We're Missing Longform Financial Articles | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

A few days ago I wrote and published the most popular article on my site – ever. The article entitled, "Too Poor To Protest: How Income Inequality Silences Your Voice," was a stark move away from simple personal finance articles. This wasn't your everyday list of things you can change to help your budget. 

Somewhere along the way I realized that we have one of the most supportive communities on the net. Personal finance bloggers visit each others' sites, comment, and share frequently. My site has grown to the top 90k of sites on the net because of this. I am honestly humbled by your support, but we've been missing something.

Google and a variety of news sources are beginning to value longform articles far more. My recent article that brought in about 10,000 visitors in 3 days was about 1700 words. This is disparate from the assumption that most readers are only looking for a simple list.

I think our opinions are important, but a risk. Thus far, that risk has been rewarded. What do you think about writing longer articles? How have your audiences reacted? What are your most shared articles?

I would agree that longer articles are definitely important. Google seems to love them and can be good for visitors. I like to have a few longer (at least 1,300 words up to 1,600ish words every month to six weeks) and many of them do quite well in search. That said, I'm with Grayson, was it picked up by someone?

Isn't there a big splash in the media about "income inequality" from the left side of the aisle?  I tend to avoid news generally, but I recall glancing at a headline suggesting there's a problem with income inequality (mostly among the poor).

I generally aim to publish at least one long and meaty post per week (the rest are just long…:)). And I've been getting quite a bit of 'Google love' lately.

But I am not convinced that it is the length either. Seth Godin publishes very short pieces and many of those and absolute gems. Another difference I believe is about utility and originality. There are too many post about making additional income that list baby-sitting, dog-walking and waitressing at best. Obvious and not particularly imaginative.

Then again, I may be a bit harsh. I recently saw an call for help on a forum where the poster was asking for help with simple arithmetic; so may be obvious and basic advice is needed and can't be repeated enough.

It is a matter of personal choice.

Maria

Interesting! I haven't written many long posts but I have noticed my posts are getting longer naturally. I think I'll try to aim for a longform article once a month or so!

The College Investor said:

I just finished my 20,000 word Ultimate Guide to Saving for Retirement.  

Dang!  You need to make that into a book on Amazon.  :)  

The College Investor said:

I just finished my 20,000 word Ultimate Guide to Saving for Retirement.  

Wow, that is an impressive guide TCI. Definitely agree that you should be looking into publishing that on amazon in book form.

I was inspired by this post to extend one of my normal articles on paying down debt vs saving for retirement into 1700 words.

I was very proud of it…for about 2 hours until I came here are saw your guide TCI!! 

I write longer posts around 1500-2000 words. I find it hard to write short ones. And from a readership perspective, I like reading longer articles too. There are a ton of crap articles out on the web, and the vast majority of them are short. I can't count the times I'm searching for something and when I read the post results I end up saying "that's it?!" when I get to the end.