UX Functions for 10x Content

[TMHoward86]

Hey all,

I recently watched the Whiteboard Friday on Good Unique Content and had a question about how we should approach this from a User Experience perspective.

If our goal is to create 10x Content (sounds great, I'm in!) isn't this going to mean that we end up with 5000 words of text in a blog post with no way for the reader to approach the content except to start at the top and work their way down? How does the user know that they've found what they want above the fold if what they want is buried in 10K words of text and images?

I'm concerned that I'll need to have some kind of in-post navigation to allow users to quickly navigate to the part of the content that's most relevant to them

I've tried to overcome this by creating a sort-of visual 'Table of Contents' at the top of my blog post. But I'm wondering if this is a useful feature for users or whether it will detract from the quality of the content above the fold. Has anyone else run into this challenge when trying to create 10x Content?

[Vacatia_SEO]

appreciate the point of view! And the Whiteboard Friday today was very timely for this as well. Highly recommend watching if you're looking for ways to do keyword research and how to incorporate it into specific pieces of content. #randprovides

[EGOL]

Most of the articles on my website are between 500 and 2000 words plus two to ten photos, often with tabular data or line graphics.   I have experimented with splitting them into multiple pages and keeping everything on a single URL.  Here is my conclusion after doing this for about ten years....

If you have lots of direct traffic, as an example, CNN who has throngs of people coming directly to their site every day, AND you receive a minority of your traffic from search, then it might be a good idea to break your article up into multiple pages to capitalize on the many pageviews and ad revenue that comes with them.

However, if you rely on search for your traffic your nice article broken into ten pages of trivial length is not going to pull in as much traffic from search as one big long impressive page.  The big page will rank better because it is substantive, it will pull in more long tail traffic because it has more keyword diversity and it will impress the visitor who will more likely share it.  And, you will not have to worry about Panda slapping you because you have a site loaded with pages with trivial amounts of content.

ALL of my money is bet on the big article page.

[Vacatia_SEO]

What are you thoughts about breaking up the large blog post into multiple articles and linking between them instead of housing them under one URL? We are working on theme park guides and there are so many highly competitive keywords that would seem impossible to rank with one awesome post.

Or do you recommend keeping it all under one URL and just crushing it on UX. Can I assume that the 10x content combined with the usability (not having to ping pong all over the place) will trump 5 articles that are focused on unique keywords.

[TMHoward86]

Awesome, thankyou! That's exactly what I had envisaged.

[EGOL]

We write our articles with lots of subheadings.  This allows our readers to quickly scan down the article for sections of interest.

We often include a TOC navigation similar to Wikipedia that floats left or right within a column of text.  From using CrazyEgg we know that LOTS of people click these links.

Also, in some articles that are about highly visual content, the top image on the page will include a matrix of thumbnail photos (think an article titled: Arizona Cactus Varieties ) with each thumbnail showing  a different type of cactus and a text link below it that the visitor clicks, the click takes him/her down the page to view associated content.  If you have colorful and interesting thumbnails these graphic TOC navigation will be clicked like mad.

[randfish]

I think TOC (ala Wikipedia like EGOL recommended) could work just fine, though you may want to do a UX/usability test with some of your audience.

Re: the content - if you think/know that searchers are seeking long-form, highly detailed stuff, go ahead and give it to them! You'll know your audience far better than I. Only point I might make is that visuals, video, diagrams, and charts/data (e.g. maybe something like a visual showing what muscles are needed for each type of move and the exercises that simulate them) can go a long way, sometimes more powerfully than text alone.

[TMHoward86]

Thanks Rand. Really appreciate the feedback and I've definitely considered what you guys are saying here on the thread. The challenge for me is that the traffic I want to drive is typically based on keywords like the following:

• rugby cardio tips
• beginner rugby tips
• what position should i play in rugby
• how to join a rugby club
• rugby tackling drills
• tackling drills for rugby
• exercises for rugby players
• rugby specific exercises

I get the sense that people searching for terms like these are looking for long-form instructional content rather than a short sales or splash page. If I was searching those terms, I would be looking for information that is both educational and actionable so I can learn and implement.

Do you have any thoughts on the best kinds of in-post navigations? Is a simple TOC the way to go? Thanks again!

[randfish]

Hi Tim - great to hear that you're thinking about 10X content, but please don't confuse quality for quantity. Some of the best content out there that serves searchers and visitors 10X better than the competition isn't very long at all. For example http://www.useronboard.com/features-vs-benefits/ is a phenomenal page that's performed incredibly well for UserOnboard, but it's bite-sized content.

To quote Shakespeare, "Brevity is the soul of Wit." If you can make better content easier to consume, do so. Your visitors and your analytics will thank you.

[EGOL]

I'm concerned that I'll need to have some kind of in-post navigation

Do not be concerned about this if you decide to use them.  From my experience these are very powerful on-page optimization, second only to the title tag in their power.   Wikipedia uses it.  Check it out there if you have not noticed.  Kickass.

[TMHoward86]

Yep, that's exactly the concern I have. I'll keep trying to figure out a simple UX way to overcome the problem. Hoping someone has tackled this before.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Gotcha - yes, if you are trying to link to certain portions of the post, you'd want to use a fragment identifier, if in fact you include all of that information in one giant post.

I would really pay attention to the usability aspect because sometimes content that big could overwhelm your users and discourage them from digging through or reading, even with links.

I would just be careful and make sure that this works for your user experience.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[TMHoward86]

Cheers for taking the time Pat.

Those TOC buttons will work once the post is published. Just a function of the anchor links not working on drafts because of the URL structure.

I'm wanting to create content that is good enough that a reader won't need to supplement my article with other sources. When I sat down and researched what I wanted to find in search results, I invariably had to leave one article and google something else. Over the course of 3-5 google searches eventually I was able to gather all the resources that I wanted but it shouldn't be that hard.

My idea was to collate this info, put it in one place to save readers time in their research. This blog is actually only about 1/2 done and I was going to add a series of videos and instructional images as well. When all is said and done I would be shocked if this didn't turn into 5k-10k words in total. Its at 3K now.

My question is really about usability. I'm trying to create this great resource for people but I'm concerned that its going to be too big and cumbersome to navigate effectively. Have you run into this issue before? Am I approaching it all wrong?

I guess I'm thinking about trying to structure my blog content like Tim Ferris structures his books. There's a guide at the start of the 4 Hour Body for example which says "If you're trying to gain weight read chapters 1,2,3,7,8." and also "If you're trying to lose weight read chapters 1,2,3,9,10." I find this super user friendly and I'm trying to create a similar experience for my blog readers. Does that make sense?

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi again,

I misread your question - I see you followed the 10x better aspect, but I am still confused as to the 5 to 10k words per blog post. Are you saying that more words equal better content? That's not necessarily true - if something can be said in 300 words, say it in 300. If something needs 1,000, say it in 1,000.

There's no ideal length to content so long as it is written in a natural and organic fashion, not stuffing keywords and queries into the mix for the sake of doing so. Don't over optimize and write for the user - search engines can tell if you are trying to over optimize.

Let me know - would love to help! Sorry for my confusion!

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Just a quick heads up - your table of contents buttons don't work.

I am curious - where are your getting 5 - 10k words for a blog post? I think you are confusing what Rand said...

"Really, where I want folks to go and where I always expect content from Moz to go is here, and that is 10x, 10 times better than anything I can find in the search results today. If I don't think I can do that, then I'm not going to try and rank for those keywords. I'm just not going to pursue it. I'm going to pursue content in areas where I believe I can create something 10 times better than the best result out there...

_...We need a process to choose, to figure out how we can get to 10x content, not good, unique content, 10x content. A process that I often like to use -- this probably is not the only one, but you're welcome to use it if you find it valuable -- is to go, "All right, you know what? I'm going to perform some of these search queries.

This is the way that I can be 10 times better than the best results in there."_

You're going to create a lot of unnecessary work writing THAT big of blog posts! This is a great post by Rand - make sure you watch it one more time, jot notes, and prioritize from there!

Hope this helps! Good luck!