The Ideal Length of Blog Posts

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“How long should an ideal blog post be?” 

Bloggers, content writers, search engine optimization (SEO) specialists alike have all ask themselves this proverbial question.  This pressing question becomes a lot more imperative when these writers are under the employ of an SEO company as this company would utilize their posts in building links.
Though there is no precise approximation as to how many words you should put into a post, to obtain a successful amount of readership, shares, and comments, writers must have at least have an idea as to how to make their blog posts long enough to be comprehensive yet short enough to maintain their readers’ attentions.  

So, how do writers hit that particular sweet spot wherein a blog is long enough to cover all salient points yet concise enough as so not to bore the reader? Well, there is a multitude of techniques but the first thing writers must take into consideration is to dispel of the myth that their readers would prefer to peruse posts that are shorter. While this may be true for readers who are looking to pass the time, the same cannot be said for readers genuinely gathering as much information as they can garner. These readers are the ones who want a comprehensive view regarding a particular topic you may have the opportune avenue for writing. And nothing disappoints them more than an insubstantial piece they will come across online that barely scratches the surface. If these readers see that reading your entire article does not take more than at least two scrolls, they will dismiss your entire article and look for something more favorable. Needless to say, your post would not get that much-needed shares and readership either.

So, if it is a fallacy that post should be short, what then is the ideal length? 

Well, when it comes to hitting the perfect word count and length of a post, it all boils down to the type of entry or post you are writing. This means that the length of your post largely depends on what advantages you want to get out of your blog or post and what you want to accomplish. If you are looking to have more comments on your blog, then you will fare better if you have shorter posts (this is especially true if you are focused on asking your readers some questions in order to generate a discussion). Ideally, these posts should be no more than 275 words and your main focus should be a writing prompt that sparks a discussion.

A disadvantage of short posts is that they rarely get shared on social media and is not exactly the best thing for SEO, but if you are trying to build an audience,  try this tack.  However, if your goal is to have more social media shares then you must appropriately choose a topic that is incredibly relevant to your audience. Additionally, the quality must be excellent as articles that are sub-par or are written substandardly would only succeed in getting ridiculed online. For social media shares, the average length of your post should be between 600 to 1250 words. To really get your post noticed and shared, write a catchy headline with a compelling premise—steer clear from writing articles that bait your reader into reading your post though as they would not take this too kindly.

And lastly, if you are looking to drive more traffic from Google to your blog, this largely means you are writing basically for search engine optimization (SEO). Writing for SEO remains to be the trickiest among all others, but the incentives are beyond great as when done right. Should you want more traffic from Google, write better-researched posts with at least 2450 words. This may sound a tad bit too demanding but long authoritative posts are the search engines’ friends—most especially if they are focused on solving a problem for the reader. This is the ideal number of words to get more traffic to your blog.

Concisely put, shorter posts are better for generating comments while longer posts are ideal for SEO and generating traffic.  However, do not limit yourself. Do not be afraid to write extensive posts that are over 2000 words or incredibly short posts that are less than 600 words. Do consider that there are topics you can cover as comprehensively as you can without sounding monotonous while there are topics you can sum up in a short post. The key is to vary your style and see what works best to your advantage. Do this and you may just come up with an ideal length for yourself.

What Happens When You Turn off Blog Comments?

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When we talk about blogging, receiving comments from the readers is one thing that we usually think of. What else? For bloggers, it is a common thing to get excited and feel anxious when you receive a lot of comments on your blog. Of course, it is when we usually receive praise, recommendations and hurtful comments from the people.  Although we receive various comments from them, we technically take their comments into considerations.

However, there will always be possibilities that most comments are sugar coated and may not always prove helpful for you. And not all of us here are aware of the fact that some bloggers just want to have their good deeds in return. Although we may consider these facts, we can't also deny that there are some advantages that we received from them.

In order to avoid headaches, some bloggers would play safe and turn off their blog comments. For as long as they have posted something on their blog, they're off to go. They don't care about what readers would say and/or react. And if you think you are one of those bloggers, here's what happen when you purposely turn off your blog comments.

It sends the message to your readers " I don't need your opinion"

First and foremost, as a blogger, you have to be aware that whatever content you post on your blog, there will always be someone who would leave a comment. And if you disable your blog comment, they will know that you are not willing to receive and know their opinions. And I'll tell you, it is definitely a rude thing for you to do. What if you are technically wrong and someone out there who is thoughtful enough to correct you? Unless there is someone who is bold enough to correct you, you will bring that misconception for the rest of your life.

When you are a blogger, you should be mentally prepared for the comments that you will receive from them. Well, when you make a guaranteed SEO, you have to make sure that you will not be overwhelmed of their praises, and of course, you should not take it personally when you receive hurtful comments. Although some comments might come cold and hypocritical, just think of your friend who is there to act as your mirror, pointing out things that don't fit. Receiving their comments is for your own good anyway.

In inhibits your ability to learn from your readers/audience

One of the benefits you can get when you let your readers leave their comment is that you can learn something from them. Again, this might sound cliché, however, it is true and applicable to every blogger. It doesn't mean that when you blog, you know better than them. Definitely not! There are just times that even if we think that we know something, but for other bloggers and/or readers, it is still not enough. That is why, if you turn off your blog comment, you are limiting your ability to learn something from them.

As you read and go along with their comments, you will eventually feel intimidated with the others, considering the fact that they know better than you do. However, if you get that kind of mindset into you, you will also not grow in the field of content marketing. Basically, when it comes to learning, you are open to every idea and comments that you are going to receive. Don't take it too personal, but instead, make it as your reference for a better you as a blogger.

It prevents you from developing stronger relationships with audience

You will definitely miss ½ of your blogging career when you turn off your blog comments. This is the part when you got to enjoy blogging – building good relationships between your audience. And I'll tell you, you will eventually quit blogging when you don't feel like you're having fun and learning out from it. Of course, it is totally a waste of time when don't grow from it.

Basically, when you have a strong relationship with the other bloggers and/or readers, they are willing to share their experiences and ideas with you. The more you build a good rapport, the more knowledge you can get from them. Of course, vice versa. With millions of things that can make a good topic, you will definitely enjoy talking about it with your audience. And the more you have good and interesting topics for your blogs, the more readers are willing to visit and read your blog posts. Isn't it a good thing to experience?

As a blogger, whether you like it or not, there will always be pros and cons when you turn off your blog comments. However, it is still your call on whether or not you are going to consider their opinions. As I've said, it is for your own success as a blogger anyways.