One of the biggest blogging turn-offs for many businesses is the belief that writing blog posts is time-consuming. Many hear internet marketing gurus saying their blog posts need to be 1000-2000 words or more…but that’s not accurate (or sustainable) for many businesses.
Why do marketers want you to write 2000-word articles?
Their reasoning is not to make you spend all day writing your blog posts. It’s got a practical, useful purpose: it’s good for SEO!
One of the factors Google uses to determine which pages appear on search results is the quality of content, and “generally” length is an indication of quality (according to their algorithms). So when Google sees your 2000-word blog post, it gives it more attention.
However, this strategy will not guarantee you top billing in search results. Your content still needs to be correctly SEO-optimized and well-written. If it’s hard to read or written with bad grammar and spelling (yes, Google knows), you’ll get penalized…even if it’s 2000 words.
Why I suggest 500-word blog posts
Instead, I suggest writing most of your educational-based blog posts with a minimum of 500 words each. Here’s why:
- It’s easier (and faster) to read, as many people don’t want to read long-form content online
- It makes it easier (and faster) for you to write
- You’re more likely to write more often (consistency)
- It can still have SEO benefits (if optimized)
With a 500-word blog post, you can still share a lot of information. I like to breakdown most posts like this:
- 100 words – Introduction
- 100 x 3 – Discussion of key points (stick to 3-5 key points)
- 100 words – Conclusion and call to action
If you have more in-depth topics (or have the skills and time to write more), feel free to push it to 750, 1000, or even 2000 words per blog post. But 500 should be your minimum word count for most articles.
5 tips to make consistent blog writing and publishing sustainable
Business practices that are difficult to execute or repeat won’t get done. Instead, look for ways you can make blog writing for your business easy and repeatable. Here are my top 5 tips to help you be consistent with your blogging efforts:
- Have a brainstorming list handy (so you can write down ideas anytime they come to it)
- Create a content calendar (include content creation, publishing, and promotion dates).
- Use templates (use templates for your blog structure and graphics you’ll be using).
- Use tools to help automate (prescheduling social promotions, the ability to preschedule posts to publish at a future date…etc).
- Get help (from a team member or contract blog copywriter like me to keep you accountable or take on some content creation and promotion tasks).
Your next steps…
Whether you’re already a consistent article and blog writer for your company or are just getting started, I suggest starting with your master brainstorming list. Then, move those topics and related deadlines into a calendar and start creating!
Don’t forget that I’m always here to help if you want someone to take blog writing, scheduling, and promotion off your plate.
This article is based on an episode of the Caffeinated Content Marketing Coffee Chat podcast (episode #1).
Listen to that episode to get the 60-second quick-version of this blog post:
