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Finding The Perfect Blog Length
January 9th, 2006
Back in the old Blogometer, I hit you all with some long posts. They are hard to read. Not that interesting.
I’m going to gear myself toward blog posts whose length is in the sweet spot. How long is that? There are two things to consider.
- If it is too long, it won’t get read.
- If it is too short, it won’t get linked.
If a blog posting is too long, it doesn’t get read. That’s all there is too it. You are a single message in someone’s aggregator. Unless you are an A-List blogger, a beefy post is skipped, not even skimmed.
If a blog post is too short, there’s nothing to link to, nothing to comment on. Put out a paragraph or two at least, so that there might be something linkworthy or quotable If an entry is simply a link, then it may get followed, but you won’t give the reader any reason to link back to you.
In blogging, punchy is key. A blog entry is nothing if it’s not punchy.
UPDATE
In the comments of an eponymous post, Maitri says:
If your work is compelling enough, readers will keep coming back. My readers seem to peruse and assay all of my posts, but only leave comments on the topics that hold their interest.
Putting forward a tight posting, with a single proposition, invites more posts. It’s best not to say it all. That way there’s something for someone else to add.
Maitri punches it up a bit with…
The White Papers and Rules on blogging are for people who want to sell something, which you may very well be, since you are in the computing business. Just wanted to point out that blogging is such a democratic and expressive medium that it allows the news to be thoughtful, and not simply Fourth Estate-esque. The heartful interaction is priceless.
Priceless? I don’t know about that.
This is a blog entry on the direction I’ll take my own blog. I’m noting to readers that I’ll make more effort to write shorter posts, with more meaning in them. Less prattle. This isn’t a diary. It isn’t a notebook.
Selling something? Doubtful. I’m moving back to an attitude toward blogging that I harbored when I left New Orleans for Ann Arbor. My grand design was to live the long tail. To put myself out there, with as little persona as possible, and attract like minds.
This assumes that finding like minds is somehow worth while.
Now we’re getting back into the blogging ROI discussion again.
UPDATE:
Hugh MacLeod lays down the two immutable laws for blogging. Oddly parallel.
Hugh appears to be punching it up with the numbered lists, building on the warm reception of his recent top ten lists.
Technorati Tags: Alan Gutierrez, blogging
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Comments 
It works now. Et voila … the miracle of modern technology.
Blog entries need not be punchy … they can caress, tell stories, flesh out the writer and be the balm to eyes black and blue from punchy. *smile*
Thank you for your punchy rebuttal.
It’s best not to say it all.
Depends on what you are trying to get across. There is little that should be left to the imagination when you want to build a very clear picture.
I’ll make more effort to write shorter posts, with more meaning in them. Less prattle. This isn’t a diary. It isn’t a notebook.
And I’m saying that even length can have meaning. Storytelling, to get to a point, is highly underrated these days. A nice readership is attracted by the intimacy of such storytelling, too.
It’s funny that you say this - my online diary has much shorter posts than VatulBlog and contain as much meaning.
Quality != f(quantity)
This assumes that finding like minds is somehow worth while.
1. I don’t think there is such a thing as a completely like mind.
2. It’s worthwhile if only to keep ourselves from committing what should be the third sin - taking oneself too seriously.
3. Also, it’s very lonely on the wings of the social bell curve.
“Also, it’s very lonely on the wings of the social bell curve.”
Amen to that.
Wait a minute. What are the other two sins?
Greed and Sloth.
Lust, Gluttony, Pride and Wrath compete with some other nouns to be my middle name. Envy is for idiots.
Personally, trouble is mine, middle name, that is. Very well said on the debate on long vs short posts, readability, sense making and storytelling. I’ve been struggling with the same and appreciated your insights.
I’ve been thinking of this statement by our friend Alan, viz. My grand design was to live the long tail. To put myself out there, with as little persona as possible, and attract like minds. What I have to say after much internal debate [Call me a romantic if you want]:
To put yourself out there involves a lot of heart, not just a mind that has the potential to attract similar instances in other folks. With as little persona as possible you are not really putting yourself out there, just accumulating a bunch of smart people, and then you are merely another talking head. That is not what I see in your posts, at least not the most recent ones that have been tagged with the words “New Orleans.” A pity if those go away.
Niti, I would love to claim Trouble, but that requires a certain degree of implementation. I am the ideas person, hence the moniker “Hatcher of Boondoggles.” Once blueprinted, Trouble is then enacted and brought to fruition by my oh-so-cooperative friends. With friends like that …
Maitri, whole heartedly ‘hear hear’ on Alan’s New Orleans posts. As for your insight on ‘trouble’, reading your comment brought a welcome grin on my face first thing in the morning. gracias. or should that be dhanyavad - Trouble is, I’m a creator
How exasperating. Ya’ll so much more articulate than little old me. I can’t keep up. What a blessing to share a grid with more powerful processors. This is what I’d hoped the blogosphere would be.
I’m recalling more about this concept of Living the Long Tail. At some point I felt that my personae were boondoggles. Pure overhead. Hmm… I’ll blog it.
On a good day, my middle name is Schmoozebot.
[...] Maitri V-R in the comments of Finding The Perfect Blog Length. I’ve been thinking of this statement by our friend Alan, viz. My grand design was to live the long tail. To put myself out there, with as little persona as possible, and attract like minds. What I have to say after much internal debate [Call me a romantic if you want]: [...]
[...] Maitri in the comments of Finding The Perfect Blog Length And I’m saying that even length can have meaning. Storytelling, to get to a point, is highly underrated these days. A nice readership is attracted by the intimacy of such storytelling, too. [...]