Does Size (Length) Count When Writing For Internet Readers?

Most blog posts, and articles on the Internet are quite short, some weighing in at a miniscule 60-100 words, and very few going past the 500 word mark. Is this wise? What are preferable word lengths for Internet content

"Experts" Say What on Article Size?

The common "expert" wisdom has been that Internet users prefer short content and that the Internet is a much more faced paced medium where people are impatient and have a kind of screen induced attention disorder deficit. True, perhaps for some segments of your potential readership. Not true for other segments. As with any attempt to characterize billions of human beings, there will be some truth in the advice, and a whole lot of "false" in it.

For those of you who are of the impatient type, here's the bottom-line on the topic, stuck right in the middle of this article:

Your article should be exactly as long as it takes to say something useful, interesting, or engaging on the topic on which you are writing, taking into account that some viewing methods cannot be used for long articles (small screens, ipods, phones).

Situations When Short Form Writing Is A Bad Idea

There are definite situations where writing short pieces is a bad idea. Here are a few:

If you are dealing with a complex subject, and your potential readers are somewhat knowledgable, writing short articles on that topic will portray you as ignorant, careless, "fluffy" and incompetent. The rule of thumb to follow is that the more complex the topic, the "smarter" your readers, the longer and more detailed your articles should be.

If you cater to teenagers wanting the latest gossip about a fave celeb, one or two paragraphs will probably do it. If you are writing about how to optimize webpages for search, short it bad.

For those in that field, a short article will be seen as both worthless, and a fluff piece. For those looking for help, you'll just mislead them into thinking a complex subject is simple.

Also, because writing short is much harder to do well compared to writing long, unless you are highly skilled at writing, don't try it unless absolutely necessary.

When Short Articles Fit

Most blog posts consist of personal opinions, rather than indepth analyses involving facts and issues. Opinion pieces are not meant to inform, and most people who don't know you, are not interested in reading 2,000 words on why you think Britney Spears is a bigger head case than Charlie Sheen. Opinion pieces should be short, but be warned that they are hard to write well.

Web writers sometimes choose to write a series of short articles on a topic, breaking it up into different pages/topics so as to increase "page views" (readers see more ads), and in the belief that shorter articles are more easily "understood" by search engines. My suggestion is not to do this, since it's aggravating for readers, particularly those who really want good content.

However, there is truth to the idea that long pages are harder to read because of differences in how people read on screens versus reading in print.

Tips For Presenting Longer Material

As you probably gather, I'm a huge fan of meaty, fact filled and authoriative articles, and for that reason, I try to avoid blog posts like the plague, since most are little more than superficial opinions from people I don't care about. 

Your job, as an Internet writer is actually to write in a way that forces your readers to get to know you and care about you, because they recognize you have something to offer in what you write.

• Keep pages simple when they contain longer materials. When possible reduce distractions so your readers can more easily focus. That means no flashing ads or other eye-catching page elements.
• Use headings and sub-headings often. By doing so you allow the skimmer/browser to select out what he or she is looking for. They also help you stay organized, particularly if you create your heads and subheads before you start writing.
• Break up the text with pull quotes, sidebars so that the reader's eye doesn't see a long stretch of unbroken text.
• Use pictures with captions that relate to your text, but have them in left or right floating boxes rather than taking the whole width of the column.
• Interspersing ads that run across the whole width of the column has become a common practice to try and drive revenue. It's annoying and inconveniences readers. Isn't what you write WORTH reading? Then why are you trying to distract the reader. If you must insert ads, have them in sideboxes floating left and right. If they are intrusive you will lose readers.