A year of writing long form content: Was it worth it?

55,751 words. Little did a younger, more innocent and naive version of me know on that particular cold December morning in 2019, Rikki and Emily had grand plans to keep me busy throughout 2020. 11 months. 11 deep dives. Over 150 hours. All totalling up to 55,751 words with topics ranging from podcasting and Gary Vee, right through to account-based marketing and INBOUND 2020.

Okay, so it wasn’t a diabolical, moustache-twirling scheme by the guys to keep me occupied but rather a content experiment. The majority of the Digital 22 content strategy has always involved creating campaign plans for the upcoming quarter and writing around 12 planned blogs per month along with any ad-hoc culture or news pieces.

This time, the plan was to group all of those monthly resources into crafting one well-researched deep dive blog and going into even more depth on the topic. So, now we’re in 2021, my fingers have healed and those nights spent crying into my pillow have ended, let’s take a look at whether all of that deep dive work was actually worth the effort.

(In short, it was worth it - to an extent. If you want to find out the specifics, hit one of the bullets below to dive into the relevant section).

• Q1 - HubSpot, podcasting and inbound marketing
• Q2 - Coronavirus in marketing, inbound strategies and Gary Vee
• Q3 - AI in email, premium content and content length vs. context
• Q4 - INBOUND 2020 and account-based marketing
• Was the experiment successful?
• Deep dive learnings
• The challenges and process of writing deep dive content

All data accurate as of 1st March 2020

Q1 - HubSpot, podcasting and inbound marketing

The first batch was always planned to be more experimental. A time to see how long diving deep into a particular topic would take both from the research and writing perspective, how in-depth a deep dive would turn out to be and try out some new tactics.

To get into the swing of things, the first three deep dive blogs were all about HubSpot, podcasts and the state of inbound marketing.

January: What is HubSpot? The ultimate guide on why you should make the switch

Views: 56
Time per page view: 138 seconds
CTA rate: 0%

Yeah...not so good. The blog went live in early February in 2020 and has really struggled to gain any traction. It’s a super in-depth blog about what HubSpot is as a platform, how to achieve buy-in from the top, the benefits of switching to HubSpot and a lot more. 

Frustratingly, readers aren’t sticking around for too long despite it being easy to skim to a part most relevant to them. Although it’s a lot of content to consume, there are still plenty of opportunities with this blog alone.

With five different sections in the blog, that’s five shorter posts we can create. They could all feature videos as well or even turn this ultimate blog into a premium content offering instead.

Was it successful?: Nope. It didn’t gain many views; nobody stuck around long enough to hit the CTA button and - as much as it pains me to say - this blog didn’t make a big impact anywhere. Although it’s technically an evergreen piece, one of the potential reasons for this could be because of HubSpot as a platform itself. It continues to evolve and grow that the copy needs optimising quickly and regularly.

The next step would be to revisit the blog and update the copy or split this deep dive into much shorter posts.

February: Podcasting for business: the benefits, stats and how to get started

Views: 1,070
Time per page view: 6 minutes
CTA rate: 0.39%

This blog is still going strong after almost a year of being live. Although not getting a bucket-load of CTA clicks, a 0.39% CTA clickthrough rate (CTR) is a good start as the blog continues to grow. Plus, the hefty six-minute average read time suggests the copy keeps the reader hooked into finding out why they should start a podcast.

What makes this one different from the January blog is it’s much more actionable. The former is all about selling HubSpot and the way to buy it is to get in touch, but the latter has plenty of tips someone can get stuck into right away before even having to speak to anyone.

Even if it means the reader doesn’t click the CTA, the fact they stuck around and benefitted from so many tips on getting started suggests they’re in the content ecosystem and found the topic interesting.

Was it successful?: I’d say it’s a much bigger success than the January blog, especially since the view count continues to rise. Like the previous blog, there’s a lot of potential to break the deep dive into smaller posts, creating a podcast about the podcast blog and more.

Plus, as the year went on and the blog continued to gain traffic, readers could begin their own podcast easily. More podcasts actually launched in 2020 than ever before, so the timing was perfect too. It’s something marketers have on their marketing plan but don’t always get around to it. With 2020 being a year to try new tactics, it makes sense why podcasting was an area people were and still are interested in.

March: The state of inbound marketing in 2020

Views: 1,160
Time per page view: 4 minutes
CTA rate: 0.09%

This is where things went up a level in terms of research, detail, depth and output. The aim was to look into every channel we use and effectively do multiple deep dives within one more extensive deep dive to see what each channel’s state looks like. I’m talking content, SEO, video, social media and everything in between.

I also experimented a little more in the aesthetics. Rather than the usual office shots to break up the text, I decided to incorporate more stat-based graphics to grab the reader’s attention. If I was losing interest with basic stock images and office shots between text, the reader would feel the same.

Was it successful?: Despite it having the highest number of views of the three, a high average read time and two people submitting the form after clicking the CTA, I’m leaning more towards it not being a big success.

The level of effort and resources this took compared to the first two, yet only performed marginally better, doesn’t reflect in the results. However, I do think in the long run, this deep dive will be arguably the biggest success on the list as it’s something we can continue adding to over time as stats and data change. 

The other big reason I think it hasn’t been a big success as I’d imagined is it went live around the time the coronavirus pandemic started to hit home (especially when you consider how long it can take inbound content to rank). Meaning people were probably less focused on what the state of inbound is and more on how they can keep their businesses afloat.

When things are back to normal and the deep dive is optimised, it’ll be worth checking just how interested readers are basing it off whether the read time stays the same or increases if more people click through and also fill out the form on the landing page.

It’s also another deep dive blog I can break down into much smaller pieces as well. For example, one blog could focus on SEO, another on content and one on video. That way, readers - who might specialise in that particular area and only really care about their particular channel - can view a blog that only focuses on what matters to them.

Q2 - Coronavirus in marketing, inbound strategies and Gary Vee

Out of all four quarters, Q2 proved to be the most difficult. Explaining how to craft an inbound strategy was straightforward, but delving into Gary Vee’s mind as a newbie to how he works was eye-opening and the coronavirus pandemic was a sensitive topic to write about.

Still, I think results-wise, the deep dives from Q2 proved to be three of the best.

April: Coronavirus in marketing: the impact, data and advice

Views: 158
Time per page view: 4 minutes
CTA rate: 0.94%

What was so difficult about writing this particular deep dive was the sensitivity of the topic. Being timely was important, but so was not coming across as ‘jumping on the bandwagon’. After looking at our marketing efforts for the foreseeable, we offered the same insight in this blog - alongside our free webinar series with some industry leaders.

From my research, what I found impressive was the volume of content out there also wanting to help readers. Sure, there was the odd sales-y ad in poor taste, but the helpful information allowed me to collate and conduct research to genuinely help businesses, Digital 22 and our clients grow and thrive.

This is also a deep dive blog which is an excellent example of where spending time to do the research pays off. This wouldn’t have been possible in an hour or so as it involved diving into Google trends, worldwide internet usage from Cloudflare, jumping into the impact it had on eCommerce and so on.

Was it successful?: I’d say this was a success considering where readers’ minds would have been at. Although it’s a fairly lengthy piece and has a short read time, my assumption is the anchor links played a significant role where readers can click on a bullet to jump into that relevant section.

In this deep dive blog, I pointed out right at the beginning they can skip the background information and read all about the actionable advice to help them move forward. According to several online tools that I ran the text through, the advice section is a little over a five-minute read, which suggests this is what the readers were here for.

Group that with big, bold H3s, the tips were skimmable and easy to swipe, so readers did take a lot of value from it. Oh, and that’s not to mention this particular deep dive influencing three deals, multiple contacts and we can also attribute some revenue to it through a client that’s now signed with us.

From an optimisation perspective, what I’d like to do one day is get back in touch with those who submitted their details to see how it helped/what they valued from it. I’d also like to use a tool like Hotjar to see the heatmap on how readers interacted with this and every other deep dive blog. 

But there were also some missed opportunities in hindsight. More videos to humanise the piece and offer readers options to click-to-tweet and share the insights could have furthered this deep dive’s reach.

May: How to develop an effective inbound marketing strategy

Views: 896
Time per page view: 5 minutes
CTA rate: 1.54%

This is another deep dive blog we can let run as is, mainly because it’s an evergreen piece of content. The only time it would need adding to is to analyse the results of new tactics we’ve tried and share the successes with readers or when we’ve used beneficial tools. 

What made this one simple and easy to write was that the rest of the team and I do this daily. It’s our research, our methods, our tactics, our data - complete transparency on how the reader can go about creating inbound strategies of their own. The difficult bit was just collating everything from every department for every channel to make sure it was packed full of value from top to bottom.

Was it successful?: Yep. I’d say so. 896 views isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but it will continue to grow for sure. A CTA rate of 1.54% (51 CTA clicks), average read time of five minutes, 14 form submissions and five new contacts from one blog alone isn’t bad going at all.

Again, it’s a fairly chunky read and it takes a lot of commitment to sit down and consume it all in one go. Still, five minutes is pretty impressive and one of the tactics I tried in this blog is the number of CTAs pushed. Firstly, the blog did clearly state what each section features so readers can skip to the bit that matters to them. There were also five separate CTAs in this deep dive, compared to one in all of the others.

These CTAs ranged from actionable templates the readers can use right away, requesting access to our Inbound After Hours group to always gain new knowledge, the landscape of how inbound has changed and what a typical campaign looks like. It gives multiple options, all offering something different. If a reader didn’t want to read a big eBook, they had templates ready to use. 

June: “Watch what I do, not what I say” - deconstructing what Gary Vee does

Views: 528
Time per page view: 3 minutes
CTA rate: 0.79%

Now, this was an experience. It’s sort of an evergreen piece as I looked through everything Gary Vee preaches. So, as long as he doesn’t massively switch up his tactics, this is a long read that can help anyone interested in finding out what he does for his own marketing.

Out of all of the deep dives we planned, this was the most enjoyable but equally as challenging. More research was involved here than many others, mainly because I never really sat up and paid much attention to what he was all about. So for one solid month, I lived and breathed Gary Vee. His social media channels. His website. His blogs. His foreign content. His voice constantly in my head, telling me, “Raza, you can achieve anything you want in this life.”

Was it successful?: Positive affirmations aside, I’m split down the middle. The blog did influence a contact and a deal. We can also attribute some revenue to it, but I’d lean more towards no - the effort wasn’t worth the rewards. 

It didn’t perform as I’d expected. It got a massive push on our social channels in the hope Gary would sit up, pay attention and re-share, but nothing. Ultimately, I fully expected more views and CTA clicks, but I think the challenge to get people reading happened right at the beginning.

As someone new to what Gary does, Rikki warned me he’s a bit like Marmite. People who are entirely against him and his ways of thinking and marketing will undoubtedly find him annoying and have no reason to click. Then there’s the group that might have been curious about the hype and will have checked it out. Then you bring in the die-hard Gary Vee followers who live and die by his words and were bound to have a read.

Still, three minutes is a pretty long time to read something and suggests it’s genuinely interesting as readers aren’t leaving within seconds. If people are 50-50 on Gary Vee, it’s already a pretty big ask getting them to continue scrolling.

Q3 - AI in email, premium content and content length vs. context

Into the second half of the year and it was time to hand the reins over to another team member for a month and give my nimble fingers a well-earned rest. The theme for Q3 was all about content itself - using artificial intelligence in emails, analysing the best type of premium content and who wins in the battle between content length and user experience.

July: Improve your email marketing strategy with intelligent software

Views: 168
Time per page view: 2 minutes
CTA rate: 2.4%

It made sense to tag in Will for this one. As our Lead Generation Specialist and Seventh Sense champion at Digital 22, emails are his bread and butter. In the blog, Will ran through the benefit the company has seen since incorporating Seventh Sense into our clients’ email marketing strategies. With so many AI tools out there right now, it was a chance to see whether they can live up to the job. It was transparent throughout, as he explained the Seventh Sense had across our range of clients.

Was it successful?: From a CTR perspective, it was one of the better-performing long form blogs. It was also one of the first that received its own video of Will running through the blog if somebody didn’t have time to read. Despite a high read time, it wasn’t a huge success - but it still can be. 

The topic is genuinely interesting, but it’s clear the most prominent element missing is showing the reader how to go about doing it all - rather than restricting it to findings. It would allow readers to find out Seventh Sense can make a difference and how to go about doing it.

To take it up another notch, adding video demos could play a huge role.

August: Which types of premium content perform best for inbound marketing?

Views: 190
Time per page view: 5 minutes
CTA rate: 2.66%

If there’s one blog from the range of deep dives that I expect to continue performing well, it’s this one. One of the core aspects of inbound marketing is offering readers a free piece of premium content placed behind a landing page and building a database of information to continue nurturing readers. The problem? Not everyone knows the range of premium content you can create.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of regularly churning out eBooks which can get both repetitive to create and frustrating for readers to download and read. It was another research-heavy piece where I looked over every one of our clients’ premium content pieces we had created, sort them into relevant categories, and analysed the data to see which was the most successful.

Was it successful?: Again, from a CTR perspective and read time, it’s up there with the best-performing blogs. However, what’s important to note is every blog from this stage still needs some time to rank as they’re some of the most recent and inbound content can take up to nine months before we see some traction. Plus, it’s evergreen, so it’s not like the content itself will become outdated - it’ll just need regular data updates.

It’s useful for both in-house marketers and other agencies that probably haven’t undergone the same research to see the type of premium content they should create. Again, a five-minute read time is pretty high, especially since there’s an image that ranks the content in order of success, which means the read time could otherwise be a matter of seconds.

However, it suggests readers are interested in the data and the thoughts behind the results. Getting stuck into the actual data means readers can go away and diversify the type of content they’ll create in the future.

September: What do people really want from b2b content marketing in 2021?

Views: 116
Time per page view: 133 seconds
CTA rate: 4.35%

Continuing with the content theme in Q3, we took a leaf out of Gary Vee’s book from the June long form blog, as it was based on one piece of content. It was a talk our Head of Growth, Paul, delivered during our LOVE INBOUND event, but there were so many opportunities to create other content pieces from it.

This required the least effort from me as Paul had already done the research previously. I just took the credit for it. It was just about making it easier to understand and breaking it into chunks so readers could see the parts that were most important to them, rather than trying to skip through the video.

Was it successful?: I believe this was a success, especially since it’s another topic that’s sort of evergreen, as long as the data is updated regularly. It also went live quite recently, so it still needs time to rank. We’ve already revisited this recently in the form of adding a video to break down the blog, so I do expect this to perform even better in terms of views and perhaps build on the high CTA CTR, too.

But the video itself has performed well. It has 200 views and counting across platforms like YouTube and Vidyard while boasting a view rate of 2.04%. There are many opportunities with this topic and blog, especially since the interest from marketers involved in content creation will want the insights.

Q4 - INBOUND 2020 and account-based marketing

Into the final quarter and pretty much one year on from being told about the deep dive plans and it was all around HubSpot and its tools. Timing-wise, it made sense to focus on the INBOUND event, especially since it was all virtual due to the coronavirus so it’s something the entire team managed to experience.

HubSpot announced some fancy new account-based marketing features during that event - a strategy more businesses are now using. Here’s how the two deep dive blogs are getting on.

October: Everything you need to know from HubSpot’s INBOUND 2020 conference

Views: 15
Time per page view: 135 seconds
CTA rate: 0%

There was quite a bit of content out there about the INBOUND event, but there was nothing out there that featured every announcement in one place. That was the angle I went down so readers didn’t have to bounce from website to website to get insights on what HubSpot announced during INBOUND 2020. 

It was a good example of creating a blog by putting yourself in the readers’ shoes. Would I want to go to 10 different websites to find 10 different tools? All of which have varying tones, phrases and ways of describing them? It also meant the research I did could help us build even more authority around HubSpot usage.

Was it successful?: Nope. This hasn’t performed too well and in this instance, using ‘inbound content can take a while to rank’ as a reason doesn’t cut it either. The view count is low. The CTA rate is low. The read time isn’t great to look at either. If this blog manages to pick up traction in another dimension, the likelihood is it’ll happen as the world is getting ready for INBOUND 2021, making this a bit worthless as it isn’t evergreen.

In hindsight, every other company was going to be doing the same. With so many options out there (making the keyword challenging to rank for), it would always be a big ask for this blog to bring in significant numbers. In the past, we created multiple blogs covering different announcements, meaning readers could see by the title if it was a feature they’d want to read more about, making access to information much more accessible.

Plus, with so much INBOUND content out there already, chances are readers might have already got what they needed from elsewhere. 

November: How to do account-based marketing with HubSpot

Views: 129
Time per page view: 3 minutes
CTA rate: 1.56%

The final deep dive blog of the year (December was a shorter month and a time to tie up other tasks) and it was time to hand over the reins once more. This time, Jack, another Content Marketer, took the lead on finding out more on ABM. This was the natural topic to move on to, as the INBOUND event featured ABM heavily and it’s another strategy we’re driving forward with at Digital 22, something a lot of our clients want.

It was a great, detailed breakdown covering everything a reader would need to know about ABM, ranging from what it is, benefits, best practices, how to do it with HubSpot and more, meaning readers wouldn’t need to go to another source to find the answers.

Was it successful?: It’s a little unfair to judge this as it’s only been live for around three months, but the early signs are good as it has more views than some of the other blogs, despite not being published for as long. The CTA CTR and read time are also promising to see as it shows readers aren’t instantly leaving and are genuinely intrigued by the content.

However, blogs like this and others similar suggest breaking the blogs into smaller topics/blogs might make more sense. For example, having one blog explaining what ABM is and another on best practices. Deep dives require a lot of scrolling and patience, which might contribute to read times not being as high as they should. However, the option to dive right into the how of it is there.

This blog has performed better than some of the others because it launched with a supporting video right away. Some of the earlier ones had a video filmed later, but we can see the views in Vidyard. Combine this with regular inbound tactics and a real push on social. It shows just how much other inbound methods contributed to the results.

From an optimisation perspective across this deep dive and the others, I’ll use a tool like Hotjar to see which areas of the blogs prove to offer the most value. Unless HubSpot drastically changes how to do ABM or new tools, this will be relevant for quite some time.

Was the experiment successful?

Although some blogs haven’t performed as well as others, overall I’d say the experiment was a success, but there are some crucial learnings to take away from it. Typically, we’d create around 12 blogs per month and I won’t lie, not every single blog goes viral or goes on to reach incredible heights in terms of data. A handful manage to perform well, but there’s always a bunch that suffer for various reasons - anything from a wrong keyword to missing the boat on a trending topic.

In this instance, I could pour all my resources into one blog and one topic. I had the time to do the research and commit to using 10 or 12 blogs’ worth of resources into one in-depth content piece, improving its chances of performing well.

At the same time, it’ll be another few months before I can go back to see how some of the deep dive blogs performed after having six to nine months to grow organically and potentially rank on Google. However, views and CTA CTR isn’t and shouldn’t be the only marker for success.

One long form blog alone provided us with so many snippets for us to share on social, sharing different parts of the blog that will resonate with readers with varying queries about the same topic. Not only did it let us add more to our social calendar but we could also build out our video library with educational content for viewers who prefer watching a video than reading a longer blog.

The other impact is covering a range of queries on the topic in one deep dive blog. It allowed us to build authority on the topics and also show we’re knowledgeable educators offering valuable insights for free - all ungated. Plus, we can branch off and create more content based on each deep dive post.

Then there’s the time spent on the website collectively. The comprehensive pieces are helpful, well-written and cover genuine pain points/insights readers are interested in. It’s also why a lot of the blogs have a higher read time than anticipated. Having longer, more in-depth content meant I could also add more internal links to related, helpful content, so people are less likely to bounce to another website.

Having readers spend more time reading out content means we continue to build trust and build a deeper connection with them. In terms of the wider picture, the deep dive blogs had a much more significant impact across multiple channels, not just blogging.

So, it is worth writing long form content, but it shouldn’t be the only type of content you plan into your marketing strategy.

Deep dive learnings

The biggest takeaway from creating all of the deep dives is the type of content that performs the best and the sort of approach that will work best in future. This is especially the case with the INBOUND deep dive, but what works best in most cases is explaining to readers how to take action, rather than simply explaining the why.

For example, explaining how to do ABM, how to start podcasting, how to switch up tactics during a pandemic, how to adopt Gary Vee’s methods and so on. In comparison, just explaining what happened at an event, what HubSpot is and what the state of inbound looks like doesn’t cover the whole picture.

Instead, readers can leave thinking ‘what next?’, especially if there aren’t any clear internal links or instructions or where to find the how - whether it’s another blog, a premium content piece or getting in touch to help them with their challenge.

Another key learning isn’t anything new, but it solidifies a vital aspect of inbound - giving the reader what they want right away. Whether it’s a TL;DR before diving into the good stuff, bullets covering the main talking points or fancy graphics readers can take away, readers are more likely to stick around if you’re explicit and upfront on what to expect and giving the takeaways without being too vague or trying to get them to continue scrolling.

Finally, another critical learning is we don’t need to create deep dives for the sake of doing more comprehensive content. Sure, there are plenty of sources out there saying longer form content performs better - and it does. However, context and user experience should always come first. 

In some cases, it felt like more words were added pointlessly to class it as a longer blog. But this goes for any content piece you create; if you can answer the readers’ queries in a shorter post, create the shorter post as it’ll be more helpful and valuable than something much longer than needed.

The challenges and process of writing deep dive content

The challenges

The biggest challenge of creating a deep dive blog is the time involved, especially when you have other tasks and responsibilities. We underestimated how long it can take, so we made adjustments to our project management system to ensure the correct time and resources were dedicated to each deep dive.

If we were to spend a month on a deep dive blog, we would make sure the quality reflected that.

What would have been more challenging is if we only had one Content Marketer available to produce content, as clients and our own marketing would have suffered. So while one of us was focused on creating the deep dive blog for the month, we still had a talented team churning out content for Digital 22 and our clients.

If you’re in an in-house role or the only one creating content, trying to do regular deep dives could potentially slow you down, especially if no other content is going out.

The other challenge is trying to map out your month (depending on how long you devote to creating a deep dive post) rather than planning out your week. The first few were quite a challenge as I jumped from task to task, devoting some time to the posts here and there. Instead, it’s much easier to block out a chunk of time to work on it, so you’re in a flow and don’t compromise on quality because you haven’t touched the blog post for days or weeks.

The process

From ranking on search engines like Google to increasing read time on your website, creating long form content can lead to some huge benefits. As long as it’s full of value and offers a pleasant user experience, you can build a reputation as a source readers look to first to help them solve their challenges.

If you’re new to long form content and want to know how to go about doing it, here’s my process:

Finalise your topic

Break it down to one core topic. Having a lengthy content piece can make it tempting to try and cross off a handful of topics you had planned to cover at some point, but it’ll make the process a headache for you and even more confusing for your readers.

Know your end goal

What are the actions you want your readers to take? Without it, your messaging can get quite clunky, especially if you’re writing about one point and decide on the spot what you want your call-to-action to be. It needs to be natural and not forceful or sales-y. Having your CTA in your mind from the get-go means it’s easier to map out your sections.

Work on your plan

Some prefer to start typing away from the get-go, but use your brief to work out a plan to ensure you cover the sections you need to do your long form blog justice. Work out the main sections, sub-sections, where you’ll add bullets, images, fancy visuals, videos, your CTAs and more. Although it can take a while, it’ll make sure you stay on track.

Find your existing content

What content do you have already that you can link to? Maybe you did some great research on a content piece that you want to reference? When you have your topic and plan, map out all your existing content so you know where you can link to - this will boost your SEO efforts and provide even more value to your readers.

Organise your thoughts

It’s optional, but when you skim through all of your headings and subheadings, you might have some great ideas you don’t want to forget. Make sure to jot them down as it’ll make it easier to link from point-to-point.

Write and revisit

Whether you dedicate a month to it, a few hours a day or over a week, spend time writing your long form blog and revisiting each section once you’ve finished. This is mainly to question yourself whether it has any value. If it doesn’t, chop it down.

Tip: You can either do all of this yourself or hire a team to do it for you if you’re short on time. Marketing agencies are full of experts in every department, so you’ll get everything from keyword research and buyer persona creation right through to a team creating your content and sharing it on social media, so it lands in front of the right people.

Include data

No long form content can build brand authority without research and data. Whether it’s yours or you’ve scoured the web for the most mouth-watering statistics you can find, this data can go a long way to help your content resonate with your audience.

Stay conversational

This depends on your company’s style guide and tone of voice, but long form content is quite a big job. It can be easy to fall into the trap of just typing away without going back and thinking about how your words sound. If you have the freedom to be a bit more conversational and human, make sure your content reflects that from the first word to the last.

Hook with engaging intros

This is a personal preference, but you’ll find many writers don’t finalise their intro right at the beginning. You might get inspiration later or your outcome can help shape your introduction instead. Whether it’s a quote, statistic or humour, make sure it’s enough to keep readers scrolling while promising (and delivering) value.

Add visuals and videos to break up blocks of text

Nobody wants to scroll on their laptop or mobile phone through endless blocks of text. It’s not great to look at and it makes for a poor user experience. As important as whitespace is, make sure to add some visuals to break up chunky blocks of text and add additional value.

Videos are another great addition to your long form content. You can either add one at the top to provide an overview or several scattered throughout the post to help readers. Not everyone will read long form content from start to finish, but a video can entice them to continue reading or stick around to watch the video.

It doesn’t have to be a video you randomly find on YouTube either. Go ahead and show some personality by filming some of your own and adding them to your blog so your readers can see you’re human and get a sense of your personality.

Writing long form content is only one part of the puzzle, though. If you’re really looking to up your marketing efforts and want a wide range of resources on your lap, ready to consume whenever you want to start transforming your marketing channels, the last thing you’d need right now are hundreds of deep dive blogs.

A bank of video resources at your fingertips

You’ll have noticed in each of the deep dive blogs we filmed dedicated videos to drive conversion and add more context to help readers. But that’s just a taste of our video offering. We also have a bunch of other helpful videos you could benefit from, all varying in length - ranging from quick HubSpot tutorials to in-depth webinars.

At Digital 22, we’re all-in on video. We’ve seen first-hand the impact it can have and we’re also serious about sharing all of our knowledge with others. If you’re looking to grow better and make your marketing more impactful, make sure to check out and bookmark our Video Hub below.

We also keep it updated regularly, so you’re bound to find plenty of information on everything you need to take your marketing up a level. Get access using the button below.