This kind of depends on what you’re writing about and how long it is going to take you to get your point across. You notice I have shorter articles, but I get my point across fairly quickly. Some people ramble on and on saying the same things over and over and wasting space on your page.
This is kind of like writing class in college and high school. What I was always taught was to write a nice long article because most likely you’ll find yourself rambling. You don’t wanna write a short article and realize you’re rambling because you can’t cut out any of that rambling otherwise your article will be like one paragraph.
So it seems as if common sense tells us to write something a little bit longer and then cut it down into a short article (A kick ass one). The only way you know if you’re rambling is by rereading your article yourself. Do it a couple times so that you can catch different things. It’s okay if you reread your article and decide that everything needs to be In the article to make it complete.
Another thing you should remember is that people do not want to take the time to read long articles. Most of time Internet users tend to want to read short articles and then move on to another web site and read articles there. That’s why I believe that short articles are the way to go.
Plain and simple, short articles will get your information out to the reader the quickest and allow them to read more of your articles. This can be negative also though. Even though I do like short articles don’t shorten them up too much. If you have that problem then may leave the reader not understanding your content. And trust me, if they don’t understand your content they are likely never to come back. Try to put yourself in the position of the reader and ask yourself “are all the questions answered that you or someone else might ask”.
So my main points are satisfy your reader by giving them information they’re looking for as quickly as possible, do not ramble, reread your article to cut out unimportant information, and ask yourself “are all the questions answered that you were someone else might ask”.
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I think a nice combination of the two is the best choice. If you are going to post more then once in a day, try shorter articles. However, if your only going to post once everyday or two then maybe longer articles will work better.
A small article that has a big strong punch can entice readers to read more of your posts. However, I don’t mind reading a long article if it flows correctly and doesn’t consist of just one huge paragraph.
For me, personally, the longer the post the bigger chance I might not read it all. Unless you are a magnificent article writer, and can keep my attention, I will only read part of it. So for me, the shorter and sweeter the better. However, if it is short, and not complete, that wouldnt make a lot of sense either.
Some of my most-read posts, with the most comments, have come from a simple photo with maybe 50 words describing it.
Yet other times, I’ll try to write a heart-felt, intelligent story, and it gets a fraction of the views.
Then, at a moment’s notice, it can totally switch around, and be the opposite.
If you’ve ever been able to figure this out, let us know!
Blog traffic is almost like a random number generator.
Goofblogger- I understand what you’re saying. I like short articles because sometimes I don’t have enough time to read the long articles. Especially if you want me to comment and I know there’s other people that feel the same way. Nice blog by the way.
Melissa-I feel the same way. Too much content can really just get my brain wondering. Like you said, it would not make sense to have a short blog post that’s not complete. And I have seen a lot of these.
Friar – You’re right, that is all over the place. I haven’t had too many people talk about that but I probably will be looking into that to see if there is some way to write a blog post. I’m guessing it has to do with some sort of traffic differences. Maybe you do something one day to market your blog which brings traffic and those people end up commenting on your most recent post. It could be something to that effect.
IronBlogger- That is a great point. I do like shorter articles and more of them everyday just because it gives you a better chance to have more articles linked to throughout the Internet.
I surf for information and like information blogs. If this post were shorter I don’t know that I would comment…I just think it depends on the content. If your post is long it can still be easy to read by breaking it up with bullets and headings, in this fashion the reader can skim for the information they are looking for.
True. If posts are too short I probably would not comment but just depends what the information is for me.
When reading longer posts, I always prefer lists and organized paragraphs. It always makes more a nicer and cleaner look.
short Kick ass article is what i suggest – If you write it long – there would be nothing left us to comment on dear.
If it’s short articles, why in the world for your commenting contest are you making use write at least 3 sentences? I would think that short articles goes well with short comments? Or does is comments go with the articles at…meaning the longer the articles the longer the comments should be? I really don’t know, but I believe a fair good mix works well. I guess the bottom line is your point getting across effectively, educating, and entertaining.
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Agreed. I have adopted the following approach. For blog posts I stick tend to stick to short commentary/exposition. For longer, more substantial pieces of writing I create a static page and make it an “article.” That way I have some detailed material for the people who want more information and I am not going to scare away casual blog readers who want to read something short and to the point. With Wordpress’s Content Management Features, creating a hierarchical set of static article pages is quite easy.
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I took journalism classes in college that always made us write concisely. What I usually do is just write whatever the heck I feel like and like you said cut it down to a short article – a lot of times I can get 2-3 articles from that one I wrote
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Hi Franklin,
I think you should have both types of article here. With short kick ass articles, I think it will come from your personal experience, something which you are certain about and just want to get the message across to your readers. Being personal experience, I am sure you will write in such a way that your readers will be quite convinced (unless you are a spinster) even though it may be short.
While for longer articles, especially those with a few screen shots, I tend to regard them as something well researched, which takes more than 2-3 hours to prepare. This seems like material worth digging and stumbling, so it will reflect the quality of articles on your site. If I have some of this long kick ass *well-researched* article, I would gladly put them up somewhere prominent to serve as one of my pillar articles (to generate more and more viral buzz).
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I would probably say that it is better to go with a short really good article. I mean a lot of people to not like to be on one web site at a time to let them quickly get their information and move on to next web site. I think for every blogger might be different though. I think it just depends on what kind of visitors you are going to have.
I for one subscribe to the “short and sweet” school of writing myself. I like to keep my posts short and concise. It keeps the reader from suffering from “blog fatigue” and I found it gets the message delivered more effectively with minimum confusion.
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Just an additional thought here. I think more important than the length of the article is whether or not it contains relevant info. Of course the concern about overloading the reader with too much information should be taken into consideration, but if it is useful information anyway, I don’t think most readers would begrudge an additional paragraph or two.
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I like short articles best, however I sometimes tend to write long ones. I love using the tag so I capture their attention initially then they usually click the “continue reading” link to see the rest.
I think short articles that have a point are great. You can read them quickly and absorb everything. Long posts tend to look dreary at first glance and may chase off the average surfer.
Small pieces are easier to digest than boulders.
Sure, articles that appear too long have often scared me off in the past! If the topic is something that I am really interested in though, I would probably at least read quickly through it. If the topic does not speak to me in some way, I probably won’t read it no matter how short it is!
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