On Busting it Up and other things...

[Mickeylayne]

Hi there!
One of the very first articles I submitted and had approved was about 4,000 words long. It's great information, and it WAS approved, but over the weeks since I've been here I've been looking over other people's work and I've decided it may be a bit too long for the average buyer. First of all, I'd like your opinion on that part. Is a 4,000 word article too long for the average buyer?
Second, would anyone suggest pulling the article, busting it up into several smaller articles and resubmitting those? Has anyone ever done that before? Is it frowned upon? Is it a bad idea? I could easily do it...all the info in the article goes together, but I suppose I could categorize it if I set my mind to it. I could break the info into several stand-alone pieces....hhm.
One last question...I have an idea for a series of articles, all relating to the same subject. I suppose that's done, but how are articles like this presented so that the buyer knows that the articles are named differently but they go in a series? For instance, what if I wanted to do a series critiqueing roller coasters. I would name the articles "Giant Sloth" and "Mega Loopdeloop" and "Death Wish." I wouldn't name them, say, Coaster I, Coaster II, Coaster III. How does one indicate in the article titles that it's a series? Would you put that in the small summary? Like, "The Giant Sloth roller coaster of Miniwampa, Wisconsin is anything but slothful. Rising straight into the sun, it then drops 6,000 feet into an 8-foot pool of ice water and plunges through a jet black tunnel at 300 MPH, tearing the epidermal skin from the cheeks of it's victims." Article 1 in a series of 5 articles critiqueing some of the best roller coasters in America! How would you suggest doing this kind of thing. (Oh, BTW...my son's building the Giant Sloth. Ya'll have to wait.)

[Ed]

Your question about series articles is explained in the most recent blog post:

http://www.constant-content.com/blog/?p=116

Please make sure no article relies upon another article. Articles must be able to stand alone, even if they are related in some way.

[Celeste Stewart]

4000 words is a bit much, IMO, for the general customer base at CC. I would definitely consider several smaller articles. For example:
Rollercoasters of the World: The Giant Sloth (1000 words)
Rollercoasters of the World: The Super Zipper (1000 words)
Rollercoasters of the World: Anaconda (1000 words)
Rollercoasters of the World: The Wooden Wonder (1000 words)

Each would stand on its own, yet if the customer saw that you have many articles detailing the various coasters, then you may actually sell them all at once whereas a customer might be put off at the thought of a single large article. Likewise, if a customer only wanted one, then he can buy the one of interest. For example, a travel site focusing on Brazil might want to feature an article about Brazil's famous rollercoaster (the fictional Anaconda) but wouldn't want to feature all of the other rollercoasters.

In addition, some sites would likely love an overview of the rollercoasters of the world in which case I'd consider creating a general article summarizing them - the key being summarizing - not detailing each one.

[Mickeylayne]

Thanks, Ed, Celeste....sorry, I don't check the blog daily. I will in the future. Celeste....your explanation using the roller coasters answered my concern completely. Forging on.......

[Celeste Stewart]

You're welcome. Actually, it's not a bad strategy doing it that way. Using the roller coaster example, you will always have future articles if you want and you could have customers anxiously waiting for your next rollercoaster review. . .