How to create high quality long-form articles in WordPress
- Updated on: 2020-07-26
- Read original article here
There is a lot of competition for audiences these days, and optimizing for SEO is more important than ever. A lot of the websites you’ll be competing with have had years to compile huge amounts of content. To stand out, your content must be in-depth and high quality. Long-form content is absolutely perfect for that purpose.
When it comes to WordPress, long-form means at least one thousand words, and often much longer. Long-form articles gives you a great chance to really dig into topics that your readers are interested in learning about. Read on to learn about why you should write long-form content, and how to make your content better than the competition.
“The more content you provide, the more time users will spend on your site. Keep your readers interested, and they’ll keep reading. The more time they spend on the site, the greater chance there is that they’ll decide to click on one of your links and read another article,” recommends Dexter Gomez, writer at Academized. Write a solid long-form article, and keep people coming back for more in-depth content.
Long-form content provides a greater chance of starting up some interesting debates and discussions between users. An active comments section is one true sign of a healthy community that’s interested in what you have to say. The more content, the greater chance of comments, and the greater chance of your article being shared.
“Conducting some in-depth research pays off. If you do your homework and compile and organize your findings into an authoritative blog post, you will gain some serious credibility. You can create a high-quality blog post that people will love if you spend some time writing a piece that is well-researched and well argued,” writes Almeta Olson, content manager at AustralianHelp. Doing that takes time and a lot of critical thinking. People will naturally begin to turn to you as an authority on the subject.
If you’re a fan of improving your post’s rankings in Google search results, then long-form content is the way to go. SerpIQ conducted a survey that studied more than twenty thousand keywords. They found that the average length of each of the top ten spots was over two thousand words. You also have the added benefit of having more room to include backlinks, which also improve your article’s SEO.
Subheadings are great for making long-form content more approachable. Your goal should be for each subheading to be as descriptive as possible. People like to know what they’re about to read. They are especially useful for things like step-by-step instructions, and other long sections.
Some impressive images can really enhance the quality of your post, but it’s important to optimize them so your page doesn’t take forever to load. The longer your page loading time, the more people will click away without reading. Try out some WordPress image compression plugins such as Imagify, WP Smush, and Optimus Image Optimizer.
Lists are very helpful for breaking down large walls of texts into an easily approachable format. They are perfect for scanning, which is how a lot of readers will engage with your content. They also improve your article’s structure. Lists are great for showing benefits, features, pros, and cons. Everybody loves a good list, especially on the internet.
Put all your main points into a table of contents. A well-thought-out and descriptive table of contents gives the reader a good idea of what they’re getting into. Readers also appreciate this feature, because it allows them to jump to a section with a click, rather than scrolling down, looking for it. Table of Contents Plus is a helpful plugin for WordPress.
It’s important that your article is properly proofread and polished. Grammatical mistakes and typos can take away from the overall appeal of your writing. Try out some online tools for help with the process. Here are a few that will help:
Your post’s long word count will help with SEO, but it’s important to look into other ways of improving your post’s position. Plugins like Yoast can help you with keyword density, nofollow links, passive voice, and meta descriptions.
People like to know what sort of time commitment they’re looking at. It’s easy to add this feature in with WordPress plugins such as the Reading Time plugin. Tinker around with different ways and styles of displaying the reading time and find what suits your material the best.
Editorial calendars are great for helping you visually plan out your posting schedule. You can plot out when, where, and how you’ll share your content. Tools such as Asana, CoSchedule, and Trello can help you keep your tasks organized.
Writing long-form content takes time and research, but the effort is worth it. Your readers will spend more time on the site, user engagement will go up, you’ll become an authority, and your site’s SEO will improve. Long-form content doesn’t have to be a difficult task, just be prepared to put in the time and follow the tips discussed in this article.
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