Now long form content is the latest thing in marketing

Suddenly a number of marketing sites are talking about long-form content. So what is this and why is it a good thing?

As with many emerging ideas, there is yet to be any formally agreed definition, but basically it is longer than normal content that engages the site visitor.

Take a step back. At one time it was widely claimed that if you didn't engage the visitor within seconds, then they would lose interest and head off to the next web site. Perhaps when generic search was common, there were usually a lot of sites turned up on search to check out. But is this still the case? Taking a straw poll of b-2-b people, by now they know the web sites of the companies they deal with and use the site rather like a product catalogue. Search Engine Optimisation, where one technique used is to load the copy with keywords tended to call for longer text into which all the potential search words could be included. One report suggests that although SEO boosted site traffic, engagement was not so good. Visitors didn't stay too long.

So how long is a piece of string? Or in this case how many words qualifies as long content? For comparison how about press releases? Again, it is probably not defined and varies according to the publication, but 100 words is not that unusual and they will probably edited get down. A press release in a paid for journal will include a short headline, image, maybe a logo too and contact details. Yes it is a short ad. Press releases are more usually in the 100 to 250 word range before the editor begins to think of the piece as an article. Articles are not submitted without being requested by the editorial side and can range from 400 words to 2,000 and may also include an image or two. The thing is, even at the upper end of this word scale many subjects can still not be covered in depth and so we produce White Papers and Guides to provide more detailed content.

Now here is an interesting thing. When content (and of course this has to be relevant and of value to the reader) is in the 1,000 to 1,600 range and taking 7 or 8 minute to read, then time spent on site increases considerably too. Long content might be used on a landing page from a campaign  to provide valuable content the visitor wants to know. It may more commonly now be placed on a blog and also on social networks - Facetime and LinkedIn have both having developed platforms for long content. And of course, producing long form content marks you out as knowledgeable which helps enhance the brands value.