One of the big questions of blogging is whether the length of a blog post matters or not. Do longer blog posts necessarily equate to more shares and subscribers? The answer is no. That does not mean a long blog post is going to result in less shares and subscribers either.
The length of a blog post does not matter. The amount of time it takes to make your point does matter. Some blog posts are less than 50 words long because that’s how long it took for the writer to make his point. Some blog posts are over 1,000 words long because that’s how long the writer needs to make his point.
In addition to making a point, blog posts should also reinforce that point with examples or more information. “More information” can range from a few sentences to a few paragraphs. Examples can range from one example to over 10 examples.
Going back to the question, the length of a blog post does not matter. What your targeted readers get out of your blog post is what matters. If a targeted reader understands the point you are trying to make, then you did a good job.
I use shorter posts because of time constraints, but I reaaaally want to crawl up to longer ones eventually.
The best way to do that is by gradually working your way up. Each week, write an extra 50-100 words per blog post. Then you will eventually write 1,000+ blog posts with ease. Don’t try to make too big of a jump so quickly. The big jumps we see are just a series of small jumps taken in quick succession.
My posts generally end up at between 300 – 400 words. And not because I plan it that way. It’s just my style of writing tends to follow a certain pattern AND I can write this length fairly quickly. This just seems to work for me…now we’ll see how that translates to engagement.
I’m happy to hear that you are writing blog posts every day. Even if they don’t get much engagement in the beginning, writing blog posts every day turns it into a habit. I started at that blog post length and gradually found myself writing 1,000+ word blog posts. If you look at my first few blog posts and compare them with the blog posts I write today, you will be amazed with the transformation.
It’s all down to perceived value. Some people will always think longer posts have more of value to them. Pretty much the same as ebooks. If they’re 500 pages (Amazon count) people think they are good and will pay more. I’ve seen some great books of only 2000 words (4 sheets of A4) that do not get looked at because the page count is too small.
You and I know that bigger is not always better, but far too many people do think that way.
Regards,
Steven Lucas
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this manner. It is a shame that some writers write more content, double space, and make their fonts bigger just to get more pages. While writing one of my books, someone wondered when I would reach triple digits. I successfully reached triple digits for some of my books, but for many of my books, I am happier with writing a 50 page book that has the same facts and takeaways as a book with 500 pages. Many people think bigger is better, but the smaller a book is, the easier it is to read through.
It may not matter to the reader or for engagement, but it does matter for SEO. While I prefer keeping things as concise as possible, a minimum of 300 words is significantly better for SEO than a shorter post.
I agree with that, but I will sometimes go with the shorter blog posts so people can read it and get the message quicker.
Great tips, I have often wondered if it made a difference .