Blogging for Business – the Long and the Short of It

“This is one of the holy wars in the world of blogging,” says Dave Taylor, referring to the question: “Are long blog entries better than short ones?”

Who decides what’s too long and what’s too short?  Either the reader or the writer, says Taylor.  In corporate blog writing, he explains (and as we content writers in Indianapolis know), there are no editors, layout people, or government regulators to dictate the length of any SEO marketing blog post.

As a corporate blogging trainer, I felt my own approach to the subject was vindicated when Dave Taylor cited a common piece of editorial advice about how long a book or article should be: “Write just enough to cover the material at the appropriate level of detail, then stop.” That dovetails nicely with the rule I cite when offering business blogging assistance:

“Make blog posts as long as they need to be to get the point across (choosing  just one point to emphasize in each post to begin with),
but not a single sentence longer”.

BlogRevolter.com offers a different and very interesting take on the optimal length for blog posts. “In a short blog post, sometimes the writer neglects to provide information…Write the entire article and allow it to stretch,” is the advice.  “That way, searchers will get their entire question dealt with.”

So, as a professional providing blog writing services, to what side of the “holy war” do I lean?  Both! 

Reminds me of the old tale of two men who came to their rabbi for help settling a dispute.  After hearing the first man’s story, the rabbi declared “You’re right!”  Then the second man told his side, and the rabbi exclaimed “You’re right!”  A third man was puzzled.  “Rabbi, they can’t both be right!”  Said the rabbi, “You know, you’re right, too!”

In corporate blogging for business, it’s important to offer enough information in each post to convincingly cover the one key theme of the post. When posts start pushing the 450-500 word mark or beyond 500 words, it might be time to downsize. Remember the Milo Frank rule: “The attention span of the average individual is 30 seconds.”