Some people claim that blogging is a thing of the past. That video blogs are the best thing to do. However, if you're looking to rank on search engines, blogging is essential to your business. So you'll want to do whatever you can to blog effectively. Part of drafting the perfect blog is making sure it is the right length for you target audience.
There are many theories about how long blog posts should be, but it honestly all depends on your business and your goals. In short the answer is: Your blog post should be as long as you need it to be.
That probably isn't the helpful answer you were hoping for. But, your blog posts should be as long as they need to be to serve their purpose. So if your purpose is for SEO, then you need a minimum of 300 words. Can your blog post provide your readers the information they need in 300 words? Great. Stop writing. No more words needed. If 300 isn't enough to get a clear point across, you're not done. Keep writing.
Depending on your goals, there are different blog lengths that will work well for you.
If You Want More Traffic from Search Enginges (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is tricky especially since the rules changes constantly. However, the rewards are worth the effort if you know what you are doing. Search engines, like Google, prefer longer and more research based/informative posts. Aim for anywhere between 1,500 to 2,000 words.
Search engines are made to give people the information they are looking for. They love long authoritative posts, particularly those focused on problem-solving. (Keep in mind your posts need to be a minimum of 300 words for Google to even index it as new content.)
If You Want More Social Media Shares
Having your content shared on social media is great way to gain exposure for your business. How many social shares you earn is influenced by several things including your topic, the quality of the posts, and the size of your audience.
If the post is too short, people may not find it informative enough to pass along on their social networks. To encourage social shares try for a blog post between 600-1,000 words.
If You Want More Comments on Your Blogs
If you want to encourage people to comment on your blog posts, the shorter the better. Focus your post on asking your audience questions to generate a discussion. Try to keep your post under 400 words and make it clear you want to start a discussion so that people will comment.
Drafting short, discussion-based posts is very good for building an audience, but short posts are not beneficial for SEO. So make sure to mix up your post length.
So how long should your blog posts be?
That really just depends on the goals for your blog. Your word choices are typically more important than your word count, but you can always split your blog into a series if you have a lot to say about a certain topic! Do your best to vary the length of your blog posts to properly serve your audience.
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