Better Blogging: Post Length

Hello TT,
Thank you for this great informative post

“Discussion questions:

When writing a post, do you take the length of your post into consideration?

Do you think your regular readers are more likely to skip over your longer posts?”

Since my blog is about tech, stuff and tutorial, type posts
I try to mix it up with short and long posts the tech, articles
I try to keep short to a medium size post so it don’t come across as advertisement…

As for my tutorial Posts I try to keep those long so I can get to the point out as well as be very informative with those type of posts…

I have noticed that my short to medium size tech, posts
get more attention then the longer posts…

So i’m gathering that it depends on the type of post your writing about…

P.s.I try to get to the point with the short posts with informative information that the reader needs to know with out going over board with the non seance stuff.. Grant it I have messed up a few posts this way and that is why I put something like “Update” and follow it up with more informative information and I have noticed that the readers appreciate when I go back and clean up my mistakes…

So I would say it depends on what type of audience your targeting that will make or break your short posts and if they will be drawn back, to your site again …

Most of my audience reads 100′s of blogs a day. None of us have time to read long entries. I skip them…..

I think the length of the post has to do with the point you’re trying to get across. Different blogs do well with short, but to the point posts, and others do well with longer posts.

For me personally, if the post doesn’t catch my attention within the first couple of paragraphs, I don’t really read any further. It just really depends on if I have time or what kind of mood I’m in too!

I definitely take length into consideration into writing a post. I’d much prefer quality rather than quantity.

Do I take length of my post into consideration? Sometimes. If I’m writing about my day I try to make it short and sweet. If I’m blogging about Is blogging Journalism it will be slightly longer. If I am doing an interview since it’s all question it depends on the interviewee. Different circumstances take different lengths.

I was just thinking about this today and found with the following post: http://www.modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk/article/how-long-is-the-ideal-blog-post — which ultimately claims that there is no ideal length for blog posts.

I think most people skip over longer posts, because who has the time? If the post is compelling, however they might stick around. I tend to skim the longer stuff to see if I want to come back later and read it in depth.

When I post, I don’t worry too much about word count, but I know that some people will skip the longer stuff.

Unrelated comment — your blog is looking great!

I haven’t considered length post to date, but I’m new to blogging and trying to learn quickly. I have grown as a blogger from reading this blog and other kind bloggers that have provided me with early feedback. After reading this post and reflecting on my blog, I have come to the realization that I have two types of content on my blog. I either write stories about sociocultural issues or I’ll create a list of 10 interesting things. I think I need to create a new blog for my lists and keep my blog’s content consistent and true to my original intent (listed on about page).
I have read that content is key from several others, but something about this post made it really sink in. Thanks!

I agree, these few lines and a link or two is not at all interesting to anyone who truly looks for content. But I have seen a lot of “celebrity” types do this and they get their audiences. I guess it works for them. It’s like throwing a dog a bone. :)

About pillar posts – don’t they get buried along with the rest of them? How do you get new readers to find old stuff? Or do you mean it’s the pillar posts that bring readers to your blog via search engines? If so, then with mine that’s happened mainly by accident, not design.

As a former newspaper man, I think in terms of the conventions of a broadsheet newspaper. With comment pieces, I aim for 750 words. For news items, it is usually between 350 and 500 words, depending on the story.

I have written long posts, short posts, series, and cut a huge post into pieces. From my stats, post length does not seem to have any effect, except as you say the long pillar posts draw maybe more attention (my pillar posts are technical though and talk about popular subjects; blogging till now, so maybe this is why they get more traffic).

I would like to ask though how do I put those social bookmarking buttons you have??

@xeper
It appears that our post length experiences are the same.

I would like to ask though how do I put those social bookmarking buttons you have??

option 1 – http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/getsocial-for-wordpresscom-bloggers/

option 2 – http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/wordpresscom-how-to-add-social-bookmark-buttons/

Happy blogging :)

@Teck
I haven’t noticed that post length makes any difference at all to my stats, except in one regard. My pillar posts do get more traffic just as I expect them to do because the content is timeless.

Brevity is important but more important still is that whatever subject you are writing about has been adequately covered. Sometimes that can be done in a brief post, sometimes a longer post is required and on other occasions a series will be required.

Although there are some who try to convince you all posts must be short and sweet, there is no blanket prescription for post length.

Thanks for commenting and best wishes for better blogging. :)

@SteveRebooted
Hopefully you don’t skip reading my longer posts. :(

@Rebecca
I’m so with you on everything you have to say. If my interest is not immediately captured I don’t read a post to the very end. If the blogger hasn’t covered the topic in depth and has just glossed over the subject I feel cheated. The bottom line is that we ought to aim to adequately cover the topic we are writing on using as few words as possible. That means that posts will vary in length.
Happy blogging :)

@Shirley
Different circumstances take different lengths.

You said it! Thanks for commenting and best wishes for better blogging. :)

@Jennifer
I think most people skip over longer posts, because who has the time? If the post is compelling, however they might stick around. I tend to skim the longer stuff to see if I want to come back later and read it in depth.

You just described my own habits. After skimming them, I bookmark longer posts for later enjoyment.

Thanks for commenting.

@H
I have two types of content on my blog. I either write stories about sociocultural issues or I’ll create a list of 10 interesting things. I think I need to create a new blog for my lists and keep my blog’s content consistent and true to my original intent (listed on about page).

After we have dove head long into blogging and have swam for the shore several times we can get out of the water and reevaluate. It sounds like that’s what’s ahead for you. I wish you well with both blogs. Don’t be a stranger if you need hel please let me know. :)

@Nita
like throwing a dog a bone
You have described it exactly. I don’t bark and I’m not fond of bones … lol :P

I truly enjoy your pieces because the are so well researched and well written. They are long but you obviously have a faithful readership who appreciate what you write. I tend to skim your posts , bookmark them and set them aside to read at my leisure.

Best wishes for happy blogging.

@calvininjax
With comment pieces, I aim for 750 words. For news items, it is usually between 350 and 500 words, depending on the story.

I think your parameters are right on. There will be times when there will be variations but that’s an excellent rule of thumb. Thanks for sharing it. :)

@ian in hamburg
Most traffic does come to pillar posts from search. Some comes from me recommending posts to readers. Some comes from referrals from other bloggers. Having a “popular posts” text widget in my sidebar prevents pillar posts from becoming buried. Thanks for raising that issue and best wishes for happy blogging.

Thank you TT, for your insightful comment
I really appreciate it.

Teck

Great!!! That puts you on my blog surfer!!! Wonderful.. thanks a million.. and I appreciate how you respond to all those comments individually..
Many thanks

@xeper
Thanks so much for including my blog on your blog surfer. Thanks also for your comments and best wishes for better blogging. :)

@Teck
You’re welcome.

true writing pulls the reader in no matter what the length, style, content. course it has to strike a chord, meet a need, entertain in some way that the reader responds to.

i do agree with you and other readers that different subjects require different coverage (i.e., length).

but often the admiration for the skill pulls me in and keeps me reading from paragraph to paragraph (and in some cases, to paragraph to paragraph…) and often i’m surprised by the amount of time i end up spending with various blogs.

I didn’t give much consideration to post length until last night so I am glad to find this post.

I am not sure why I blog yet. I think I have interesting things to say, I’d love to develop my ideas through comments and conversations, and I’d like to inspire mothers and be inspired by my readers as well.

Anyway, last night I thought about post length because I realized that a lot of my posts seem longer than the usual blogs I read. Oh well, I don’t have a set mission of obtaining traffic or anything so I’m too concerned, but yeah, I don’t want to lose readers because they tend to skim through (as I admittedly do).

I think I’ll start to mix it up a bit .. throw in a nice short, easy to swallow post everyone once in a while … and I could put that tactic to use with my comments as well ;)

Take care! I am enjoying your tips — Thank you!

@Emily,
Thanks for letting me know you like reading my posts. I think your idea of mixing it up when it comes to post length and to comment length too is a valid one. I’m not really that “chatty” online. I do like reading comments but when it comes to composing them I’m afraid that I fall short. :(
Best wishes for better blogging :)

This is a very interesting article.

My philosophy is that the length of my articles are dependent upon what the subject matter demands.

But I am bias towards shorter articles. If you can get the message across in less length, to me that’s best.

I’m not a big list person either. I prefer very focused articles on one subject matter.

@bamboo forest
Truth be told I think we all prefer to read short pieces most of the time. And brevity is the rule of thumb for writing on the web. Thanks do much for reading my post and for commenting.
Happy blogging :)

I’m hooked on you, and read all of your posts :P

god bless me, I dont think ive ever gone more than two paragraphs :-)

Blogs that are image based rarely have more than a single paragraph or sometimes two of text so I don’t find this unusual at all. :)

My post are typically 1,000 words therefore I only post about once a week. I think people with very short post (100 – 200) are kind of taking it easy. My blog is also a blog about my personal opinion on a variety of issues so if a ready cares about that issue I suspect he/she will read the blog through till the end. Lastly, I do use pics to break up very long post.