How can you effectively communicate the benefits of long-form content to clients?

??SEO is a powerful tool that can help your clients reach a wider audience and increase their online visibility. ?? And when it comes to long form content, the benefits are endless ??. ? Not only does long form content rank higher on search engines, but it also allows for more in-depth and valuable information to be shared with your audience. ??This helps establish your client as an industry expert and builds trust with their consumers. ?? ??By incorporating SEO strategies into their long form content, ?Your clients can attract more organic traffic ?generate leads, and ?ultimately increase conversions ?? ?Plus, with the rise of voice search, long form content becomes even more crucial ?? in optimizing for those long-tail keywords.

Unlike a short-term play - or a single post - designed to get customers to act now, a long-term plan builds a relationship with your audience. It begets brand loyalty, better quality engagement, an investment in who you are as a company and what you have to offer. Moving forward, do you want a single sale or a dedicated brand ambassador?

One of the unfair advantages of long form content is SEO. It allows you to enter highly engaging keywords for which your content could rank which your audience is searching on the internet. As a result, if you could distribute them evenly then there is a high chance that content could rank on the top of SERP.

Ask your client to name five thought leaders in their sector they admire. Ask the client if they would like that kind of respect and recognition. Then use Ahrefs or SEMrush to show how well those leaders' long-form content performs. Follow up immediately with results you've already prepared on five other sectors. Yes, that's a lot of prep work but you're going to use that again and again.

Some audiences prefer short form content, but if that's all you produce, you'll miss out on the audiences who need all the details before they decide. Aside from that, long-form content won't necessarily turn off those people who aren't looking for detail. If you structure it well, they can easily scan the key bits of info and skip ahead to the call-to-action button.

A really important part of this conversion is Top of Funnel (ToF) vs Bottom of Funnel (BoF) conversions.* Most clients think content marketing is about ToF and, yes, short-form is well suited here. But leads who get to BoF are looking for more. They want long-form. Explain to your client that it's not long-form vs short-form. It's short-form where it is needed and long-form where it is needed. Both are vital for the conversion journey. *This is not an argument the long-form is only to BoF, but it will help clients understand that content works best when matched to the conversion needs of their funnel.

It's important to understand why clients are wary of long-form content. A key concern they will never voice is status risk. No one wants to do the wrong thing or make a bad decision. It will make them look bad and that can have significant consequences in business. It's our job to make that choice safe. Begin by acknowledging their concerns. Tell them they are good objections and need good answers. Explain that reservations over long-form content are quite common but thankfully there is a lot of research and evidence to show just how valuable it is for businesses just like theirs. When presenting evidence, tie as much as possible to their sector. Cite industry leaders. And anchor your argument to authority publications like the HBR.

Mixture is the fixture. Gradually parade to the long-form content if the client is having some doubts. Use long-form content like "YouTube videos" and extract the short-form content from it "YouTube shorts". This will drive faster results while also maintaining the short one that your client cares about so much. Suggest some long form content that will make your clients lower their guard

When it comes to SEO benefits and the content’s ability to rank on search engines and bring traffic to the website, long form content helps in the following ways: - It enables writers to cover the topic better. It’s unlikely to provide enough educational value in 100 word paragraphs. - The readers will learn something/ get more value. Consequently, they will trust the brand/website that published that content more, which creates more chance to convert them.

Most branded content is short, which makes long-form content special. Other benefits include: 1. It works better for SEO involving highly-competitive keywords. 2. It attracts more links than shorter content in many instances. 3. It's hero content and can be used as fodder for entire campaigns. 4. It makes your brand look more like an authority to your prospects. 5. It lets prospects know content isn't just a half-assed game with you. That you take it seriously. And there are more benefits.

Long-form content can help a client establish their authority and build trust with potential customers. Customers tend to invest more time researching buying decisions that require larger financial commitments, so long-form content can help them on their journey. Search engines are seeking to prioritize the content users find most helpful and may view long-form as more comprehensive.

1)Trust-Builder: Build trust by diving deep into topics that matter, especially when decisions are high-stakes. 2)SEO Ninja: Dominate the SEO game with content that’s as meaty as your grandma’s lasagna – search engines love it! 3)Content Rockstar: Turn your long-form pieces into the rockstars of your content lineup, attracting more links and fueling killer marketing moves. 4)Industry Guru: Own your space by dropping knowledge bombs consistently – become the go-to source in your industry. 5)No Fluff, Just Stuff: Show your audience you're serious about content. No half-hearted efforts, just a relentless commitment to delivering value.

If you're confident that long-form content is important for your client's niche, and company, and will help them meet goals, then it should be easy to convince them. The best convincing they need is a profile on their competitor and how their competitor is ahead of them because of using long-form content.