How Many Words Should A Blog Post Be?


There are many gurus who claim to answer how many words a blog post should have. But, the truth is that there is no real tried and true answer. There are good reasons to have long, short and in-between blog posts, so the best answer to this question is the possibility of combining all kinds of posts.

Short Blog Post

Keeping blog posts short, under 500 words, is great for readers who have short attention spans and to update their readers on something exciting. It is great to read bite-sized material while waiting in the doctor's office, or when your reader has a short break. You quickly get to this point, so they can proceed to process your call.

Curated - You collect content that you think is relevant that your audience should see, and write a short blurb or introduction to the content.
Product announcements - These do not always require a long term. You can simply say that the product is ready or that it is a good product, and link to where they can buy it which is often a long sales page.
A lot of people are very successful by doing this type of blogging. A real proponent of short positions that is right on this point is Seth Godin and no one can deny his success.

Medium-length blog post

It swears by many types of gurus. Writing between 500 and 1000 words long is considered fairly standard for the industry. Some blogging platforms actually suggest keeping posts over 600 words, because if you go for a long period of time you might be a long-circulated and perhaps off topic. Restricting your writing to a certain word count can help you stay focused.

How to do - This type of blog explains how to do something that is very unique. Sometimes it uses images to cross the point.
Informational - Sharing information with your readers is often done in medium-length posts.
Most blog posts fall under this category. They are the perfect length to tell a story, share information, and include a call to action - including enough keywords - without overwhelming readers. HubSpot.com is a big proponent of medium-length blog posts.

Long blog post

This is a post that is over 2000 words long and is often seen as more authoritative and the fact is, they are excellent for SEO. Google respects authority pages more than niche blogs with thousands of smaller pages of content. Therefore, creating a few long posts of up to 3500 words can be very good for your audience and search engine.

Case Studies - These definitions need to be kept longer because you are telling a story that is more in-depth. Case studies that are short will not tell the whole story.
Annual Report - If you have a large enough business that you can create an annual report, posting it to your blog to read is a great way to put content that will interest your readers.
Neil Patel, the founder of KISSmetrics, is a long-time lover of farm blog posts and it works for him and many other bloggers. However, it is not important to stay on topic, deviate and change topics, and be able to actually write well enough to maintain the reader's interest.
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