When you’re first tackling the creation of digital content for your B2B business, there’s a lot to cover. You have to learn how to write, what to write, who to write for, where to share your writing, how to share your writing, and so on.
It’s easy to become so focused on these important elements that you forget about one that’s a little more subtle: how much to write.
As luck would have it, that’s exactly what we’ll be covering in today’s post. Knowing the right length to use for various types of blog content will help you better fine tune your overall digital content strategies. This knowledge can help you figure out where to tighten things up, where to let the words flow, and where you’re already meeting the mark.
What is the ideal length for a blog post?
It’s common knowledge that people these days have incredibly short attention spans and prefer consuming written content in short, small bits. After all, with so much content available 24/7, how can anybody focus on any one thing? Right? Nope, wrong! We averaged the numbers on a few studies from popular marketing industry leaders to find the preferred length for blogs intending to generate leads. We looked at studies from HubSpot, Search Engine Journal, and Buffer. The ideal word count to shoot for when crafting a blog post is 2023… but it comes with a BIG caveat.
The caveat: as long as your blog post is longer than 300 words, what matters most is that it’s well-written, concise, and focused on a clear, singular topic. Less than 300 words and you’ll be flagged on search engines for having thin content. Longer-form content performs better as long as it’s able to stay on topic, which is why content on already popular websites is going to perform better when it’s longer.
If you have a topic where the existing number one ranked post is only 650 words, that means you don’t necessarily have to write something longer to outperform it. Instead, you just need to make sure to better chase relevance and use targeted keywords and interlinking. The art of the blog post length is all about maintaining length without losing cohesion.
For instance, this post won’t be over two thousand words, because the advice within doesn’t require that much extrapolation. Get us started on general marketing tips for manufacturers, however, and thousands of words go by in an instant.
Does the ideal length change based on the type of blog?
Yes, but only a little bit. These small changes in successful length tend to coincide with the best ways to write each of the blog post types we’ll list. For example, a listicle tends to run shorter than an in-depth analysis based on the way the information is presented.
- How-to posts, on average, have the shortest overall length. These types of posts don’t need more information than what is listed in the directions. They’re most commonly used to show expertise and position a company as a leader than they are used to generate leads.
- “What is” posts, like this one, can vary in length. They hit between 700 and 1,000 words on average and give a run down on a singular topic (like blog post length!). They’re usually an introduction to a topic as opposed to a developed scrutiny of it.
- Listicles run longer than how-to posts but are still shorter than other long-form blog content. They’re great for cross-linking opportunities both within your own website and away from it.
- Analysis posts are going to be your longest type of blog post. They’re just shy of being more robust content like a white paper and can easily be formed into that type of content if wanted.
What do all blogs need, regardless of length?
Length is only one part of what makes a successful blog successful. Remember that, no matter how short or long your blog posts are, they need the following:
- A clear message. Don’t try to cover too many topics in one post.
- An intended audience. When you know exactly who you’re writing to, it becomes easier to write content that connects.
- Inbound and outbound links. This means both links within your domain and outside of it.
- A featured image with alt text. Visual impact is important, and alt text helps you rank better in search rankings.
- A call to action. If a reader has gone through the effort to read your blog post, there’s nothing wrong with asking them to engage further before they leave.
In conclusion: write a good blog post and the length won’t matter. If you want to keep a close eye on trends and analytics, a blog post that averages around 2,000 words is your best bet. For everything else, it’ll be up to you and your expertise of industry trends to develop the best topics.