Early in the year, I took a piece of advice from a very successful blogger. That’s to write shorter posts. It’s been tough. Every time I focus on a blog posts, it tends to end up in the 700 – 1000 word range. I’m not accepting defeat yet because there’s lots of good reasons we should all write shorter.
1. Conserve Your Mental Energy
Since shorter posts tend to be less intensive, they are faster to write and publish. This leaves you more brainpower to focus on heavier, more thought provoking stories that are longer.
2. Challenge Your Writing Skills
I used to be a copywriter at an ad agency. Each time I presented the senior copywriter with my work, he’d take a pen and start crossing things out. Then, he tells me. Good, but shorter.
Our copy winds up on product labels, print ads, posters, billboards and TV. You don’t have the luxury of time nor space in any of those mediums. It was downright challenging but I enjoyed it all the same because it truly forces you to become a better communicator.
3. Your Audience Doesn’t Have The Time
Recent surveys show that 60% of Internet access is mostly mobile. Hardly a surprise.
Personally, I read blog posts on the phone 100% of the time, during short wait periods. These are times when I’m waiting for the doctor, waiting for my kid, waiting for an appointment, waiting in line. This means I usually have to stop reading at any moment. Short posts actually help me as a reader and follower – a lot.
When people are on the go, they don’t have a lot of time to dig into a long post.
4. They Also Don’t Have The Focus
Even when your readers are sitting in front of the computer, they are distracted. After a certain point, they’ll lose interest in a longer post. Short posts lets them get to the meat quickly.
5. You Create More Content
Yes, I understand. It’s about quality, not quantity, but face it. Are you more likely to follow and return to a blog that has a lot of fresh content or one that hasn’t been updated in a while? The web (readers and search bots) likes new stuff.
By breaking up a long piece into several different posts, you can create more posts. This reduces the pressure to come up with tons of posts all the time. A funny thing also happens. When you focus on one or two thoughts in a post, you get to expand on the thought and dig deeper as opposed to a one sentence mention in a long post.
I’m not saying there’s no room for long posts. We need short and long posts to make your blog interesting. Just – try writing more short posts. You might end up feeling more motivated to blog.
