Why Your Small Business Should be Writing Long-Form Blog Posts (And Why It's Okay to Create Short Ones, Too)

When you search for, “How often should I post on my blog“, you’ll get two sets of answers. These answers fall into one of two camps–write and publish multiple articles per day or week or write and publish once, twice, or even three times a week. Here at Brand Well Media, we recommend the latter rather than the former.

Now, why would a team that offers blogging as a service advocate publishing less rather than more? It’s for three very good reasons: first and foremost if you could squeeze in the time to do so, you’ll probably write short articles which do not elaborate or go into detail. Second, you’ll have to come up with new material without any real inspiration or impulse. Third, it isn’t good SEO because of the brevity; it will increase a property’s bounce rate while lowering time on site. In addition, short articles do not add substantial value to your site, so the practice simply becomes posting for the sake of it.

Best SEO Practices for Small Businesses

A big mistake that many companies make, be they small, medium, or large, is to believe that having active social media profiles is enough to drive traffic to a site. While it’s true that social is a great medium for increasing site traffic, it does not add value to the target site. No matter how much emphasis is placed on social, it does not make a site active to search engines. Only when new content is published on a site does the sitemap update, pinging the search engines to come and crawl the new material.

“Blogs are ideal for taking your SEO strategy forward. Usually, most companies put up a website that is almost completely static. They contain an outdated perspective of the company’s products, people, and goals. It’s important to have a platform that can easily reflect the different events in the company and any website content changes. Blogs provide this platform. Moreover, search engines will index new content on a regularly updated blog. Thus, a well-maintained blog will enable your site to get more traffic, which helps it get noticed by potential customers.” –Forbes

In fact, the set of static pages on a website, such as the “About”, the “Contact” page, and others, remain inactive after initially being published. Therefore, the search engine bots will not return unless updates are made and that leads to stagnation, something that causes a site to lose organic search rank power. What’s more, the social graph and link graph are not the same, which is why you don’t see status updates and other things shared on social in search results.

The Power of Long Blog Posts

Now, that leaves a question in the minds of many, which is how long should blog posts be and why? The ideal length is subjective, but as a whole, posts ranging in length from 800 to 1,200 words are preferable to readers because it’s enough to make good on the title, elaborate, and are easy to scan, especially when broken up with subheadings. Here’s what you can also do with long blog posts:

• Share on social under the original title. Once you’ve written a post and published it to your blog, it’s time to share it on social media. You can ask a question in the status section, leaving the title and link intact, to generate more traffic to your site and entice more activity on social.

• Share again on social media, plucking out key points. Longer blog posts have the advantage of being useful for more than one social share. You can share it again, putting key points in the status box and link back to the same article.

• Social sharing with a different title. Another strategy is to change the title in the status update, ask another question, or make a bold statement, sharing yet again on social. If you’ve taken the time and effort, this content can be the source of much mileage.

• Answer the most asked questions. In your blog articles, be sure to answer some of the more common questions associated with the subject. This will make it more valuable to people looking for specific answers and build rapport with readers.

• Ask a question at the end of your posts. If the topic is about a change in existing standards or something that’s causing a stir in the industry, ask questions that elicit a response.

Lastly, be sure to proofread your posts and check spelling as well as grammar. The higher the quality, and the more informative the content, the better your blog will work for your business.

How Short Blog Posts Can Also Be Beneficial

Although long-form articles are preferable, that doesn’t mean shorter posts don’t have any worth. So, it is perfectly okay for small businesses to write short blog posts of 500 to 700 words for their marketing. There are many benefits to writing short blog posts, including:

• They are easier to read and scan. People have short attention spans and are more likely to read and engage with shorter blog posts.

• Short posts are easier to write. Short blog posts are less time-consuming to write than long blog posts. This is especially important for small businesses with limited resources.

• They can be more focused. Short blog posts can be more focused on a single topic, which can make them more informative and engaging for readers.

• Short articles can be published more often. Small businesses can publish short blog posts more often than long blog posts. This helps to keep their website fresh and up-to-date.

• They can be shared more easily. Short blog posts are easier to share on social media and other online platforms. This helps to reach a wider audience.

By embracing the power of brevity, small businesses can create impactful marketing content that resonates with their audience, ultimately driving growth and success in the competitive digital landscape.

So, in the fast-paced digital world, where attention spans are shrinking, short blog posts have emerged as a powerful tool for small businesses. While lengthy, in-depth content has its merits, short blog posts offer unique advantages, especially for small business marketing strategies.