The Power of Articles

Long-form content has always been something that some people love and others hate. Why? Because compiling your thoughts on a topic into a 2000+ word article isn’t appealing. Recording a video on the same topic can normally be done in 5 minutes.

So why on earth would you spend longer to write it out?

Well, the simple answer is that there is a multitude of benefits to doing so. It’s also crucial to understand that you don’t have to be a writer to write articles.

The biggest misconception

“I’m not a good writer so no one will read what I write”

This point is first for a reason. A lot of content creators put off articles because they don’t believe themselves to be good writers. You should write to what is comfortable for you. By this, I mean that everyone has a natural way of writing. The same with how we verbally communicate.

Let your personality flow. If what you write and the way you write it is entertaining and valuable, no one is going to care whether you used the wrong word here or the wrong “affect/effect” there.

Don’t let your own limiting beliefs prevent you from creating great content!

The power of blogs - Your Website

If you have a website and it doesn't have a native blog, you are underutilizing it’s potential. Blogs are an amazing way to organically improve SEO and increase the likelihood that your target audience lands on your website.

For many, SEO is a term that is thrown around and isn’t quite fully understood. Search Engine Optimisation focuses on enabling a website/page/article to be found via search engines (i.e. Google). When your SEO is strong, you increase the chance of appearing on the first page of Google searches.

Let’s be honest, none of us go to the second page.

This is why SEO is a big deal. If you are in the top 3 for a search result, you are going to receive a substantial amount of traffic. Why is that important here? Well, let me give you a few statistics:

-> Websites with a blog tend to have 434% more indexed pages

-> Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links

-> 61% of US consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post

More indexed pages = more chances to rank highly on Google = more traffic = more leads = more sales.

Your funnel won’t always work like that but that is the standard process.

The power of blogs - LinkedIn publisher

You may be asking “But I’m a content creator, I only use social media to market myself”

I hear you. If you’re using LinkedIn, then you have a build in article publisher at your disposal that shares similar traits to any other blogging platform. This allows you to create articles and promote them with your connections without having to worry about website hosting, support and other technical requirements.

Do you still receive the same SEO benefits? Yes and no.

As you are not writing articles for a website, there is no direct traffic to a platform you control, thus, you can’t impact the customer journey. However, LinkedIn articles are indexed by Google in the same way other articles are. Meaning, if you write really good content, there is a chance you’ll rank highly.

This will bring any traffic to your article. These viewers will then be able to see your headshot and headline next to the content piece and can opt to go to your profile. This can lead you to gain more connections and more influence over those in your niche.

If you are marketing on LinkedIn exclusively, you absolutely cannot pass articles. They add an extra form of content to your tool belt but they are also showcased on your profile. When users view your profile, they are able to see your recent articles and your recent activity.

If you have no articles to show, the activity section will sometimes overlay the space where the articles would have been. In most cases, this isn’t a problem. However, if you’re like me and are always looking to see what value content creators provide, it’s odd when you find an influencer that hasn’t written an article.