You Take The High Road, And I’ll Take The Low Road…
…and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye!
So say the lyrics of the old song, “Bonnie Banks O’ Loch Lomond”. But is it true for blogging? Or to put it more clearly, do people prefer posts to be short and to the point, or long-winded?
This of course has been discussed on a few occassions in different places, and the usual conclusion is that people prefer concise posts, that don’t waste their time. In fact Darren reckoned at one time, that his longer posts are largely ignored!
No one wants to read a long drivel of nonsense, and they won’t, but are short posts the way to go? I’m not so sure. If you can manage to write a lengthy post that isn’t repetitive, or going over old news, I think for the most part, it may be more greatly appreciated. I have no way of knowing this for sure, but it might be an idea some day to check out if popular posts are long or short, or if there can be any correlation made between them.
Although I think in my head (and I reckon most are the same) that I prefer short posts, I’ll always appreciate a post that has taken a lot of time, effort, and thought. I’m probably more likely to ‘Stumble’ or ‘Digg’ it.
One of the reasons I believe Steve Pavlina is so highly respected and appreciated, is because of the noticable effort shines out of his articles. Maybe if more of us wrote less, but lengthy, well thought out, and profitable posts, we might get somewhere.
Thoughts
I’m interested in all your thoughts and observations regarding this. I suppose it’s difficult to measure, because my perception of a long post might be different than yours. But what works for you? Do you deliberately keep things short (or long)? Much as it may take up too much of your time, do you appreciate longer posts? Are you more likely to social bookmark a longer post?
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Comments
7 Responses to “You Take The High Road, And I’ll Take The Low Road…”
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The written word is all about communication. The aim is to communicate using the least amount of words possible, people will not wade through badly written copy.
I use a mixture of short and long posts depending on the complexity of the issue I am writing about. I mostly prefer to write long posts as I try to avoid the fluff posts. You see them all the time on blogs and I assume it’s because the writer has chosen to only spend 15 minutes or however long on writing the post.
My favourite posts from other bloggers tend to be lenghty, they are able to include that extra hot sauce that the ADD bloggers don’t get into.
At the end of the day you have to go with what works. If your readers like short posts, then that’s the way to go. If they like getting that little bit extra, then only a lengthy post will do.
As long as the post provides value, it will be read.
I think that shorter posts cater for a wider range of readers.
A quality indepth article will be much more likely to get a stumble or digg from me, but with everyone thinking about time I believe that around 400-500 words is a good way to keep your blog fresh whilst juggling a day job.
Longer posts will cater to a narrower, more focused audience, whereas shorter ones will catch the attention of more people.
That’s quite a general sentence but I wonder if you agree or disagree? I just threw it out there as I’m quite tired from travelling, but wanted to reply as you write an interesting article.
Off-topic, be sure to check your site in the Safari browser as there was a problem yesterday with your code. All content hyperlinked to the homepage with an underline upon mouse-over. For that reason I couldn’t tell you immediately as trying to hit the submit button would just take me to your homepage.
Cornwall - I must apologise, your comment was marked as spam by Akismet, along with a few others recently (quite frustrating).
Your points are 100%.
David - I forgot to come back to this. I think a longer post in terms of paragraphs and lots of detailed information, may attract a more focused audience. However, a long post in the form of a list, will be popular with many people, and will be more likely to be popular linkbait.
The issue discussed here is one that plagues me. I write a different kind of article than you do, and don’t expect to be “Digg bait.” I’m also a professional storyteller, and as such it’s difficult not to go into “story mode” when I write.
When I read articles, I pay more attention to content than length. In the end, my enjoyment of an article is not based on whether a post is short or long. It’s all about “substance.”
Yeah, I think every post, whether long or short, comes down to what it really offers the reader. It always ought to offer something, the more, the better.
I’m glad you raised the question, and the comments above bear out the reality that many of us do wrestle with this, or at least have a strong and informative opinion.
As I’m just beginning to develop my blog I’ll take your article and the comments that go with it as guidance in helping to find my style.
So far, for what my concept of my blog is, I prefer writing shorter posts until I have more to say, with some authority, in a longer article.
Tom - I’m glad you’re finding my articles helpful, and I really appreciate the positive feedback; it helps to spurr me on to write more