Blogging tips: How long should my EPIC blog post be?
“How long should my epic content be?”
I get asked this all the time.
I don’t like this question.
It takes the focus away from WHAT TRULY MATTERS…
Your Cornerstone Article aka Epic Blog Post is likely to become one of the most read articles on your blog.
Those eyeballs will not judge you on length…
So before you worry about length.
Let’s talk about QUALITY.
>> You want this to be the BEST CONTENT you’ve ever written.
>> You want this to make sure people FOLLOW YOU
>> You want to make sure people JUMP ON YOUR LIST …
after reading your post…
otherwise, it wouldn’t be very EPIC, would it?
Here’s a SIMPLE 3 step formula to create your most epic post yet…
#1 BE A BADGER – Steal a little
You won’t be sued for this. It’s a technique with a name – so it’s LEGIT!
‘The skyscraper’ technique. If you love a challenge – this technique will work wonders for you.
It’s about finding the best quality, highest-ranking post for your topic and making it your goal to write a more valuable blog post.
Just make sure you stay true to yourself and your audience.
The post you use as a starting point need only be a guide and a VALUE BENCHMARK.
Go to Google and search the keyword or question you want to rank for.
Identifying the best post from the top 4 results.
Get ready to produce something even better!
#2 SUB-TOPICS AND SUB-TITLES
Once you’ve identified the topic and the title of your Epic post (which should be close to the one from the post you want to be modelling) it’s time to look at what sub-topics you will be using.
These will become your sub-titles.
90% of your readers will skim read before diving into your post.
Take these and adapt them from the main post you identified.
Now create a sub-title and bullet list the content you intend to add. (don’t be tempted to skip this step longer posts need proper planning). If there are some topics in there that you don’t know enough about – read, research and step up.
You can’t write an Epic post without leaving your comfort zone.
#3. WRITE THE D*** THING
Turn every bulleted sub-title into a nice meaty paragraph.
Make sure all your content is accompanied by images and facts are backed by sources…
“But what about the magic number?”
Now that you have a post to model and a list of sub-titles you will find that hitting the magic number of 2,250 – 2,500 words will come easily to you.
(Image Source: Hubspot.com – data from 2017)
If your industry is more competitive they may be a little longer…
Tell me in the comments below – do you feel you can write an Epic post now? What will it be about?
It helps to look at statistics and see how people are reading blogposts. The ideal length has changed so much over time.