10,000 words. Blog post, email course or members-only "academy"?
Hi guys, need your advice.
I'm writing an article which appears to be a real in-depth thing, around 10,000 words. And there are a few possible strategies to publish it.
- Just a long article on a blog with goal to get SEO visitors over time and for brand awareness
- Free email course with some product pitching inside, but then I lose SEO benefits.
- Totally separate members-only "academy" available only for customers who pay for the product. Which will be additional reason to purchase, and potentially would grow articles base there.
I know the answer is "it depends", but have you tried these different approaches and measured long-term results? Any advice?
Here's my guide based on the info you've provided:
-- If Yes, publish as paid product.
-- If No, break it up into a series of more targeted blog posts. 5 targeted blog posts of 2,000 words each will have better SEO and traffic potential than one monolithic 10,000 word monster (Plus I bet they would individually convert better).
Thanks a lot, Michael. I guess I should have provided more info, agreed. I already have a product which is aimed at developers (code generator) and this post would be also aimed at the same developers - how to structure the code in Laravel projects. So I guess you're voting for paid product, then.
Also, 5 articles vs 1 long article is good advice, too. Maybe it would be even easier to consume, part by part.
I have done similar thing before, I break down the long post into a series of multiple posts with a landing page of the series. Visitor can choose to read online or download the compiled pdf by opting in email subscription. If you are interested , you can refer my series here: https://fluffy.es/making-sense-of-auto-layout/
Thanks Alex, that's also an option. I like how you frame it - "I'm busy, send me PDF".
Can you share any numbers of results, conversions etc? Did it meet your expectations? If you could do that again, would you do it the same way?
I have got near to 300 subscribers from this series (people who opt in to get the pdf), it does blew away my expectation as I just expected 20-30 subscription at first. I would definitely do it again if I have a long in depth article to write. Take my result with a grain of salt as my blog was featured in a popular iOS development newsletter, most of the subscriber came from there.
Hey Povilas! Thanks for sharing - did you end up making a decision between these three?
Alternatively you could publish this as a book on Kindle
Yes, e-book is also an option - Kindle and/or downloadable PDF. Thanks for the advice, Wyatt.