How long should a blog article be?

 

This is definitely a ‘how long is a piece of string?’ question!

Daily blogger Seth Godin has written blogs that are a single line – and others that are in excess of 1,000 words.

Not everyone is a natural writer and when someone says ‘you need to write 500 words’, that’s sometimes a good reason not to get started!  Of course, there is now AI that can help – but even the smartest AI tools are not able to read your mind and don’t have your insight into your area of specialism.

Yes, you can create your own GPT and train it with your material – but you need material to do that.  Chicken and egg!

My take on creating content is that:

1. It must have value
2. It should be as long as it needs to be to say what you want to say
3. It should be in your voice.

Today people are inclined to scan content rather than read it, so shorter can be good, if you just want to make a point.

HOT TIP:  To improve engagement highlight with bold or italic (or both) your key points.  Don’t use underline as a highlight as, if your article is published digitally, people expect underlined text to be a link.

Get the habit

Writing blog articles is a habit – like social media - it’s part of your marketing.

Have a notebook for ideas.  When something pops into your head and you think ‘that would make a good blog’, jot it down.  By the time it’s time to write your next blog you’ll probably have forgotten it.

Schedule time to write.

Write in batches – once you get started, it gets easier.

That’s it!