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Welcome to the fifth post in the series “Write Killer Content” for your blog – Wow I can’t believe that we’re already half way through the series.
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Now, this post is about the million dollar question when it comes to killer content creation.
I’ve talked about this on and off at the blog at various places; but I want to devote a full blog post on this series because this question is very important.
It is important not only because it is crucial, it is important also because most people have wrong notions about this topic.
Killer or epic posts have to be long! – Now that’s a great myth. Although most killer posts are just so very long, it is not necessarily a “rule”.
The most killer post examples I can give you are only very long posts; the ones that have length of 1000 to 3000 words – yes some are to the length of a mini ebook!
It is because killer posts are usually comprehensive and cover a great detail in-depth and wide on a topic. So it is natural that one can’t help but write really long posts when it comes to writing killer ones.
But the point is this – Killer posts do not have a length limit as a rule.
Since the most killer posts you see around are very long posts, this could keep you from writing a killer post or even attempting one, if you’re bit hesitant about writing long posts.
The word count should not be a constraint on you to put up together a killer piece.
A short but a killer idea, presented in a very crisp and elegant manner can easily make a killer.
I can give you these examples from Danny Brown’s insight posts – these are very short (some are not even comparable to the length of an average blog post) but offer really great killer value.
The point lies in identifying the killer idea. That is the vital aspect of creating a killer post.
What happens when you try to push yourself so hard and write a really long (killer) post?
Simple – you beat around the bush, filling the post with pointless words and paragraphs. Finally, your idea could be a killer. But it would have been lost in the sea of pointless words.
Long but pointless posts spoil the killer idea. They will surely bore the reader to death.
Long posts only deliver value if every paragraph and every sentence you’ve written delivers value in itself.
Pointless words simply de-value the killer idea. The killer idea will be buried inside deep inside.
It is such a tragedy since you try hard and write a really long post (with a killer idea, which deserves appreciation) but all your effort and hard work only create a counter effect – instead of being appreciated by the reader, the post makes a reader to be bored and makes him/her run away.
Certainly this is not what you want the killer post to do.
So what should be the length of a killer post?
Make it as long as it needs to be. That’s it.
You can potentially write two types of killer posts in general – (i) the short ones and (ii) the ones that are really very long.
No matter what type of post you write, make sure you address a core killer idea.
And write as much as you want to deliver the value (filling in the gaps and providing any additional info in as much detail as you can). While you attempt to do the same, I’m sure the post will come really long.
Let’s see what kind of posts go long no matter what
A complete guide or a tutorial on something – they usually need a lot of detail to be put in.
A case study – although these need not include a lot of text, they may include screenshots of graphs and other illustrative graphics.
Exploring any topic (for or against) in detail – this also might include a lot of details to be put in, making the post long.
What posts will just do fine short?
A post where a killer idea is really a KILLER – just needs to be mentioned and it will do its job by itself without needing any more details.
Sometimes, pointing out an existing gap on a popular topic or a strategy will just do fine since the mere mention will already WOW the readers. Although for this, the thing you point out should really be unknown and the topic you choose should really be popular.
While people are already widely aware of a particular strategy and don’t realize the missing puzzle, when you point out the same, it will be a killer of its own – no more details or explanation required.
Takeway
As you can see, length does matter but it doesn’t really mean what you think it means.
Length does matter for sure coz you can’t make all killer posts long. At the same time you can’t write a short post if that post oughts to be long by all means.
So make the post as long as you need it to be. If you want more words to make the post comprehensive and complete, write a long post.
If you can just present the post in a few words, that’s fine. Don’t try and make it long by including pointless discussions (beating around the bush). Make it short and sweet, rather.
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As always, I appreciate your comment.
PS: Have you checked out Danny’s Write Like Freddy training program yet?
Nice article jane.
My posts are normally of around 700 words and I think that’s just the perfect length.
What do you say, should I increase the post length or is it perfect ???
Hey Arbaz 700 words is just fine. But don’t take it as a rule! It depends on each post - as what you’ve got to say
I guess it can be to the feeling on how much you can offer and what you can go up to.
If you are really stretching it, then don’t bother to make it longer. Just see what you can go to.
That’s right Sam
That’s my point exactly!
Hi Jane, I do think it all depends on what you plan to write about and of course the quality should be outstanding even for shorter posts. It is what people get out of reading it.
Yup I know many bloggers who can simply write short posts of outstanding quality
Thanks for stopping by Mariella!
Great Point Jane, I agree completely. There is however a need to include keywords within the copy. The Best bloggers say more with less.I suppose striking a happy medium between terse and long winded is the best way to achieve this
Yep well said Carl!
I agree with you, if we can present the main point of what we want to tell to our readers in a few words than no need to make it long by adding pointless words.
It is really informative post Jane. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome Ehsan!
Pearly J. says
Depending on the subject we can end up writing a much longer post than we originally planned. However, when I am facing this dilemma I try to break the post up into several, if at all possible. If not, well then I simply hope it’s a killer post!
Pearly that’s a good point. I’ve encountered such situations often. In such case I split the post into a series or I insert page breaks!
You make some good points Jane, I struggle because every time I write a short to the point post it get more comments than my longer post, so I try not to go over 700 words no matter what.
Hey Mic, its natural that you go overboard at times. In fact its OK too; don’t limit yourself on words. Just write the post freely. And when you edit (by reading out loud) you can chop off all the bad mouthings and unnecessary stuff.
Good post as usual- and exactly right. Your post can be short if the topic can be covered quickly, or it could be quite long for a comprehensive look at a topic or a tutorial.
Yep Sammie, its that simple!
Lisa says
I think it all is determined by what you strategy to create about and of course the excellent should be excellent even for reduced content. It is what individuals get out of studying it…Thanks for the sharing..
yes Lisa, in the end, length doesn’t matter actually. Its the meat.
Hy Jane
Recently i take a killer interview of 3000 words of Mr. Syed Balkhi of Wpbeginner and it was very successful.
Great post! I am newbie to this site but well for me, it actually depends on the subject or being straightforward of the blogger him/herself. I’ve seen killer posts with only 350-500 words max but it was flooded with comments with various thoughts and reaction of the readers. Thanks!
Absolutely Laura. One can deliver killer content even in 140 characters.
Betty Green says
“Make it as long as it needs to be. That’s it.” You’re right about this! The simple things are always the greatest. Thank you Jane!
Thanks and welcome Betty!
As for me, then I don’t like long posts at all, even if they have unique and killer content. I guess that people can be tired of reading too long posts
That’s true Amanda. But we cannot neglect longer posts, coz they are usually deeper, they’re “ultimate” and they rank good in search engines. Bloggers should try to “present” their content nicely so that readers can easily digest the post, no matter how long it is - like adding nice images, breaking the post into short paragraphs, headings etc. and also adding pagination.
Something that I have established is that readers want to get the point you want to put across as fast as possible, and therefore writing a lengthy post can take a reader too long before they get to know what you post is all about. It is good to keep them as simple as possible. Sometimes I even write a post that is 300 or less words and the reviews it gets are great.
Keeping it as simple as possible is the key Jenna
Thanks for stopping by!
Wonderful post Jane!
I just signed up for the series, though I wonder how I missed them out earlier - guess was on vacation.
You are absolutely right about the length of the post and the filler words, which at times take away the whole meaning or focus of what you are trying to say.
I have to say, I am often guilty of writing tooooo lengthy a post, which my kids tell me bores them, so I guess at times it may be boring the readers too, though their comments don’t show that.
I guess it all depends on your topic and the audience you are reaching out to. Also, I do like to share my own personal experiences within the post, which is another reason that they do cross 1500 words or more at times.
Thanks for sharing and reminding me to remain within my limits.
Hope you found the course useful Harleena. Well Harleena, you can take as long as you want to convey your point!
Hi Jane,
Pleasant surprise to come to another excellent blog post you wrote! It’s actually quite funny that you wrote on this topic as a guy I follow and I’m sure you know him very well yourself, The Blog Tyrant aka Ramsay recently posted a post on “why I don’t post everyday and why you shouldn’t either”.
It all came down to basically the same thing…himself and many others btw just don’t post every day or as often as many people (wrongfully) believe you should because they generally write killer posts, much longer than the average post length and containing enough killer content that normally has you occupied or thinking about it much longer than average posts.
I am quite in line with this belief as I also write longer posts, which sometimes take me days to research alone, another couple of hours to write, etc. My average guest post I submit for review is 1500 words and if I remember correctly my post to Danny Iny at Firepole Marketing got to just over 2000 words. There goes some serious work into such a post and although I agree that there is no set rule for post length, posting those type of detailed posts regularly just ain’t possible.
I have read from many others whom I follow that a post simply needs to be as long as it needs to be. Someone (can’t remember the specific name of the person) once said that if you are able to bring your message across in 10 words, then that will be sufficient. No less, nothing more.
Thanks Jane; glad to see we are on the same page
So glad you liked the post and stopped by Ruan. How are things? Got your email by the way. Looking forward to your ebook!
Hey Jane!
I am doing well thanks, as you can imagine, the upcoming launch keeping me very busy and as per my email, the new site is also exciting with Thesis 2.0 coming soon!
Think I have decided to go with the Product Skin from Thesis Awesome to be able to do good landing pages and sales letter like I noticed you also have, and then just customize the blog system it comes with through the custom files…
Going to take some playing around getting back into customizing Thesis as it’s been quite some time but I’m so looking forward to it!
To quote an old Army training maxim: “Make it short, sharp and sh*t hot” so I would agree that adding fluff to extend and 800 word post to 1200 is pointless. Most visitors don’t come to your site to read a book - they can go to a library for that. Usually they want info and the quicker they can get it the better so tight prose usually wins out over long-winded sermons.
Love the army quote Jon!
True. this is a great post and i believe every blogger needs it. you have said it and content is king. content in this context is not how long a post is but on how rich it is. Quantity is good but quality is the king. quality can as well be quatitative if need be. Again, thank you for the post.
You’re very welcome Nibi.
Great post, but I personally think that shorter posts are the best ones.
Killer post around 400 words is what most of the people prefer and are glad to read., and at the end, the Value is what we all are looking for.
thanks for sharing
Yup many people like shorter posts! They take much less time and go well with the attention span of the internet users.
Great points Jane! Although, i know some people that doesn’t like long posts even though it has a killer content. They lose the appetite just by seeing the long procession of words to be read in a short period of time. But there are some people that don’t mind the length, like i. Great that you enumerated what sort of write ups that usually have lengthy contents and how you emphasized not to write if you feel forced because thoughts will be seemingly written like beating around the bush. Thanks for providing supplement articles as well. Keep posting meaningful and practical ways of writing killer content.
Yes Chris, although it is quite true that short posts do well with the short attention span of internet users, sometimes (or most of the times) bloggers need to go with the long ones - long posts are usually in-depth and go deeper on a topic (although not every long post is like that). Thanks for your comment.
Hi jane,
Great post, I guess it all depends on your topic and the audience you are reaching out to. No matter how long is your post!
Thanks for sharing.
Well said Ajnabii! Thanks for stopping by.
Great to read some valuable information about post length. Normally my blog post is depend on the topic some topics are very well written in 200 words but i think according to search engine the post must be 500 words am i right or wrong.
Thought-provoking post on an issue that goes through my mind often!
I am new to blogging but I agree that it depends on the content. My posts vary in length from very short photo posts to longer, detailed ones about a travel experience. I try to keep posts to a maximum of 500 words, which is my personal preference, but some end up at 1,000+. I do try to split the longer posts into 2 or even 3 posts, if it makes sense to do so. This makes them easier to digest and will give readers a reason to come back to my site.
Thanks!
You’re following a good strategy Teresa. And its usually helpful for the readers if you do a mix of short and long posts in general, in your blog.
there is no specific length for killer posts ,its all about quality and unique
Hello Jane,I thank you, thank you, thank you! Finally, a balanced approach to the oft debated question regarding post length.To me it\’s similar to comment lengths …. depending on how the post\’s content has hit someone they will either feel motivated to share their thoughts, feelings or POV in detail or simply offer a thanks. So it is when we are writing posts … depending on how we feel about the subject we may feel moved or the need to share the details or we can say it in a few strokes of the keys.Yes, again I say Thank you!Peppy
You’re so welcome Peppy! Glad you liked the post.
You should keep on writing until you think you’ve said enough. If you write anything after that, you’ll only create fluffy content that won’t help your readers in any way. What’s the point in writing 700 words when you can say it in just 400 or 500 words?
Definitely, it’s about quality not the number of words. Thanks for giving some wonderful tips on this topic, Jane.
Well said Faissal. Some newbie bloggers take word count so seriously; seems that they keep an eye on the number of words they’ve written so far while they write a blog posts (I’ve had many of them email me saying this). This makes them to create “filler” posts - that is, if they’ve conveyed the point in 500 words, they still want to write 200 more words and hence fill up the post with fluff!
I agree with you Jane! There’s no rule or standard on how long a post need to be, it depends on what kind of blog post that you’re writing, you might need a lengthy post for certain type of post such as case study or completed guide as you mentioned. I personally don’t bother about the post length and I usually write based on how many ideas I have in mind, usually it’s between 500-800 words. It’s not an important issue as long as you have some interesting point in the article.
Well said Jane!
Same here Lee. I don’t look at the word count until I’m done
Actually there is no killer post length, most of post is 300, 500, 700, 1,000 words. It doesn’t matter how long it is as long as your post is make sense and easy to understand by readers. Also a killer headline can attract more readers.
Hey Jane,
I personally think length also has to do with how you break it up. You don’t want long paragraphs without visual breaks like headings or lists, people just aren’t going to have the patience to figure out what you’re doing.
That’s right Allen. Short paragraphs and a lot of white space will make reading longer posts much easier.
Good post. One thing I have found it is that shorter post can get you more views on stumbleupon and reddit which of course helps your content go viral. I think it is important to write both longer and shorter articles. Longer articles for search engines and shorter ones for social media.
Great post Jane, less is more often applies when it comes to writing killer content. People want to get the message quickly.
Concept of post really matters not length. Nobody is interested in length of post everybody is going to take interest in concept which means a lot for them. If post is meaningful then everybody reads it. The above article is clears this concept very well.
Smith says
I enjoyed reading the article Jane. This is very helpful, I usually don’t mind reading long post but at the same time I realize that I’d rather read a short post that has a meaningful message in it. Because I noticed that long post tends to repeat itself at some point or too much wording can be confusing.
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.