Blog Post Length Must Always be Secondary to Creating Value

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Glenn C

Glenn Cowan has been a freelance writer for the last couple of years, writing content for a number of clients. Glenn now runs his own website Orange Copywriting, which provides a wide variety of copywriting services. This includes blog content, as well as SEO articles.

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Glenn C

Latest posts by Glenn C (see all)

Why Blog Post Length Must Always Be Secondary to Creating Value - March 2, 2013
Just who the heck is your blog content for? - January 18, 2013

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It would seem that the debate centering on blog post lengths keeps raging on. There are of course two very distinct schools of thought here. Many writers believe that their blog posts can only really deliver when the word count is in excess of 1000 words. Whilst, others believe that less is actually more.

The people behind the rationale for producing low word count content will often argue that readers struggle with their attention spans. These same readers it would seem much prefer a chunk of information, with the minimum opportunity of distraction.

This blog post will take a closer look at both sides of this argument and perhaps more importantly explore the best scenario.

Shorter is best

As we have already discussed, shorter posts run less risk of the reader getting bored and losing interest. There are fewer things more disappointing than coming across a bloated piece of content. Often these will make their point within the first paragraph or two and then spend the remaining 800+ words almost beating their reader to death.

In many respects this type of writing is similar to when an individual was in secondary school. Maybe you can remember scrambling like mad to get as much fluff and filler into the writing as possible. Desperately trying to get over the magical quota line, well long worded posts can often be a little like this.

The reality is that is that if something can be said quickly in a snappy fashion then it should. In a world where there is already far too many distractions, should you really be wanting to add to them?

No, Long Posts are Much Better

Four or five hundred words is barely enough to determine an issue, let alone explore it properly. However, the internet is chock a block full of short content. A lot of this content offers just about as much use as a chocolate teapot. Why? Because content writers are frightened to death about scaring their readers off.

If you believe that your writing cannot hold a readers interest over say 800 or even 1,000 words then now is the time to hang your head

in shame. Stop now and find an alternative career.

Great writing is worth much more attention than this.

Who Really Cares About Length? Value is King

Having read the above, you might well be unsure of the best approach to take. The reality is that there is probably no clear winner when it comes to just how long a great blog post or article should be.

When writing for the web it is essential to always deliver value. Without it your readers simply won’t return. What’s more they won’t share your “great” post with others. The time that you spend putting it together will have been by and large wasted.

It’s extremely unlikely that a reader will stop reading after 500 words or so if they are finding your content informative and interesting. The reality is that they will want more!

However, on the flip side, if you are being a little long winded in your approach then people are much more likely to stop reading. Most of the time they won’t even bother to hang around for you to make your point, assuming that there actually is one.

Secret: Value Guaranteed

The easiest way to guarantee successful content is to follow a very simple, but essential pattern.

The written article or blog post must have at its very core a simple goal:

Identify a problem
Offer a solution

This will ring true for the vast majority of all non-fiction written material.

Put simply a great writer will be able to provide an interesting introduction. They will then have the ability to raise the tension a little; of course this is achieved by simply discussing the roots of the problem. After this stage they will then be able to provide a conclusion, or in other words they will solve the issue that the reader has faced.

Practice Makes Perfect

Putting content together in the above fashion can take a little practice; however, with some perseverance great results can be achieved.

Without a doubt it is the most likely way that value can be delivered, without the risk of missing something or worse still droning on till the cows come home.