Many of us have an academic background where you can never write too much. If it’s not 5 paragraphs with an intro, three supporting argument paragraphs, and a conclusion, then it’s formatted wrong (this of course is the minimum. More fluff/garage is required the higher the class).
Blogging is different. Most of us don’t have time to read 3-5 pages of essay when there are 25 other blogs begging to be read, so why do we bother writing that much? At first, a post might not seem like enough, but trust me, it is.
Brevity is what Chris Brogan preaches with conviction. Seth Godin is the king of holy cow omg wow short posts. Even Daily Blog Tips keeps the posts short and sweet.
Especially with blogging, it is critical to get to the point quickly. Make it easy to scan to find the major points by using short paragraphs (and headers). Instead of trying to get every thought and tangent into a single post, spread them out.
I’m guilty of writing too much in every post, and even now I want to write more about how sometimes not enough is still too much…
That’s it, I’m done!
(Under 200 words! Booyah!)
Photo Credit: Image by Alexandre Duret-Lutz. Licensed via Creative Commons.
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You’re just going to love my 2200 word bomb dropping at 1:04 am PST January 21 2010.
But guess what: that’s about what it takes to teach someone how to implement a splash page in WordPress.
Booyah indeed!
But I get your point, and I’ve got some ideas on how to bring people through very long articles. We’ll see how it works out.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Blake Waddill, Blake Waddill. Blake Waddill said: RT @propsblog Sometimes Not Enough Is Still Too Much http://is.gd/6IgKm [...]
I think the definition of brevity might also be determined by your niche. Basically, if someone can say what you just said, but in fewer words, then chances are that people will be more likely to read them (all things being equal, of course). Most blogs about blogging and tech blogs have to keep it to around 200 words, but I’ve found history and political websites where 1000 words is the norm. Those sites probably also aren’t making the big bucks, either, though ;)
It is definitely all about the niche. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say most of the history audience likes to read enough that they’ll take their time to read longer posts.
People who are into tech tend to try to crunch as much stuff into their schedule in the smallest amount of time.
Maybe tech people should learn a lesson from the history crowd, sit back, and enjoy life instead of rushing through it. :)
Some posts require over 1000 words and that’s totally fine as long as the writing is concise and organized well.
But I do agree that more often than not, bloggers feel compelled to use way too many words to showcase their knowledge.
Some post can clear way over 1000 words and still be awesome, but I doubt many blogs can get away with always publishing long posts.
Staying on topic and avoiding kicking a dead horse are two of the best ways to keep posts short.
I have a handful of posts in that 1000 word range but the majority of my posts are under 500.
In the event there’s a large topic, it’s usually better to break them up in chunks anyway (like my three part series on brand identity).
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by BlakeWaddill: RT @propsblog Sometimes Not Enough Is Still Too Much http://is.gd/6IgKm…
Haha, love this bro. It’s a good thing we’ve got Twitter going on eh? ;)
Yeah, Twitter is a great example that it doesn’t take much to get across a huge message.
Thanks for the reminder! I know that people get bored of reading long pages, So I have started using topic headings. But I don’t feel that people are interested in reading even those, when they come up with comments like “Good Post”, “Thanks for the tips”, etc..
You are absolutely right about the “good post” part. When people want to comment, but don’t want to read the wall of text, that’s the default.
Like you said, heading are a great way to make the post feel shorter. Copyblogger is a great example of how long posts can feel short because of great header use.
At the end of the day though, if someone don’t have time to finish reading a long post, the value of the post is lost.
Thanks for remingding.
My blog will become short.
Talk about taking it to the extreme :)
Number of words is not a big issue while writing post. we need to covey the information what we are trying to say in our blog post.. if you have some new information the number of words wont affect the your readers…
thank for the nice article..
You are totally right. It’s not about the number of words, it’s all about the topic. I hope it didn’t seem like that was what I was saying.
The main idea of my post was sometimes you don’t have to go into painful detail or wild tangents; if you do, be sure to separate it up some, so people short on time can scan the post.