Is it big enough or is it too big
How many words is too much?
You write blog posts because you want an audience, or at least you think you have something of interest to say and hope some people are interested.
When I was at Uni, we were taught to be concise, this is a great concept except when you have to expound a universal theory in 500 words or less. Then it becomes an exercise in Fluff.
When it comes to a Blog post there are a number of factors
- Who is your audience?
- what is the subject matter?
- What are your writing skills?
Who is your audience, you need to think about Demographics. – what site are you writing on, what is the average age of the Audience
Have a look at other posts, gauge by how many respond to what type of content
A younger generation (Now I am sounding Old, Back In my Day) has a lesser attention span and therefore will not really deal with more than 400 words at a time (I Know I Know, I am gonna get slammed) however an Older generation, you know the ones brought up with ‘BOOKS’ have a longer attention span and can cope with anything up to 1000 words at a time 😊
If you want a generalised interested audience than around the 70 mark gets a good capture.
If you have a subject matter that some are really interested in then you can get away with over 1000 words and even up to 2000. I love a good essay and a good story as do some audience members.
I have noticed that here on Steem, it varies as to which tag you use and which audience you grab, I wrote a post that even for me dragged on a bit, and it only actually got a couple of responses, (Responses are what count for me, likes / upvotes are good., but I do like a good engagement. There are some posts that I have kept quite small and they get a greater response, which tells me that it has been read by a greater audience.
Writing skills is something that comes with time, and I am no master at it, but I keep doing it, and that is the main key. The more you do the easier it gets, sort of 😊
When you write a post, read it out, and read it again. Make some adjustments and then read it again
If it flows and makes some sort of sense then you are ready to post.
When you post, before you hit that send button, read it again, there will always be a few typos and a few bits that don’t quite meld together. But always read it.
First and foremost, make sure that you just do it. Be entertaining, be magnificent, be productive and be you.
Write from your heart, I have said this before, and your motivation for writing will be imparted to Others,
Woops I have now gone over the 400-word mark and into the realm of the ‘BOOK’ 516 now.
When I do commercial writing, most customers want blog posts of around 300 words. I range from 250 to 500 depending on the audience.
hi @fiberfrau - yes clear concise, but I do love a good story : ) we call it Yarning here in Aus, there always has to be a good Yarn before getting down to business, its the Yarning that allows us to know who each other is
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Another good post and great advice
I am one of those wordy people and have to edit my content several times and is why I use Grammarly to help contain me..thanks for the post Russell
Thank you, Russell, for sharing with us your thoughts about writing articles...
In the beginning, I have written 500+ words articles here on STEEM, but others (more experienced members) told me about the attention and keeping them shorter :)
Now, I try to keep them under 500 words... 300-500 words is a good choice...
Hi @ph1102 I often refer to this age as teh microwave age, everyone wants things done quickly with no real long term thoughts, so writing needs to be very concise, in fact I think i might just write an article with emoticons, or acronyms, lol, brb, ygtbk and wt
hahahaha... I found myself googling those acronyms... I can't understand a lot of them... They are growing every day like mushrooms.. :)
Really great advice on the length of a post @russellstockley, and how to adapt it depending on audience to get the most readers and the best response, and thanks for the motivation, keep it up and stay awesome.
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Just echoing what @fiberfrau stated....For me, that's the sweet spot....250-500 words for my stuff...Sometimes I go over, but most of my posts are in that range.
hi @clicktrackprofit Yup I agree . and also depending on what you are writing where, for instance creativecoin seems to have a lot of people who enjoy reading , so appropriate to wax lyrical in spaces like that :)