10 Tips To Write Engaging Long-Form Content

You’ve probably been told to write long-form content at least once in your life. If you’re like me, you might think that this means writing more than 300 words, but in reality, the actual definition of long-form content is much broader than that. Long-form content refers to any article or text that goes beyond the commonly accepted word count of 300 or 500, and usually contains subheadings and plenty of detail to draw readers in and keep them interested throughout your entire piece of content.

Do you want to write engaging long-form content? Read these 10 tips!

1) Use long-form content to share a story

It's important to understand that long-form content doesn't mean you need to write a novel. It just means that you're going to take some time (at least 1,000 words) and build a narrative around your content. Because most people want to read about specific topics, it's also important for you to consider how many ways you can break up your narrative into short segments that give each piece of information context. This way, readers will be able to come back over and over again as they learn new information about what interests them. 

Let's look at an example: For great content, writing follow these 4 steps: Define What is Content Writing? Content writing is creating content with intent or developing online resources or both. Content could be in text, video, audio, or image form that is meant to help customers with their decision-making process on any kind of purchase they are looking forward to making. The main purpose behind content writing is increasing brand awareness and building better relationships with customers by providing detailed information related to products through different resources available on Internet today. 

For example: In the case of e-commerce websites more than half of the sales are done through site contents only which helps generate more traffic through search engines like Google etc., So basically one can find their potential buyers just by sharing their valuable resources on the web world today!

2) Decide how long you should be blogging per day

Before you start blogging, you’ll need to decide how much time you’re willing to devote to it. For many people, starting a daily or twice-daily routine is a good idea, since that creates an expectation among your audience and helps build your readership over time. If you have other responsibilities that don’t allow for that kind of schedule—say, children or a full-time job—you might benefit from setting aside just 15 minutes per day. That may not seem like enough time, but it can add up fast: A 15-minute session per day could become 60 posts in a year. Even if you only have time to write one post per week, that’s 52 posts—more than a whole year's worth of content! Once you know how long your sessions will be, set a goal for yourself. If yours are going to be shorter (i.e., five minutes) and more frequent (i.e., several times per week), aim for about 100 words; if they will be longer (15 minutes) and less frequent (once every few days), aim higher, around 300 words or so. Of course, these figures are approximations based on averages; when it comes down to it, there’s no wrong way to create content as long as you put in your best effort every time.

3) Start with a title that hooks the reader

That title alone will draw readers in, because why wouldn’t they want to learn more about how to write engaging long-form content? Once you have their attention, it’s important to immediately focus on what you can give them. In other words, tell them specifically what they can expect from your post and make that point obvious in your opening sentence or two. Long-form content is great for sharing intricate details, but it takes time and effort to execute well. So don’t waste any of that precious space on a greeting or pleasantries; get right down to business with a clear purpose statement (yes, one thing) quickly followed by at least one juicy fact/statistic/piece of data (more hooks!). A lot of research goes into each piece we publish here at HubSpot – especially when it comes to our longer articles – so go ahead and let them know we took some time out of our busy day just for them. Finally, as you create all that valuable content, try not to lose sight of what content marketing is all about: building an audience around a community where your ideas are shared and discussed with like-minded people online.

4) Identify your target audience

The key to content writing is figuring out your target audience. It's important to know who will be reading your work, and what their challenges are. This will determine how you organize your content, and whether or not you'll need to explain concepts in layman's terms. Just think about how much more difficult it would be to write an entertaining story if you were writing in another language! An important part of long-form content is catering to a specific group of people with shared challenges, needs, and aspirations—and one way to do that is knowing what they want from your business. If your content is relevant to them (and appropriately organized), then everyone wins.

5) Craft compelling headlines for engaging long-form content

When creating long-form content, remember that people don’t read in-depth content anymore. A Nielsen Norman Group study found that 20% of online users will only scan a headline and ignore accompanying text when encountering an ad or promotion on a website; 10% will only read the headline... [and] 58% of online users say they rely primarily on visuals rather than verbal descriptions when making purchase decisions. As you can see, if you want to reach your audience, it’s vital to craft compelling headlines. 

Here are some tips: avoid acronyms or overly technical jargon; make them easy to understand and make sure they accurately reflect what you will be covering in your post. Instead of using words like New to SEO? You Need These 7 Keywords, try something like How New Search Engine Optimization Companies Can Compete With The Big Boys. While both headlines communicate similar ideas, one reads as more engaging—likely because it uses everyday language that anyone would use at work or with friends... write your content around supporting videos instead of just summarizing someone else's video -- although either approach is fine for blogs whose target audiences aren't video savvy - if you have access to industry experts who have created helpful tutorials on YouTube then consider weaving their content into your writing instead of simply linking out to theirs (links out get less engagement). That way readers get insights from more than one source!

6) Create the right mood with your blog post image

As a content marketer, you have to understand how important imagery is when it comes to grabbing a person’s attention. Most people scan web pages without reading them from top to bottom, so including a compelling image at the top of your post can help draw your readers into what you have to say. It will also encourage them to keep reading so they can see what’s going on in that image. You can also use images throughout your post for visual appeal and impact – think about dividing up your long-form piece into segments and then placing images before each section header. That way, readers are guided along through your writing by those images. What if you don’t have an artistically inclined friend who could make cool pics? No worries; there are stock photo sites out there like iStockPhoto that offer inexpensive, royalty-free photos. With just a little bit of creativity (and some basic Photoshop skills), you can find images that work perfectly with your content.

7) Structure your blog posts properly before you start writing them

You should organize your content so that it flows like a story. Start with a general introduction, and then dive into subtopics as needed. As you're writing, keep an eye on how long each section is. If it's getting too long, consider breaking it down into subsections. Also, be sure to include introductions and conclusions for each section (and your entire post). Organizing your post ahead of time will make things much easier for you when you're writing—and ensure that readers follow along without getting lost in what you're saying. Creating a structure before you write can reduce your writing time because doing so helps focus you on what's most important. That said, don't stress about perfection here; knowing where you want to start and the end is good enough for now! Try using standard story structures such as problem > solution or introduction > challenge > conflict > conclusion if need be—even these simple templates will get you thinking in terms of content progression. But feel free to create whatever structure works best for your content. And be warned: while having something resembling an outline beforehand can reduce writer’s block, it won't prevent it entirely... So don't try to rush through all at once!

8) Make use of subheadings

People skim a lot of content online, especially if it's long. Having subheadings within your posts is a great way to keep your readers engaged and reading what you've written. A well-placed subheading not only lets your readers know that something important is about to come next but also gives them an idea of what it will be so they can decide whether or not they want to continue reading. Make sure that each subheading builds on what came before it and isn't a simple repetition of previous sentences. A strong heading takes everything up to that point and puts it into context for your reader, making their decision about whether or not to keep reading easier. And don't forget to have a concluding paragraph—even in short pieces, people like knowing where you're going with things at the end. They may even leave with exactly that: nothing more than an ending thought. It's far from ideal in terms of getting them to read further, but again, sometimes people just want things wrapped up nicely at some point—which requires you knowing when there are too many ideas for one piece and when it should just end (because there is no more logical place to do so). So even if someone doesn't scroll down after coming across one of your subheads (and yes, some people won't), at least give them something nice to look at when they finish reading.

9) Keep paragraphs short and to the point

Most experts agree that paragraphs should be between five and seven sentences. Each paragraph should have a topic sentence, or main point, followed by supporting sentences or details. This makes it easier for your reader to follow along as she reads. You'll also want to keep your paragraphs short so that your readers aren't bored by a block of text; they'll be more likely to read beyond a page if they're only dealing with a few long paragraphs at a time. Use a web tool like Prezi to present your information engagingly: Content can be pretty hard to keep focused on when you’re trying to fill up whole whiteboards (or chalkboards) with written information. If you’re doing any kind of presentation using PowerPoint, Prezi is an easy way to get around those pesky limitations without losing anyone's attention span. It's an online tool used mostly for presentations—but there are ways you can take advantage of its functionality even if you're just writing on something like Google Docs.

10) Use bulleted lists for easy reading.

Bulleted lists are one of the easiest and most effective ways to organize content on your site. This makes it easier for readers to process, scan, and understand your content. Instead of reading through a long block of text, bullet points allow readers to absorb content in an organized manner. It also makes your site more visually appealing and easier to navigate. Here is a short example of how you could use bulleted lists throughout your content: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5). The reasoning behind why we're telling you all of these different tips (which are contained within each numbered point itself) is that they're meant to be read in sequential order as part of our overall tip list (bullet point number 2). Read it again if you have to. But in case you can't make sense out of it, here's how those bullets connect: We want readers to jump from bullet point number 1 to number 2 and then onto 3, 4, and 5 so that when they've finished with tip 5, they'll fully grasp what we mean by tip 1. After all, order matters when creating content!

Final Thoughts

In this day and age of data over-burden, limited ability to focus, and limitless buyer choices, you'd be excused for imagining that long structure was a relic of past times.

Yet, truly, the hunger for top to bottom, well-informed, cautiously created content is just about as large as it's consistently been.

This is because crowds are adjusting to the developing downpour of choices being tossed in their direction. They understand that a large portion of it is clamor and they react by searching out unquestionably the best substance accessible.

They need content they can depend on. They need their concerns and aspirations to be viewed extremely and investigated completely. Also, they need everything to be effectively open.

Assuming that your image can reliably convey this degree of sympathy for what the peruser needs, you have a phenomenal possibility of constructing a dedicated and zealous fanbase.

So assuming that you're hoping to add some clout to your substance advertising, long-structure blog entries could be only the ticket!

Hope I was able to make you understand How to Write Engaging Long-Form Content And if you still have any queries related to this, feel free to ask me in the comments OR through the contact us page, I would be happy to answer!

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