Discussions
Long Blog Posts vs. Short -keeping your readers reading
Posted by choochoo • 5/02/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: post length, posting, readers
I try to visit a number of blogs each day, and have to be honest; if your post is more than 2 or 3 paragraphs, I'm very likely to skip it or skim quickly through it to get the pertinent information. If it is just one very long paragraph, and there is any scrolling involved, unless it's a post I'm looking for very specific information from, it's likely to get only a quick skim from me. Chances are, if you include an image, I'm more likely to read the accompanying post.
Perhaps it's just me being a very visual person? Do I really have that short of an attention span?
When posting, do you take the length of your post into consideration? Do you think people in general, or your regular readers are more likely to skip over your longer posts? Just wanted to find out other's thoughts on the subject as I've been experimenting a bit with post length and inclusion of images. Wish there was a way to track the results by more than just the number of visitors.
User Comments
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When I am writing a post, I usually consider my readers and make it as short as possible, unless there are more important things that can't be deleted, I make it into several posts (like "to be continued episode")
Images are also important to get the readers attention...Reading a full text can be very exhausting and dull..-
Don't kid yourself...People don't read the full text no matter how long or short it is. -
I just too lazy to write a long post:P -
I think people are too lazy to write long blog posts like tinyurl.com/c2hchn. But to be true, I like reading and writing long posts with good expressions and good information.
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I usually skip the long long posts.
I like blog entries long enough to give the pertinent info and short enough to avoid being boring
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For me, it depends largely on the subject of the post. One morning I began reading a blog in which the subject matter spanned several posts. It was so informatine and well written that I read all five posts (spanning several paragraphs per post)before I went for my second cup of coffee.
It was called "The Money Machine" and it is in the archives of the "Great Post Award" on my blog
I highly recommend that publishers blog -
i actually took a poll, and my readers said they wanted more pictures.-
As long as you optimise the pictures for your keywords...
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I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I only skimmed the post
Seriously though, for me I will read very lengthy posts if the subject matter is of interest to me. If it isn't, and the post isn't very very short, I'll probably just skim it.
That said, I write really really long posts. -
Ha! Funny because I actually thought this topic post was too long & put a lot of thought into how I formatted it!
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LOL! Nice
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i agree.. me i post only about 3 sentences.... ;-) or maybe a paragraph
melvindichoso.blogspot.com/ -
Gotta agree with rearvumirr.
It depends very much on the topic at hand.
If it is something which interests me, I'll read every word through pages, print it and read it in bed, and reread the next day.
If it is marginally interesting or not at all, I'll skim it no matter how short or long the post is. -
Well - my blog is mostly commentary... thus - my posts tend to be long. I have had discussions with people about long v. short... but my readers seem to prefer long posts...
.... that's not to say I'm rambling... I most certainly can crush a concept down to five bullets...
I think the short v. long issue ultimately comes down to readers and content value. If your readers are scanning v. reading - and don't want lots of content... short posts. If not - long posts... -
@choochoo
My reading habit is to skim all posts first and then, only if they really interest me, I start at the top and read through them more slowly.
I have a mix of short, medium and longer posts on my blogs and because I'm visually impaired I never present my readers with a huge block of text. Paragraph rules be darned. I don't choose to have long paragraphs in my posts that take a lot of effort to read. Instead, I split the text into smaller portions which injects some white space that's restful to the eyes. I also use images to break up large blocks of text.
P.S. I really liked this post of yours. I have a modeling background and can attest to the value of the tips in the post. It's a great resource apps.choochoophotography.com/Blog/?e=7852&d=04/18/2008&s=Choo Choo Tells You How To: How to Look Great in Photographs -
I think you can have a blog as long as you want, as long as it is accompanied with lots of great images. I'll spend hours on blogs that have loads of images. Like "Best web designs of 2008" or something like that. If there is text in between the images, I'll probably read that after I scroll through the images. If I want to know more about what I'm looking at.-
@rcpopart
"I think you can have a blog as long as you want, as long as it is accompanied with lots of great images."
That's the same for me too.
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I provide many tech tutorials so my posts tend to be longer than normal. I try to provide the information with too much additional fluff.
I don't care how long a post is as long as it interests me. -
If a post is well-written and of interest, I'll certainly read it the whole way through. But I like words, in the right amounts. -
I'm brevity challenged....almost on par with Anok. I actually view the really short blog posts as half-assed - but that's just my perception. When I click on a blog and see 100 1-paragraph, 4-line posts, I think to myself "there is no substance here."
I look at it like newspaper articles - I don't read just the headlines. I'm looking for facts, insights, and knowledge transfer.
I actually prefer the longer, more engaging posts - although I don't have time for a great deal of them on any singel day. -
I tend to write the post first, then edit it by cutting out sentences until it gets the point across and show a little personality. But that does not happen with all my post. It just depends on the topic. -
I try to keep the posts short (about 3-5 paragraphs) and stuff it with pictures as some people told me this would be more interesting. I guess it also depends on the topic - short posts about cats are possible, but for technical posts and tutorials I would also read longer posts. -
It's funny because I sometimes spend more time trying to condense my post than I did actually writing it! As hard as I try, I never have short posts! I'm kind of wordy.
I agree that very short posts generally aren't substantial enough to be worth the small amount of time they take to read. But if it's too long, I may get bored. It definitely depends on the content and the style of writing. -
If it's interesting to me, I'll read it. Plain and simple.
Edited to add: I feel the same way about my readers. If they aren't interested, I expect them to skip it... not force themselves to muddle through. I hope I'm never someone's "homework". I do think about post length but sometimes it can't be helped.
Ahh, much better. -
I tend to write long posts. I really don't care what another person thinks about long or short posts.
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Depends. I make them as long as they need to be, and shorten them if possible, but I write what I write and if people prefer not to read it,and believe me many people do not have a very long attention span,or are just quickly browsing through blogs really fast - well they could well pass by.
Oh Well.
I only take length it into consideration in the context of the post.
I read some very long blog posts, people I read all the time. I assume those who read my long posts read me all the time. The passer byers really don't matter all that much. -
I write long too, but I think I'll shorten my posts in the future - if possible. I want folks to hang around till I finish. -
I prefer short posts because it is easy for me to read and don't have to take a lot of time reading on one blog.
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I am very wordy, and recently even before reading this decided it is time to move to simple bulleted lists when at all possible. I think it is just easier on the eyes for people reading off the internet. Long chunky paragraphs are indeed difficult to digest. I usually skim and speed read unless it is a comedy or humor sort of blog, then I will follow along more word for word.
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Most of my posts are short. A few paragraphs usually works, but I have posted a few long ones in response to comments.
My MO is basically to post topics that are current and in the news. As such, I'll mention the topic give some background, a brief opinion, maybe pose a few questions in hopes of getting some feedback or even better, a good back and forth discussion. -
I write what I wanna write if you can't be bothered to read it go somewhere else. -
The paragraphs have to be short. Probably a max of 2 to 3 sentences. Bold headings for each paragraph helps.
The entire post probably shouldn't be more than 4 or 5 of these short paragraphs.
Anything more and your writing for yourself. Believe me nobody sticks around to read the rest.
You can thank the influence of MTV for our collective short attention spans. -
"Great topic...love the show."
I started blogging a few months ago...they were LONG. Now I'm keeping them down to something that can be read in :30 Seconds...and you still get the point. (That is a much harder way to write for me.)
I'm going to go check out your blog. -
If you don't have any talent for writing like me, better keep short
But some people has a great style and something interesting to say so I keep reading even if it is lengthy. -
When writing posts for my own blog my posts vary in length. Unless I'm writing pillar posts, I aim for brevity, but generally speaking I use as many words as are required to cover the subject well.
I appreciate the writing bloggers who can organize and present their information in as brief of a post as possible. However, often, super-short posts simply aren't "meaty" enough for me. Those posts that consist of a couple of lines of text and include a link don't get my attention unless they are art or photo blogs.
When it comes right down to it, it’s not the length of a post that determines whether or not I will read it. The degree of interest I have in the topic, the way the post is structured, and the time frame that I have to devote to reading are key. If I’m short on time I will bookmark a longer post and read it at my leisure.
Better Blogging : Post Length
onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/better-blogging-post-length/ -
Since I tend not to like long posts I don't write them myself. I am more of a visual blog anyway with some text to describe what is going on. -
I like writing long posts and short ones. It depends what I'm writing about. I do a balance of both. -
My blog posts tend to be topical essays and commentary; it's not possible to articulate some of the points I want to make and yet have it Twitter sized.
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As a reader, if the post is well written and interesting I will read it regardless of its length. -
when reading other blogs i intend to just look over long posts.
when i am writing a post, i also think of this issue. but i dont want my posts to be too short. some of my posts are a bit long... :'( -
The longer the post the better. If you feel some obligation to engage your readers with efficency then use the first part of the post to say what you feel your readers would want to read.
But then you should write at the very least 1,500 words and as many as 5,000.
The reason: SEO
Hopefully you are doing some sort of keyword research before you type out those Shakespearian gems of yours. At the very least you should have a your "main" keyword in your title and repeated a few times throughout your post. This will have some people finding your post based on the post's subject.
But....Only a few people will find you in the search engines like that. The vast majority of people will find your blog based on a long list of secondary (long tail) keywords.
Example:
Title of your Post: Cars
People will find you if they type in the search term "Cars". Nothing wrong with that except that there are zillions of pages indexed under the term cars. So the odds of anybody finding you is slim to none.
If you types out a nice long post and did keyword research you probably would have literally found hundreds of "related" keywords to put in your nice long post.
Example:
Ford Cars, Chevy Cars, Sports Cars, Vintage Cars, Car Dealerships, Car Repair Shops, Car Magazines, Car Hop, etc....
If you wrote a long post out and included a lot of these secondary keywords in your post then you would be indexed in the search engines in a whole lot of places. And probably in places you didn't even realize. You would also find that you would be ranked very high for some of the keywords because not everybody tries to get ranked for every keyword....High Ranking = Traffic (Readers)
Why is this important? Because if you want people to actually read what you are writing then you need to make it as easy as possible for people to find your blog. If you only want a handful of people to read your blog then don't bother with this. You can just tell people on BC, Facebook, or Twitter that you just wrote a new post. But don't expect that many people to take a look. People have become oblivious to announcements from blog owners shouting out that they have just posted something. Who cares? I don't. I never click on somebody's link just because they said they posted something new.
I do type in queries in search engines when I am looking for something and click on the results to see what is there.
I wouldn't worry at all about the post being too long. I hate to be the one to tell you this but the vast majority of people that visit your blog or my blog or any blog only read the first few sentences. So you are not going to turn anybody off if the post is 100 words or 2,000 words. At least with 2,000 words you get more people to read the first few sentences.-
@potatochef
w00t! Very well said. I won't go as far as writing 5,000 word posts but your comment sure has a lot of "meat". -
hmm... thanks for the tips...
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I don't mind. But I skip long blog posts without visual breaks. -
I guess it's all relative, if you are a really good writer with relevant topics, you could get away with long posts. If you are just letting off some steam, then a reader might not be patient enough to read 3 paragraphs of verbal diaorrhea (chuckle...).
Blogging should be fun...I think too many what not's spoil the whole idea of blogging.
@kirewass- definitely agree with the visuals, it's a good bait -
Thats interesting, my blog wouldn't work with short posts. I have started adding more pictures to grab attention and to encourage the reader to read what the picture is all about.
I guess, long story short, good content is the key. If readers are interested and are engrosed with the content, they will read the whole thing.-
I tend to have Verbose mode on too, salmoney. But I try hard to keep my posts mostly short, occasionally Very short and only very occasionally longer.
oops. bad placement. in reply to comment Below
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I am notoriously, hopelessly and ridiculously long-winded. And I've given up on trying to be otherwise. I just can't help myself from blathering.
And I don't post pics either.
I'm aware it's costing me readers, but I'm OK with that, because the thing is, the people who like my writing will read my stuff in spite of it. And as long as I manage to keep them entertained and amused, I'm happy.
And I'm the same way: as it's been said above, if a post interests me, I'll read it, pics or no pics, and no matter how long it is. The only must: paragraphs. I won't read a wall of text, it's just too hard on the eyes.
But for me, it really is all about content.
At the end of the day, if you make me laugh, or think, or learn something, whether it's in 500 or 5000 words, I'll read your post.
As long as you press "enter" once in a while. -
what? -
What what?
(Bloody Brits!)
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Am I one of the few people who prefers longer posts? I find it absolutely frustrating when I go to what looks like an interesting topic, only to find the person raised an idea but didn't develop it.
You cannot develop your theme, gather evidence, include photos, create links and come to a conclusion in a paragraph or two.
Of course writing a longer post takes time and energy which not everyone has - work, running a home, taking care of children all leave us feeling rushed. But very short posts feel like laziness.-
@Hels your right when you say that people have other things to do besides writing long posts for their blog. I know I do. At least my wife tells me I have other things to do.
Just need to remember that you don't have to start and finish a post all in one session. You can write a nice long post over the course of a week...or two weeks if you want. -
@Hels
I find it absolutely frustrating when I go to what looks like an interesting topic, only to find the person raised an idea but didn't develop it.
I'm in agreement with you. I'd far rather read one lengthy well developed post than a half dozen short posts that feature a youtube or image and a couple of lines of text. Gob forbid that we bloggers become so addicted to twitter that we begin to create 140 character tweets and refer to them as blog posts.
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I just write. Sometimes I feel it's just way too long because there is so much to say, and I look for a way to divide a post into 2 or more separate posts. I'll link them together. I do break up the monotony with headings, bullet points and pictures. -
I would have to say, I'm a serial "long" post blogger. I've never had anyone complain, yet...I do try to add pictures which I prefer when I read other people's sites as well. I don't mind long posts as long as the writing is engaging or the story interesting.
I also use a lot of paragraph breaks. It does make it really tough when I'm reading other peoples blogs and they make it one enormous paragraph with no pause.
Just something to keep in mind for all of us long winded souls! -
I am guilty of posting very long articles but anyway, since my blog is dedicated to short stories there is probably no way to go around it. I never tried to do short posts, it would be against the very purpose of my blog, I do acknowledge that my preference for long blogs drive away visitors who have short attention span, or those just taking a quick look with no intention to linger but I am happy with the readership I have even if I have very few followers. -
I like to keep my post under a page (MSWord). It is always easy to write more than one page; it is not easy to keep it under a page. And blog readers prefer short posts too (though not too short).
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I usually write about 400 - 600 words per blog. I don't have a lot of time to write. I can bang out a couple of drafts and edit it down to that level in an hour or two.
Personally, I don't like to read huge tomes on-line. Books fill that particular niche for me! -
Either long or short, you should have something worthwhile to read. -
I try to break it up. Some long and some short. Some topics I cover warrant an extensive post to give the topic justice and most of the readers are positive in their responses due to the depth of perspective.
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