It’s no secret that content takes a long time.
However, some marketers focus so much on cutting that time, on cutting corners just to “get something,” that they end up doing it in the end. losing Outside.
What do they lose?
The power of high-quality content helps you:
- Ranked in Google.
- Building trust with consumers.
- Gain potential customers.
- Convert leads.
Meanwhile, accelerated content does the opposite.
Marketers who view content marketing as a sprint rather than a marathon think they can write 20 short, low-quality blog posts, slap them online, and then call them done.
Unfortunately, this is a recipe for major content failure.
For content to succeed — really succeed, with the ratings, engaged readers, and conversions to prove it — you have to play the long game with your content marketing.
You have to come to terms with the realization that it could take anywhere from six months to a year (or even longer than that, according to one study) to get a good ranking of your content.
You must understand that your target audience consists of human beings who need constant care and respect over time if you want their trust and, ultimately, their support.
You need to fully own this good content that can’t be created quickly. Great content takes longer, but great content gets results.
Let’s dig deeper into why you should play the long game with content.
Why focusing on a content marathon, not a sprint, is a good thing for your marketing
Think about the footprint for a moment: it’s pretty brutal, isn’t it?
To win with feet, you don’t necessarily need technique or technique; You just need speed (at least until you become a professional track athlete, at which point technique and form are very important).
Because of this, the winner does not have to be better runner in the group. Put that same winner into the 10K and he’ll probably run out at the start, right? I bet you see where I’m going with this.
The same goes for content.
While anyone can run into a general trend toward the finish line with bad content and poorly thought-out content strategies, not every marketer can devise an effective, long-term strategy for consistently ranking well with content.
This is the main reason why a long-term content strategy is much better than a short-term content strategy.
In addition to being more sustainable, the long-term approach is also more prudent and fully thought out.
vitality arrived Tim Ferriss“There will always be a need for the high quality, and there will always be a need for the long form.”
While short-term content strategies seek to produce immediate, short-term results, long-term content strategies allow marketers to connect with their audiences, build their voice, provide real value, and rank in a real, sustainable way.
For this reason, marketers who create long-term content strategies often post more effective content, build larger audiences, and get more shares across the board.
10 Reasons A Long-Term Content Strategy Is Better
1. It is a better use of your money and resources
Imagine dieting to lose weight. For two weeks, you eat only whole, clean foods and exercise two hours a day.
Feel relieved and – hey! – You’re losing weight. However, at the end of those two weeks, you stop exercising and go straight back to your old eating habits.
What happened?
Of course, you gain all the weight back, and your physique appearance takes a downward spiral.
Not surprisingly, the same thing happens with content. No matter what you do, content marketing requires money and resources.
If you pay someone to flood your accounts with content for two weeks and then lay off your entire strategy, you can bet not only that your strategy will be ineffective, it will also be a waste of your money and resources.
Instead, you’re better off dedicating your resources to a long-term content strategy that will build readership over time and help you maintain steady levels of visits and clicks over months or years.
Instead of wasting your resources, this redirects them back to your company and ensures that you build value while creating a solid foundation for lasting and relevant content.
2. Long-term content engages readers
To keep your readers interested and engaged for a long time, you need to offer them comprehensive and in-depth content that helps them address their concerns and solve problems.
This means long-form content, in terms of word count per article.
Don’t think just because we live in an era where attention is short and long content won’t do well. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
orbit modes survey I found that bloggers who write longer posts (i.e. over 1500 words) get better results.
Why does long-form content work well as part of a long-term content strategy?
In addition to providing great value to readers, long-form content also allows your company to build authority and establish dominance by showcasing your knowledge on topics relevant to your industry.
3. The content changes all the time
With the advancement of search engines and readers, the demand for good, informed and relevant content is increasing all the time. For this reason, a long-term content strategy is the best possible weapon.
Designed to insulate marketers against change and help them maintain traffic and readers despite changing SEO, content, and marketing demands, long-term content marketing allows strategy space to accommodate and adapt to changing trends. This ensures more effective content and a more adaptive strategy that doesn’t have to scramble to keep up.
4. Long-term content is synonymous with cornerstone content
Every good home needs a solid foundation, and every good marketing strategy needs core content to provide long-term value and relevance to readers.
Cornerstone content is long-term content that may not attract a large number of clicks immediately but remains valuable months or years after the date of publication.
Think of it as a down payment towards your own business.
In fact, if you look at the aforementioned Tim Ferriss blog, you will notice that most of his most popular posts were written up to two years ago. How’s that for an effective long-term strategy?
In contrast, short-term content strategies are largely aimed at ranking well for a particular keyword or phrase, so they all neglect cornerstone content completely.
Unfortunately, this leads to a less valuable and less relevant website for users of all types.
To drive long-term clicks and to ensure website readers are engaged, entertained, and consuming value at all times, core content becomes more important than luxury.
5. Long-Term Content Don’t Get Off With The Hard Sell
In today’s marketing environment, there is almost nothing customers hate more than a hard sell.
No one wants to know why they can’t live without your product or why “Buy Now!”
Oftentimes, these tactics simply alienate customers and make it difficult for your company to sell products normally.
Unfortunately, the hard sell is often a tone that short-term content takes.
Because short-term content is inherently compelling, it’s hard to engineer it so it doesn’t stress your customers.
As a result, short-term content strategies carry a high risk of alienating customers and making it more difficult to sell your products.
On the other hand, long-term content strategies do not do such a thing. Because they are not designed to elicit an immediate response from readers, they seek to provide value and relevance rather than pretension and immediacy.
In other words, they succeed in explaining a problem, helping the audience deal with the problem, and then inviting them to participate in a discussion about the problem.
This, in turn, is a great way to develop long-term customer relationships and ensure that your company continues to meet the needs of your customers.
6. A long-term content strategy is an effective way to deal with current events
Do you think writing about trending news and industry events makes you a content strategist in the short term? Think again.
Blogs that focus on trending content are extremely important, and it would be wrong to think of this as just a short-term strategy.
In fact, trending news can be critical to your long-term strategy, and can help you establish your website as a source for the latest, most relevant industry news.
When you focus on using the latest news articles as a way to improve and strengthen your long-term content strategy, it’s easy to see how you can improve your brand presence and boost your business overall.
7. Long-term content promotes itself
Failing to promote your content is one of the most serious mistakes in the entire content marketing industry, and unfortunately, it is a mistake that many marketers make.
While short-term content needs strong promotion to succeed, long-term content primarily promotes itself.
When you create high-quality, in-depth, well-researched, and long-term content and push it to your followers, it is easy to rank well for your chosen keyword.
Since long-term content is meant to earn clicks and engagement over time, it’s a great way to build consistent, long-term rankings that can boost your SERP position and improve your standing over time.
8. Long-term content is good content
One of the differences between long-term and short-term content comes down to priority and intent.
As a general rule, people who are committed to pursuing and developing content for the long term are much more in love with the content.
While all types of content are important, creating good long-term content requires a different mindset and set of priorities than creating short-term content.
For this reason, long-term content strategies often boast better content that meets the needs of readers more effectively.
9. Long-term content effectively builds an audience
When it comes to building an audience, you don’t want to aim for the largest audience possible. This will result in a large group of followers but not collaborators.
Instead, you want to build an audience of people who are genuinely interested in your concept and content and will actively engage with it when it comes out.
This is one area where a long-term content strategy is very powerful.
Fewer people enjoy the attention span of long-term (or long-term) content today, and by making it a big part of your content strategy, you can build a better audience and win more qualified leads.
10. Long-term content is better for SEO
Search engine optimization is a complex mix of strategies that businesses need to succeed online.
In addition to properly optimizing content, businesses that want to use good SEO also need to ensure that their content is of high quality, relevant, and useful to their readers.
While this can be difficult with a short-term content strategy, a long-term content strategy fits the objective very well.
In addition to the fact that long-term content is written with the reader in mind, it is easier to target a group of keywords with a long-term content strategy than with a short-term content strategy.
Finally, every piece of content is written in a long-term content strategy that boosts and improves your SEO, which contributes to higher online visibility and more clicks to your website.
The case for a long-form content strategy
Treating content as a sprint rather than a marathon may seem easier at first, but it’s really just a quick way to stop with content that doesn’t move the needle.
Good results-driven content takes thought, time, and effort. It takes a commitment to a long-term strategy because content, by its very nature, doesn’t work in the short term.
Ultimately, the time and commitment you invest in your long-term goals and strategy will pay off with higher profits and a higher ROI. This adds up to time well spent.
More resources:
- How to create the ultimate customer-first content marketing plan
- 7 ways to easily set up an SEO content strategy
- Completely optimized content from start to finish
Featured image: alphaspirit.it/Shutterstock
