How to Find the Perfect Length for Your Post
by Sean Platt on April 6, 2009
in blogging
How to Find the Perfect Length for Your Post
Of the thirty-four thousand or so blogs that currently swell my reader, the average post length runs the full gamut from a few sentences barely clinging together to a mounting migraine waiting to happen. As with all things blogging, there are no hard rules. Writing style of the author must meet reader expectations in even measure to best dictate the length of each post.
But is there an ideal length for a blog post?
Since post length not only varies from blog to blog, but often from post to post, is there an optimum post length that generates the most traffic, invites the most discussion, or cements your readers into fans? I would say no, and by trying to fit inside narrow criteria we only succeed in the limitation of our possibility.
I recently came to the realization that I had been keeping myself far too confined while writing for Writer Dad. What had started out as something novel had slowly drifted into a formula. Each and every post, give or take, ran about five hundred words. When I started Writer Dad I followed no template, I simply wrote in the way that made the most sense to me. It was exciting, the response was encouraging, and I failed to make the growth I should have. Because I was unwilling to follow a template, I became a slave to my own.
After taking a little blogging break, I returned to Writer Dad with a fresh pair of pupils, seeing my half year of work like an old city after a new snow. With renewed vigor I endeavored a different approach. While talking about my last day of high school, I ran a post that ran a few syllables past two-thousand words; four times my normal length. I wondered if it ran too long. Certainly, I mused, it wasn’t what my audience was used to. I wasn’t sure if I should run the post in full, break it into pieces, or set it aside to later serve my memoirs.
I elected to publish the post and the results were a roadmap to a new way of thinking.
It was an important piece of writing and it received a warm and generous response. I was left with the lingering notion that I should embrace the liberty inherent in having my own blog, rather than simply resign myself to the prison of past procedure. Blogs are an exciting medium, changing slower than thought, but faster than law. The most exciting bloggers are those who adopt the medium not as a frame to hold a single snapshot, but as a wide canvas to fill with shades of surprising color.
A 500 word post, a 3000 word essay, or a single sentence spilling into an engaging video. There are no rules. Yet, as humans we find it all too simple to manufacture them so that we have something to follow. Fixed rules do not fit this medium that is still as soft and yielding as unbaked clay. Having said that, it is best to keep your audience surprised. Not jarred. I prefer blogs that have a baseline or standard to expect. It is then easy to recognize the surprising difference when it appears. Here are a few simple tips to help you find an appropriate length for your typical post, so you can color outside the lines whenever the crayons are calling.
Posting Schedule
Your posting schedule can help dictate the length of your post. If you are regularly posting only a couple of times per week, you might want to consider publishing posts that are a little on the longer side. If you are posting with more frequency, say once a day or more, shorter posts might be a better fit. Services like Twitter are slowly replacing the singular notion of a constantly updated personal blog. This will eventually clear more room for domains of longer thought.
Niche
What are you writing about and who are you writing to? The best post length covers your topic thoroughly. No more, no less. An in depth review of a system or product will invariably require a lot of words, a simple product announcement or case in point will not. If you have gathered a few interesting online finds, a sentence to introduce each link may be more than ample. Write toward your topic and make sure all your points are covered. Never fill space to just to hit a target word count. This will only cause your copy to suffer.
Attention Span
The average web reader, it seems, can sometimes share the attention span of a toddler. The average Writer Dad reader sticks around for about three minutes. For a long time I thought this was normal length of stay. Turns out, it isn’t. The actual online average is on the short side of a minute. Each blogger must know the limits of their individual audience and publish to that end. This is a place where it is appropriate to check your stats. Knowing how long your average reader stays fixed to your content should help you write accordingly.
SEO
The rules of SEO are sometimes about as easy to understand as stereo instructions written in Klingon. It isn’t that they’re difficult exactly, it’s more that they seem to constantly evolve depending on who you speak with and whether or not Mercury is in retrograde. It is commonly agreed however, that posts that are not too long and not too short are ideal for search engine optimization. This would mean a post running in length from two-hundred and fifty words to no more than a thousand.
Ultimately, the best length is the one that makes you feel most comfortable with your content. No more, no less. Wherever you end up, just remember it’s only a suggestion. Never be afraid to do more or less with your blogging. It is your voice that makes all the difference.
Never write just to darken the space, don’t press publish until it’s done, and remember your words are forever.
Sean
Sean Platt is a father and ghostwriter who also tweets.
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Brilliantly useful stuff here and very relevant and timely for me. Please tell me how I can use my analytic-y plug ins to see how long people last in my posts without screaming and running for caffeine or weapons of self-destruction! My last post started out as a simple birthday quote and paragraph for my husband then grew into an epic. (Ironically it turned into a long rambly piece about editing!)
I love your longer posts, Sean, Eric’s too. I struggle daily with the urge to go to too many blogs. On days when I manage a balance, I go to a few blogs to enjoy reading, learning and feeling uplifted. Friends tell me, though, that they do this and also go to dozens of blogs a day to find resources, get quick fix inspiration and pieces to link to and recycle, as well as writing daily posts, and I guess this is the norm. I admire that kind of professional stamina, self-discipline and determination but I know I’d burn out.
I’m hoping that my post lengths will balance themselves over the course of a week and give visitors different kinds of coffee break material every day. Sometimes you want half an hour alone in a café with an absorbing read, other days you meet friends who give you good info or make you giggle.
Killer post, Sean. Real Blueprint core material!
janice’s last blog post..A Faithful Hand
Finally! It’s so easy to get caught up in the “shoulds” or “musts” depending upon whom you read and how (in)secure you are. For instance, in our relationship, I’m the mouth and Pete’s the brain. PassingThru would be a series of haiku-brief posts if Pete were the writer. (A better thing? Perhaps so, heh.) But for too long, I struggled trying to confine myself to 500 words, 250 words, whatever the rule du jour. Some things that you’re trying to say just can’t be said like that. Stories like the fabulous one about your high school counselor – you were like da Fonz in that one! – deserve the thousand words.
I think we’re much better off, and certainly more authentic, if we write it the way it needs to be told, in our voice, with the enriching detail. If we don’t bring the reader into our skin, experiencing the thing the way we do, then we’re writing only for ourselves.
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Too long.
Janice: Morning, Janice! If you use Google Analytics, it will tell you the average stay of the reader and give you something called a bounce rate (how long they stayed before bouncing away). It’s good that you let your muse have her way. It’s the way it should be. You’re right, it is easy to burn out. I’ve decided to try and write something nice and meaty at the Blueprint once a week rather than two pieces that are shorter and more disposable. We’ll see how it goes, but I love it in concept.
Betsy: Hi, Betsy. It’s always nice to see you. Shoulds and musts need to just go away. This is a new medium and we’re making up the rules as we go along. The last thing we want to do is follow the rules set by those who planted the flag just a few relative hours before us. We must listen to our instincts, they’ll lead us where we need to go. Da Fonz…. snicker, snicker…
Matthew: That’s what I’m saying.
Personally, I take post length very seriously.
First off… it is true that a blog which contains any post length can garner some degree of a following. However, I think it’s too easy to fall into this trap if you find your blog doing decent or even well. Because doing well may mean you’re growing slower than you otherwise could. And I do believe post length can have a very real impact on how fast a blog grows or doesn’t grow.
At the same time I also believe there is no ideal post length and it does depend on the nature of the blog *and* the skill of the author.
The problem occurs, I think, when we become adamant about a certain length devoid of how engaging and flowing the content is. That’s a huge mistake.
My philosophy is that the length of the post is a servant to what you have to say. If you have a lot of important things to say your post will be longer. If what you have to say *can* be said in fewer words, saying it in more will unquestionably hurt your blog post. In short, I think it’s best to stick to the essential message and not to go off course and zig zag too mucn in your delivery.
Though, the essential message sometimes requires a long post.
My posts run the gamut of anywhere between 250 to 1200 on average. Recently I’ve been hovering around 500 – 700.
But with my blog, one of the things I try to champion is not knowing what to expect. I think it can give spice to a blog when it does a variety of different lengths as opposed to sticking with just one length.
But that strategy wouldn’t work very well with someone like Tina Su of ThinkSimpleNow who has firmly established herself as doing very long posts. At least that is what I hypothesize.
Lastly… I’ll say this. I write a lot of posts on humor. One of my philosophies is that the reader prefers to read shorter and more punchy content than longer and more diluted content.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntended’s last blog post..How to Know if You’re an Enlightened Being
“The rules of SEO are sometimes about as easy to understand as stereo instructions written in Klingon.”
I love this blog!
Hayden Tompkins’s last blog post..How to Stop Dressing Like Your Spouse
I imagine that instructions in Klingon are probably as follows:
“Hit it until it works. If it still doesn’t work, hit it harder.”
I try to post articles that are of medium length because that’s how long it takes for me to really get my point accross.
I do not want to repeat myself over by writing a long essay, but I know that some people can write long articles without repeating themselves. I guess that does not work for me.
I try to also use breaks in articles (headings, bullet points) to give my visitors some rest. That works really well.
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Bamboo: Your posts always work. You seem to have a natural rhythm for comedy and inspiration both. I never know what I’m going to find when I click on, but I know it will always be worth it. Length is NEVER a consideration. If I see it’s short, I know it will make me laugh. If I see that it’s long, I know it will make me think. Turns out I like to do each of those things a lot.
Hayden: Aw, shucks Hayden. Thanks!
Matthew: LOL. You forgot the grunt.
Simona: Exactly. The bottom line is we must find the measure between writing to our individual strengths and writing to our audience. Not always an easy balance to manage, but almost always worth the effort.
@ Sean: Thanks. And I agree with Hayden… The Double B is a great blog. Very community oriented and great articles. Win win for all of us.
Bamboo Forest – PunIntended’s last blog post..How to Know if You’re an Enlightened Being
I’ve found lately that the posts that I have the most passion in them(which tend to be longer) have gotten the best responses from my readers. Although I don’t have many yet, I recently did a post giving my opinion on the Rihanna, Octomom, and Michael Vick stories and when I started writing, it was slow and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to write much. But, once I got going and got my thoughts and opinions straight in my head, I couldn’t stop writing and had to keep from saying some things I was thinking because I thought the post would run too long.
I probably could have broken each item up into 3 different posts but it was some things I felt I needed to get out and I posted it all. That particular post got more reads and comments than I expected. When I get on a roll about something then that’s usually my best results. The readers can definitely tell when your passion is in the post and I think they will stick around to read no matter if it’s 200, 500, or even 1,000 words, if they feel it too.
Nora from http://www.squidoo.com/Come-Check-Out-Nochipras-Blog-Spot
P.S. I was curious, are you guys are squidoo.com? You two could make some great lenses. I just started there with 2 new lenses and the one promoting my blog has gotten me some additional readers. Just thought I’d check. Thanks for the great post.
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TL;DR
I kid, I kid. I definitely did read and appreciated the length of it. Entry length is something I always get self-conscious of (especially since I’m one of those one-minute attention span havers, even when I’m trying to write an entry, and all of a sudden, I’m nowhere near my original topic (same goes for parentheticals), and I just need to let go and simply write what feels right!
The average blog post is 300 to 600 words in length. The average….blah blah blah.
Who cares.
Well said Sean. When you start conforming to what everyone else is doing it’s easy to get lost. You won’t be the needle in the haystack just another piece of hay.
“Color outside the lines” I love your analogies. I would have just said size doesn’t matter
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Bamboo: Thanks, Bamboo. As always, you are awesome as well.
Nora: It’s amazing how much our soul is able to spill once we get started. I’ve made a lens for Potty Training for one of my niche sites, but haven’t done too much beyond that. It’s definitely something I’m willing to check out though, just kinda near the bottom of a really long list.
JoAnn: It’s true. I will say that my wordy tendencies have been a bit muted by blogging. This is a good thing. I have more of a regard for people’s attention span than I ever had before. It’s been quite the boon to my fiction.
Marc: Bottom line: Rules are stupid. Follow your heart, at least when it comes to writing.