing on top in search engine results page. According to a study by SerpIQ, the top 10 results of Google (for any keyword) show articles that have more than 2,000 words. Search engines seem to prefer pages that are loaded with content.

Not convinced yet? It’s simple. The more content you have, the more keywords the crawlers will have to index, in turn increasing its chances in search results. Therefore, you need to create blog posts that are at least 2,000+ words. Not convinced yet? Let’s have a look at some more reasons how writing longer posts can help you increase leads.

1. More Word Count, More Back-links 

Data shows a direct correlation between word length and the backlinks that a post receives from other websites. And you probably already know that higher backlinks on a page helps it rank better on the search engines.

2. Longer Posts Get More Social Shares

TruConversion.com found that longer posts attract more social shares. According to Hubspot, if a post is greater than 1,500 words, on average it receives 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes than a post that is under 1,500 words.

For instance, a 3,535 word transcription of a lecture by Neil Gaiman on the importance of reading was posted by the Guardian. Despite the length, the piece was shared over 220,000 times since being posted on October 15.

3. Search for Long Tail Keywords on the Rise

An article published on neilpatel.com states that if you consistently publish in-depth content around long-tail keywords, you’ll see an increase in search traffic, attract paying customers, and grow your brand. Nora Flint from TruConversion reveals that blogs with long tail keywords in the title, description and content body are easier to rank.

Therefore, this is yet another opportunity for you to dominate a long tail keyword by writing extensive posts around it. People ask questions to Google as it were a friend. For instance, check out how the number of results decrease as the words increase. This means less competition for you if you can successfully hit the right one.

4. Long Form Content Generates More Traffic

According to newsmodo.com, by introducing long-form content, companies typically see an increase in the time spent on each page and a higher number of return visitors. People are drawn to longer posts as they consider them to be of higher quality and more informative. An article on Curata.com suggests that readers really want to read something of substance and they will definitely hang in there if your post is well-written.

5. Long form Content Increases Time on Site

Not only does long form content help you drive traffic and get social shares, but it also helps you increase the average time spent by users on your site.

Remember, if your content is comprehensive and useful, it will grab more eyeballs. The more time people spend on your site, the lower your bounce rate.

The more time people invest in your content, the more trust you’ll be able to gain. According to a study by SerpIQ, the ideal blog post takes 7 minutes to read and is around 1,600 words long.

6. Long Form Content Helps You Build Authority 

Long form content provides you with greater opportunity to showcase your expertise in the ever-so-competitive market.

Building authority helps you gain trust and credibility from your buyers and prospects. People love to do business with companies that are trustworthy.

Help Scout is a classic example of a company that has established itself as a subject matter expert in customer services with lengthy and knowledgeable guides on various aspects of customer service.

7. Long Form Content Converts Better

No matter what type of content you create, long or short, the end motive is to boost conversions for your business. Conversion is the highest leverage point for any business. Here’s what imaginepub.com revealed in one of its report: Long form content works best just before the purchase decision is made by a customer.

But don’t take care our word for it, check out the example of 37Signals.

37signals wanted to increase signups on its ‘Highrise’ product page. The company A/B tested the original version of the one with short content against a treatment version with long-form content. They found out the product page with long-form content increased the conversion rate by more than 37%.

Here’s another example from Moz. The company wanted to increase the subscriptions of its premium program. They test their landing page with shorter content against the one with longer content. The longer page resulted in a 52% increase in sales.

Keep in Mind

Writing long form is only one of the ways to boost conversions. You need to take care of other elements as well while writing your post so that it draws more attention. The following may help you increase the length of your post while maintaining its quality:

• Choose an appropriate topic: Reexamine and see if the topic is substantial enough to write 2,000 words on. Your article should make sense and offer something new to the audience.
• The way you write: Your style of writing affects the length of your article in a big way. Adopt a more conversation tone of writing.
• Good content takes time: It’s not necessary to post a blog every day. Even if you post weekly, make sure it’s good, thorough and detailed.
• Know your audience well: Last but not the least, knowing your audience is the key to increase conversations on your site. Try and create content that your readers need and relate to. If you don’t know, find out.
• Organization is the key: Organisation is the key to success of long form content. Keep the tone engaging and friendly. People aren’t looking for lectures but want quick solutions. Add as many examples as you can to explain a subject.
• Pay attention to your social accounts: Everyone is on social media these days. Make sure your logo looks great and that the contact details aren’t buried under the fold. Make sure that your social media pages are clutter-free. This will attract more users to your social media accounts. The more followers you have, the more the chances of your content being shared.

Conclusion

We hope that you are convinced by now that long form content can help drive traffic, boost conversions, and increase conversions. Whether it is for your blog or for guest posts, a well-written, longer article will help you.

However, make sure that the content is naturally long and you don’t fluff it in a bid to increase the word count. Your content writer must add value in the lives of your readers. It must solve a problem and serve a purpose.

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This is a guest contribution by Nancy Kapoor, a passionate blogger and Deputy Digital Marketing Manager at Designhill.com, world’s fastest-growing crowdsourcing platform for custom logo design, website designs, banner, social media designs, and a host of other outsource graphic designs. She has over 7 years of experience in SEO, paid search, social media ads, email marketing, affiliate marketing, digital marketing, blogging, and content marketing. You can find her on Facebook.

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