Short Form vs. Long Form Content: Which is Better?

When planning content on your website, you might think that all content is the same. That’s not really correct. Content has to be tailored to meet the needs of your audience. Your intended demographic may have very specific ideas about the type of information and content that they want to see about a given subject. Content is not one size fits all – it’s about what size fits your needs the best.

Attention Spans and Content

People searching for answers want to find answers – that much should be obvious. Sometimes they don’t have much time to do anything except absorb the most pertinent information. At other times, they want to take a deeper dive into the subject matter and understand it more thoroughly before making a decision. Short form vs long form content is dependent on the potential reader that you want to reach – are you looking for the Deep Diver were the Swift Skimmer?

Breaking down the two types of content goes this way:

• Short form content is 1000 words or less. It can be skimmed or scan for the information needed, and the information extracted and understood in a relatively short period of time.

• Long form content is 1000 words or more. It encompasses everything from blog posts all the way up to white papers, theses, or dissertations. This type of content requires more concentration to understand and to extract the information needed.

Additionally, you need to consider the attention span of your intended audience. For some time, it has been common knowledge that the average attention span has dropped to less than that of a goldfish. As with most things that are common knowledge, you’re not getting the whole story. The science behind attention spans shows that attention spans are in fact task dependent. In other words, you might have the attention span of a goldfish when you’re skimming your twitter feed, but when it comes to cracking the books, you are bringing your A game.

When it comes to short form vs. long form, consider your subject and your intended target audience. If you feel that your audience is seeking a more in-depth approach to your subject, then go with a longer form. If you have been using 500 words, try 1000. If you have been using 1000 words, then edge up into 1500 territory. At all times use analytics to determine which content is attracting most notice.

Short Form vs. Long Form Content

When it comes to writing for your website, you may have great ideas, but may not have the time to put them all together on a page. 4 Step Studio has experience in discerning which subjects merit long form content in which subjects can be more readily understood with short bursts of information.

Additionally, we help the knowledge and experience in using white hat SEO practices to make sure that your comment is noticed and comes in at a high search engine rank. Our writers are fluent in English, experience, and accomplished capable of writing in almost any form that you care to order. Contact us today about creating your best content!

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About 4 Step Studio

4 Step Studio is an online marketing agency that specializes in website design and redesign, SEO, social media and more. Our team of experts focuses on helping small business get found online, while educating them on what will make them successful in the digital world. To learn more about what we can do for you, visit our website at www.4StepStudio.com