Bloggers: Less Posts, Better Quality
Five years ago George Bush still had two years left in office, Saddam Hussein was found guilty and hanged, and I entered the world of blogging. At the time, I felt like I was late to the game. But I jumped in without looking back.
Even though it’s only been five years, blogging has changed significantly. Much of that has to do with Twitter. When I first began blogging, it was common for writers to post several times a day to their blog. If we wanted to share a quote, or a web link, or embed a video–we would post that on our blog.
Then along came Twitter. I jumped on board in May 2008. Twitter was two-years old, but most the world had never even heard of it. It’s only been in the past couple years that Twitter has taken off and realized mainstream acceptance. And it has changed the world of online communication.
Clive Thompson wrote in a recent issue of Wired Magazine, “…years ago, my favorite bloggers wrote a link with a couple of sentences of commentary–and they’d update a few times a day. Once Twitter arrived, they began blogging less often with much longer, more-in-depth essays.”
Five years ago, the general rule when posting on your blog was: Keep it short. When talking to people starting up a blog, I said many times, “People won’t read your blog if the articles are too long.” That’s when blogs were the front door to the information you wanted. Now Twitter is the front door. People will write a 140-character micro-summary with a link–and if it hooks you, you will click on it to read the article. Fewer and fewer people will go directly to your blog, and most won’t let it junk up their inbox. Instead they will follow Twitter and only click on links to articles that catch their interest.
For that reason, I think it is actually advisable to change the way you blog. Focus on quality, not quantity. Don’t feel guilty if you can only post once every few weeks. Make those articles count. Treat each post like you are writing a chapter in a book.
Length doesn’t matter anymore. Thompson (the dude from Wired Magazine) agrees. He quotes a blogger who says, “I save the little stuff for Twitter and blog only when I have something big to say.” Thompson goes on to say, “I turns out readers prefer this: One survey found that the most popular blog posts today are the longest ones, 1,600 words on average.”
With that as a benchmark, this post is way too short at 455 words. Even so, hopefully it will help you look at blogging through a new lens.
Posted by Tim Stevens | 8 comments
mdwegner
455 words, and I read it all! I agree…Twitter changed blogging and blogging changed Twitter. They've been interesting trends.I've found myself writing longer posts, and getting more readers and comments by doing so, the exact opposite of what we're "supposed" to do. It really does take the pressure off of having to come up with something clever and engaging to say 3-4 times a week.
sosukeinu
totally agree. There are too many services available that are tailored specifically to the "short" message or idea. In order to differentiate themselves, blog posts should be more substantial; contain better content.
Morgan Young
Nice post Tim–totally with you on this.
tijuanabecky2
Personally, this is the size of post I like. If you have more than 500 words you easily lose me. Everything you said was great!
Sue Vock
Tim, I work part time at a church in the Arts Ministry as well as being a mom of 3 kids and a volunteer at school and in the community. As you can imagine, I don't have lots of time to read blogs! I found you when I read Pop Goes the Church a few years ago. I like it when you go several days or a week without posting because it is like a little gift when I get a notice in my inbox that you have a post. It also gives me a few days to think about whether I want to pass it on to someone else on our staff or one of my volunteers. I still haven't jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, mostly because I don't own a data phone, but my 14 year old daughter keeps me up to date from her iPod Touch!
Stephanie
Blogging used to be how I kept visitors uptodate when they visited our website. It was the 'freshest' most uptodate material on our site. But now that I am branching out – just joined twitter AND got serious about blogging – I feel REALLY late to the game. I am constantly trolling blogs (like yours) to learn my way around this facinating world. Thanks for the post.
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Simon
Blogging and using Social Media to communicate the gospel message can be a challenge for newcomers. However be patient, confident and prayerful trusting God with where you are, what you have done, while working/writing with the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit. If you allow God's ability in you to manifest to the surface, allowing God to speak through your creativity and writing, you article may contain only ten words, and yet create more response from readers than an article 3000 words in length. I am quickly learning that every successful blogger's life begins and ends with God! Success is measured in accordance with fulfilling God's plan and purpose for your life.