12 years, 1 month ago-
Posts
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Just this morning I read a blog post which, as a side issue lamented the lengths of some blog posts, necessitating an oversized beverage to read them. Not sure if he meant a stiff whiskey. Like I said, it was not the main topic of the post, but it was about a mug’s worth of entry level reading, before it headed to the post’s main theme for the day. It made me think. About the ideal lengths of posts. Is there an ideal? Are short, easy-on-the-eye posts generally better, or do long, detailed ones of substance rule? Of course, it depends. There are some topics that can’t be discussed in three paragraphs. There are others that seem to drag on if they go past those three. My question is, do you have a preference? Do you find yourself drawn more to short posts, or the long ones? Have you ever looked at your own posts, and looked at which posts do best?
Pondering-ly yours,
J.
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This is a topic I like, research has shown that long-form reading on the web is far from dead. People do read and engage with long blog posts (and I’m certainly guilty of writing them). Short blog posts can be great, but sometimes I find them to be too short. When I read one of these really short ones, I think, that’s twitter or facebook material, not blog material. I also think that sort of stuff is perfect for forums too!
When it comes to long posts, there some thinking around the net that presentation matters. Well-formatted and displayed images, text that wraps around images instead of leaving whitespace on the sides, topical text sections broken up by subheadings to create both visual and topical breaks. Blockquotes or pull quotes (short, one-liners extracted from the text and highlighted) ad visual interest and draw the eye. An excellent blog post even when displayed as a poorly presented wall o’ text can chase readers away.
Presentation matters.
It is easy to forget that writing blog posts on one’s own website really puts the writer in the publishing business and all the style rules that one would use to publish a story or magazine article generally apply. Style matters and attention to detail in presentation is something readers will appreciate and it will certainly add to their enjoyment.
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Both are good. It all depends on what you want to say and how much you researched your topic.
But @Peter is right, presentation and writing matter.
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I’m far to diplomatic to say what I think of the question. So ponder this:
A comedy radio show once announced they were broadcasting a condensed version of War and Peace. After a 2 minute intro with music and credits, a voice said “A Russian guy wanted to kill Napoleon, but didn’t”. Then they ran the end credits.
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The thing is @thedevotea, I don’t think that sentence would have been turned into a movie, a play, or have been published millions of times.
So, lesson learnt; if you want to become a famous writer, take one sentence from your post and and stretch it out over 1400 pages instead. Success – possibly – guaranteed.
The reason none of us are famous yet, is – nobody has one thousand four hundred typed up pages.
Yours,
J.
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