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Should Posts Be Short and To The Point or Long and Detailed?
September 11, 2008
What‘s up with these 2,500 word essays people are writing up as posts these days?
If you’ve noticed, on one side of the blogosphere you have several blogs that write extremely long posts that are filled with details, facts, and tips — extremely informative and educational.
Then on the other side of the blogosphere you have blogs that have posts of smaller length, and occasionally they’ll post something similar to what’s described above.
So, what’s up? Should I be writing long, detailed, informative posts or should I keep it simple and get right to the point? Well, before you go nuts trying to figure it out, let me give you the answer: Yes and no. It depends and it doesn’t matter.
Huh?
Not to worry, I’ll explain later on. But, you shouldn’t just know the answer; you should also know the why?
So, what is the “why?”
To understand why it doesn’t matter, let’s get into a little detail as to who writes the long, informative posts and who writes the shorter, straight to the point type of posts.
Who’s writing what? And why is this post 1,300 words, and this one only 300?
You first want to know which are the types of blogs that write these long essays for posts and which are the ones that write shorter posts — this way you’re closer to finding the “why?”
To start things off, let’s look at some sites whose posts are extremely long and detailed. And from examining these first sites, we’ll come up with a theory as to why their posts are as long as they are. First up,
Smashing Magazine
Now, Smashing Magazine is a great example of a site that has long, detailed, and very informative posts.
But why? Well, this site covers a lot of “how-to” articles and tutorials for their audience — I’m not saying all their posts are like that, but they certainly are infamous for them.
Also, judging from how detailed their posts are, I can tell they really want to make it as easy as possible for their readers to do what they are reading.
And when you’re trying to teach someone something step by step, it does takes a lot of space to write it all out in words — not to mention they include nice, big pictures within the posts; making it even easier to do the task at hand and adds length to the post.
So, one could argue that SmashingMagazine.com’s reason for lengthy posts is their niche and target audience, and that target audience’s needs for descriptive and informative posts. Next up,
Tmz.com
I’m sure all of you are familiar with tmz.com. If you’re not, tmz.com is a huge celebrity gossip site — if there’s any breaking news in the celebrity gossip industry, they’re usually the first on the scene.
So, what’s the difference between SmashingMagazine.com and tmz.com?
Well, unlike Smashing Magazine, tmz posts a huge number of posts everyday.
I’m not sure exactly how many per day, but I’m positive just 2 days ago they posted over 9 blog posts in one day (they probably do more, however).
Now you might be asking yourself, “9 blog posts in one day?”, then telling yourself, “Whoa, that’s a lot. How come so many?”
The reason why tmz.com posts so many blog posts, is because they’re so short and to the point. They usually don’t break 50 words. There’s usually a sentence to open up, followed by a video or image to back up whatever gossip is being highlighted in the given post.
The key is different niches. Smashing Magazine is more of a design and Web-usability blog, so its target audience is different than that of tmz.com. Over at tmz, the target audience is people who just want the latest gossip on their favorite celebrities. It doesn’t take much to tell people about Britney’s latest adventure or Paris’ new boy-toy.
Conclusion
So, there you have it; two extremely popular blogs — one publishes lengthy articles, the other one doesn’t. But both are an authority in their niches, and it’s what determines the length of their posts, so to say.
One audience has the need for descriptive and informative posts — explaining the lengthy posts written by Smashing Magazine.
While the other blog’s audience has the need for juicy, up-to-date gossip, which can usually be described in less than a paragraph and almost always comes with a picture or video.
That also explains why there’s so many posts in one day; they’re short, easy to write, and the niche is celebrities — there’s always something happening.
What do you have to say about all this?
What about your blog? Are your articles lengthy and detailed, or short and to the point? What kind of blog would you prefer to have, one that requires articles with length and detail, or one that requires posting similar to that of tmz.com?
Please, enlighten us in the comment section.
I don’t have any specific rules size of post. Naturally spontaneous ones are usually short but those planned and written during few days are longer.
Rarsts last blog post..12 things portable software won’t do
I try to keep my posts between 500-1000 words. I like to unload, but I’m considerate of my reader’s time.
Writer Dads last blog post..Hello, This is Me
[...] being asked by a lot of my subscribers and it’s refreshing to see a blog post made my Luis at http://www.topbusinessreviews.com. If you’re confused at what length to write your blog posts, then this blog post is [...]
It really varies for me. I don’t have a lot of structure on my blogs, so my posts are all over the place. Some are short, some are long, but all are great.
I’m actually a TERRIBLE blogger, because i write for myself. I know i have an audience, and i do take them into consideration, but i tend to write for myself firstly.
So the answer to YOUR question is that it varies by blog, blogger, topic, etc.
Missys last blog post..Website Flipping Masters.com, Plus My Search For Kate Anderson
I really don’t have a specific standard. I do think sometimes people write long just to hear or…err….read themselves talk? lol I dunno man, I don’t have a very long attention span when online, which is why I like to print out ebooks or read physical book. When posts start getting too long without keeping my interest I start to skim….hop, skip, and jump around lol.
But in the end, it depends on your personality and your readers.
Normal Joes last blog post..How To Reach Success Through Teamwork And Having The Right Friends
Rarst – Yeah, I know what you mean. I tend to explain the subject I’m writing about as easy as possible — it just so happens that because of this, my articles are usually lengthy. Thanks for sharing with us!
Writer Dad – You most definitely have to keep things to a minimum, otherwise you’d be giving away gold with all the good stuff you write!
Missy – Yes I agree Missy, it definitely varies by blogs and subject matters, which is what I try to highlight in this post. Thanks for sharing!
Normal Joe – I know what you mean. I feel that way when I’m reading something just for my own amusement or entertainment. But if it’s info I need and want to know, then reading a 2,500 word post isn’t a big deal if the info is useful. On the other hand, I’m an avid reader.
I would say at times I ramble and other times I like to tend to get to the point.
I would think that in the long run it really doesn’t matter because people will keep reading something that they find interesting.
And those that hate long posts will just skim it anyway for the main points
Corrisa
Corrisa Malones last blog post..MLM Training: What You Need to Know About MLM Training Before You Choose One
Like Writer Dad, I mostly write between 500-1000 word posts for meaty tutorial-style stuff. But I don’t think you should get too hung up about it, and mixing things up can keep it interesting. I guess the best thing is to try different approaches and see what works best for you and your readers in your particular niche.
Rods last blog post..AdWords competition update
Do you read getelastic.com? Good, long, informative and detailed posts. One per weekday. They are awesome.
Ecommerce Blogs last blog post..Quick Tip: Easy Domain Switching for Miva Merchant Stores
I’d say my blog is a combo but I prefer short posts. I make about 1 long post a week that gets some attention from social media and gets traffic and comments.
Then i make short posts that don’t get much attention but hit harder at the messages I try to get across.
So I feel its a good combo in that I drive traffic with the longer posts but still get to really go after my messages with the shorter posts that I hope my followers enjoy more.