“Blah, blah, blah” is the last thing you want readers to think after you’ve poured your heart and soul into blog creation. You want your company blog to excite readers about your brand. You want your words to keep ’em coming back. But if you still feel like you’re getting blah-blah-blahed (accompanied by the required eye rolling and blabbermouth hand gesture, natch), then your blog may be too long. If, however, your scant-yet-efficient blog fails to garner comments over and over again, perhaps your blog is too darn short. So what exactly is the perfect blog length?
The minuscule line between full of information and too much information is particularly fine in the blogging-for-business world. Naturally, you’d like to give your readers and customers an in-depth look into your company, complete with all of your insights. But you don’t want to load them down with so much content that their heads begin to spin. I once had a creative writing teacher who had a perfect formula for this dilemma: leave them wanting more. His theory was this: Don’t give away your entire catalog of grade-A material. Instead, pepper your writing with the good stuff, knowing that you’ll have plenty of opportunities to dish out other nuggets of wisdom. Or, as another writing mentor of mine would say, “slow your roll.” Under this mindset, we can assume a great blog length runs in the 300-600 word length.
I found dozens of studies online, all claiming a different “perfect blog length.” But I tend to think shorter is better given our attention span and newfound love of reading blogs on smartphones and tablets. There is an art to saying what you need to say in a limited space. Plus shorter blogs are ideal if you intend to update several times a week.
However, those 800-1,200 word blogs certainly have an audience. Take a peek at some of the most popular tech and business blogs. Many of them are darn lengthy! And we can assume given the exploding readership of said blogs that people don’t mind and even enjoy getting an eyeful of content. By all means, if you’ve got a hot topic that needs 1,000+ words and your readers are dying to hear more, blog away! Our only rule of thumb is make sure the blog is engaging throughout. Just a catchy headline won’t hold their attention as they scroll for days to get to the end. Also by dividing your longer posts into easy digestible chunks, you make it easy and more appealing for readers to come back pick up where they left off if need be.
While there may not be an exact mythological answer to the perfect blog length, the power and potency of words is what matters. Still, we’re curious. Readers, what do you consider the perfect blog length? Do long-winded blogs delight or frighten you? Sound off in the comments section below!
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