A lot of you probably say that you don’t have time to start a blog because you don’t have the time or creativity to write long posts on the blog. My answer to that is: Blog posts don’t have to be long to be valuable. Some of the most read posts on this blog were fairly short.
So just how long does a blog post need to be?
And the answer is: As long as necessary to get your point across without boring your reader. Some tips to consider:
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The attention span of your readers. Most readers won’t spend very long reading each post so only write a long post when you have something important to say.
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Search Engine Optimization. Most web pages should be at least 250 words long for maximum SEO. You could apply this to blog posts as well since each post is considered a page. But only write posts that long when you have that much to say.
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Quantity of posts on the blog. If you write frequently, you might want to write shorter posts than if you only write an occasional post.
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Variety is the spice of life. So mix short posts with long posts to keep the reader interested.
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The topic you are writing about. Sometimes you’re writing about a topic that just needs to be longer than other topics that you may write about.
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Statistics. As you blog, keep track of your statistics and see which posts are the most read. If the most read are usually short and to the point, you might consider writing more in that style.
Very few people read word for word. Most scan for content. Keep that in mind when writing your posts (or even your website pages) and make them easily scannable. This is easy to do if you incorporate a few things such as:
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Lists (like this one).
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Using bold, italics, CAPITAL LETTERS, and underlining to vary your text. Just make sure you don’t overdo it.
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Use headings and subheadings to break up a page.
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Pictures, that are appropriate to your subject, will draw a reader’s attention.
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Sometimes put an important bit of text or a quote inside a box or indent it.
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Use short paragraphs. A single sentence or even a single word can create an effective paragraph.