{"id":818,"date":"2014-02-12T18:27:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T23:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.florist20.com\/blog\/?p=818"},"modified":"2014-02-12T18:27:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T23:27:00","slug":"art-long-post-three-pillar-rules-knock-readers-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.florist20.com\/blog\/seo\/art-long-post-three-pillar-rules-knock-readers-feet","title":{"rendered":"The Art Of The Long Post: Three Pillar Rules to Knock Your Readers Off Their Feet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creating engaging blog content is easier said than done. Every blog owner wants to be an authority in their market, often without having the slightest idea on how to go about it.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to talk about something that can work, if used correctly.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to focus on long posts, and discuss how they can really solidify your brand\u2019s image, which will help to build trust and familiarity between you and the average visitor to your blog.<\/p>\n

If the content on your blog makes it seem like you know what you\u2019re talking about, you become an authority figure, and this can ultimately facilitate sales.<\/p>\n

\"Writing<\/p>\n

What Not to Do<\/h2>\n

If you have put your time and resources into creating a business blog, you don\u2019t want content that\u2019s just \u201caverage\u201d. Your site visitors are busy and their attention is scattered and divided. If someone lands on your blog, you need to capture and maintain their interest.<\/p>\n

Understand this: Your visitors will have an ADHD-like attention span\u2026 if they find your content boring. If they go to your blog and click on a post that has a snooze-inducing title, no images and dull writing with little-to-no topical relevance, then they will bounce from your site with no remorse.<\/p>\n

Your visitors will only read your content if it engages them.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to look at this from a business context. The goal of most marketing endeavors is to generate more sales traffic. Now, for blogging, this also applies. But this is not the primary goal. Blog posts are great for brand-building. A solid, pillar blog post will help to cement your authority within your market\u2014and your readers (and Google\u2019s search engine) love a familiar authority. This, in time, will lead to sales growth.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s better:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 250 word blog post that has some decent tips and content, but is mostly not explained very well?<\/p>\n

VS.<\/p>\n

An 800 word blog post that has an assortment of valuable tips and suggestions, with enough room to fully explain and communicate what it needs to in full detail?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll take the latter (and so will your readers). A long-form, well-researched blog post will beat a thin, short-form article on most days. As explained before, your readers\u2019 attention span is scattered and divided, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they only consume short content. It means that dull, boring content doesn’t excite them.<\/p>\n

But this is not to say that short posts are all useless. A short post filled to the brim with good information, tips and value will outperform a rambling, unfocused 800+ word post that\u2019s barren of any extractable value.<\/p>\n

See, a long-form post simply gives you more opportunities to get your point across. A shorter post will give you far less opportunities, and when you\u2019re writing about a topic that you know needs room to breathe, 200-300 words just won\u2019t suffice.<\/p>\n

3 Rules for Writing Longer Blog Posts<\/h2>\n

1. Keep it Simple<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make the content relatively easy to read. Unless you\u2019re writing an especially technical post, keep it simple. Write in clear, concise sentences. Don\u2019t have extra-long paragraphs \u2014you\u2019re not writing an academic essay. Also, have bolded header tags spread throughout the post, as it will signal to the reader that you\u2019re trying to communicate a specific point, and\/or there\u2019s another section to the post. Remember, we live in an ADHD-like culture where people are incessantly bouncing from one website to the next, and people value their time more than anything. This means that the majority of your visitors will simply skim through your posts, and if you don\u2019t have easy to read prose, and bolded or highlighted headers, your posts will be largely ignored.<\/p>\n

2. Stay on Course <\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re writing about, say, puppies, stay on that topic and don\u2019t drift away from it. In a long post it\u2019s easy for things to get lost in the fold. For three paragraphs you could be writing about newborn puppies and then somewhere you start writing about a giraffe you saw in the zoo.<\/p>\n

To ensure that you stay on topic, you need an outline. An outline that has the points you want to convey, listed in order.<\/p>\n

This accomplishes a few things:<\/p>\n