A Copywriter’s Guide to Long Form Content

Long form content is incredibly useful when it comes to marketing, SEO and appearing as high up in the search engine results pages (SERPs) as possible. Long-form content ranks far better than content with a much shorter word count. Boost your website traffic and make yourself a trusted source of content in the eyes of Google by producing and publishing long-form content, but how? Firstly, you need to know and understand what long-form content is, and then we’ll give you some hints and tips for writing it yourself, from scratch. So let’s take a closer look at long-form content, from the perspective of a copywriter:

What is long-form content?

Typically, long-form content is any written piece of content that exceeds around 1,000 words in length, although the exact word count in order for it to be categorised as ‘long form’ is widely disputed in the industry. You might be wondering, considering the lengthy word count, why it’s beneficial to bother writing long-form content in the first place. The short answer is that it’s great for SEO, in three different ways:

1. Rank higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs)

Long-form content is considered to be more valuable than short-form when you look at the Google algorithm. But don’t be tempted to put content out there that is low-quality, just because you want to meet the word count threshold. The content you write needs to be high-quality, grammatically-correct and factually accurate. The information should be relevant and valuable to the reader, therefore pushing you further up in the SERPs, which is your main goal.

2. It helps to engage leads & retain website traffic

When you have high-quality content that is easy-to-read, simple to understand and full of useful information that people can use and absorb easily, you’ll be able to keep people engaged for as long as possible, therefore reducing your overall bounce rate. There is another advantage with this, and that is making sure they’re following through to other areas of your website. Use ‘Call to Actions’ (CTAs) to plug your goods and services as a way of retaining your website traffic in general, and not just on that one article.

3. It ensures your reputation

The longer and more accurate the long-form content that you’re producing, the better you’re going to look in the eyes of Google algorithms. Google is constantly on the lookout to rank articles that are packed with relevant information and have been written to the highest possible quality. 

This includes making sure that spelling and grammar is up to scratch, as well as being complete with information that is up-to-date and that gives the reader everything they’ve come for. 

The more you can provide in terms of the aforementioned, the more valued that content will become. But how do you expect to fit all of that into a short piece of content? You can’t, and that’s why you need to rely on long-form content instead if you’re wanting to build a solid reputation. 

How to write long-form content

There are many ways in which you can write long-form content successfully. From constantly thinking about the needs of your audience to constantly expanding on even the smallest of points, here are few hints and tips for writing long-form content when you aren’t used to producing it:

Carefully consider the topic you’re writing about

Before starting to write your long-form content, you need to think carefully about the topic you’re going to cover. Make sure it’s relevant and has the ability to provide as much information as possible to your readers. If, for example, you own a blind and curtain company, you could write an article about keeping draughts out of your home this winter. With this in mind, include advice such as: installing Roman blinds or hanging lined blackout curtains. 

You should also add information like: how to hang Roman blinds or curtains, why you should consider Roman blinds or curtains, the benefits of each option and some design options to choose from, if you’re a direct supplier. Essentially, give the reader the information they need, plus any inspiration that they’ll benefit from. But don’t forget, all of that information comes in the topic you choose. Can you make some long-form content out of the idea you have chosen, or is it better suited to short form content instead? 

Research, research, research

If you’re going to be writing long-form content, the idea is that you can write, continuously, about the same topic with complete confidence and accuracy. This can be difficult to do when it comes to writing long-form content, so it’s imperative that you have the right research and knowledge behind you. This is especially the case if you’re writing about a topic or subject that you aren’t an expert in. Most of the time, copywriters will be writing about things that they don’t specialise in, which is just another string to add to your bow when it comes to content creation.

Create a structure or a plan before you begin

So that you don’t go off-topic, or on a tangent while you’re writing your content, you should first come up with a plan and a structure. The devil is in the detail when it comes to content creation. Firstly, make sure you’ve done as much research as possible on the topic you’re writing about, even if you consider yourself an expert on the matter. 

This is to ensure that you’re providing your readers with relevant and accurate information. This will make you a trusted source – great for your readers and the performance in the SERPs. Alongside the right amount of research, you need to put a structure in place. 

How are you going to lay out the information that you’ve collated? It can be difficult to make sense of all of the information you have collected, so putting a structure in place before you sit and write your long-form content is essential.

 Split it up into headings and subheadings and then think about how well that structure flows. Does it come in the order your reader or audience would expect it to? Go back through and read it from top-to-bottom to determine how well it reads; perhaps even ask for a second opinion for good measure.

Always write with your audience in mind

In order to make sure that you’re pulling the right amount of relevant traffic, you need to keep writing with the audience in mind. By this, I mean think about the tone in which you’re writing and the words you’re using. Are you writing for a specialist law firm or for a student bar owner? Will the audience understand any jargon you use or do you need to keep it simple? Make sure you’re writing with your target audience in mind when creating long-from content; you don’t want to make your readers feel as though they’re not being taken into account. 

Expand on your points

While it might be tempting to simply add bullet points and make lists, you should refrain from doing this with long-form content. It has the opposite effect to what you’re trying to achieve. Take this blog post you’re reading, for instance. I could have just listed these hints and tips, with no context or any other information. However, I want this article to be at least a thousand words long. If I simply bullet-pointed these things and didn’t expand, there’s no way I would hit my word count goal.

Try to break up long-form content, such as with images

Whether you’re breaking up your long-form content with imagery, videos or adverts, you should look to break it up somewhat so as to retain the attention of your readers. If someone is constantly scrolling down the page, looking only at continuous prose, it’s a sure way to boost your bounce rate (which isn’t good). To keep your audience engaged and interested, give them a break here and there by inserting something relevant and interesting to look at, in the form of a visual aid.

Kumo is a dedicated, experienced digital marketing agency with over twenty years’ of knowledge and expertise to draw upon. With a team of content writers, SEO specialists, PPC professionals, website designers and more, you’ll always be able to count on us to propel your business into the spotlight, setting you apart from your competitors. For further information about our digital marketing services, get in touch with a member of our friendly, committed team today – we’re always pleased to hear from you.