Are you confused about how long your posts should be? Every article you read about blog lengths will tell you conflicting information. In this post, I am going to share with you the simple truth about blog length so you can start writing content your readers will enjoy.
Best Blog Length For Building Your Art Blog Following
When you read a blog post do you read every word or do you skim through the content?
According to Time.com
“Chartbeat looked at deep user behavior across 2 billion visits across the web over the course of a month and found that most people who click don’t read. In fact, a stunning 55% spent fewer than 15 seconds actively on a page. The stats get a little better if you filter purely for article pages, but even then one in every three visitors spend less than 15 seconds reading articles they land on.”
You can read more by visiting What You Think You Know About The Web Is Wrong
If you were looking for information on the best car to purchase, would you spend time reading about the first car ever built?
It would be a different scenario if you wanted to know about the first car that was built. Your search would be, “information on the first car built.” But you typed in, “best car to purchase.” The only information that you need is what the best car is to buying and why.
One reason why people do not read every word of a blog post is that they are searching for a solution to a problem they have.
In this scenario, one might argue that the best blog length is only enough text to provide a solution to a problem.
It is better to stay on point with your content rather than worrying about word count. Write for your reader not for the search engines.
Best Blog Length For Higher Google PR
Wikipedia describes PR as:
“PageRank (PR) is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites in their search engine results. PageRank was named after Larry Page, one of the founders of Google. PageRank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages.”
Higher Google PR is essential for building your art blog following.
Having your blog post rank in the top three in the search engine results will produce thousands to even hundreds of thousands of monthly clicks.
That is if people are searching for what you are ranking for.
For example, a post that ranks number one for Clydesdale oil paintings will receive more clicks than a post ranking number one for lime green horse painting.
Why? Because there are more people searching for Clydesdale oil paintings.
One way to increase your art sales is to have as many people see your artwork as possible. Ranking high in Google’s search will help you to accomplish just that.
Can you imagine how many paintings or drawings you could be selling if your posts generated hundreds of thousands of monthly page views?
There are many variables that affect PR but today I would like to just talk about the best blog length for higher PR.
Garrett Moon did a study on PR and post length, this is what he found:
Long-form content ranks higher on average than shorter pages. Pages in the top five (1-5) averaged more than 2,000 words per page. In the bottom half (6-10), the posts only averaged 1,400 words. The long-form content was absolutely weighted to the top of the list.
To learn more about Garrett’s study visit 5 Things That Will Change Your Mind About Long Form Content Marketing.
In Garrett’s study, he found that longer content ranked higher in the search results.
The top search results had an average blog post length of over 2,000 words.
This makes sense because Google’s mission is to provide the best content available to its audience.
An average blog post word count of over 2,000 would have more in-depth detail about a topic than a post containing 300 words.
If you would like to rank higher in the search results you might want to keep Garrett’s study in the back of your mind when you are writing your posts.
Here is another statistic about blog post length for SEO Marieke van de Rakt.
Marieke van de Rakt talks about post length in her post:
If you write a really long blog post (1000 words or more), you have a higher chance of ranking well in Google. At Yoast, we have quite a few articles containing more than 2500 words and these really help in the growth of our organic traffic.
You can read more by visiting How Long Should a Blog Post Be?
Yoast has also found that longer blog posts generate more organic traffic to their site than shorter blog posts.
These two studies do not tell you the optimal blog post length for ranking number one in Google’s search but they do tell you how well longer content performs.
Best Blog Length For Mobile Users
More and more people are surfing the web on their mobile device.
Many people surf the web on their work break (or when the boss is not looking), in line at the grocery store, during commercials or whenever they have a free minute to grab their smartphone.
People who are surfing on the go will only be able to absorb a few words during the time they have.
Reading a 5,000-word post at that point would not be feasible.
For people on the run, the ideal blog length might be 300-500 words.
A great way for you to build your art blog following is to cater to the needs of your audience.
Writing for people on the go and people who have more time to absorb longer posts will help you to build brand awareness as well as a loyal following.
Best Blog Length
Unfortunately, there is no right answer to how long a blog post should be.
However, we have learned that longer blog posts that contain over 2,000 words rank higher in Google’s search results.
We have also learned that there will be times when people will not have the time to read longer posts.
If you want to please more people your average blog post word count should vary.
Write longer posts for people who have the time for more detail and write shorter posts for people who do not have enough time to read a 5,000-word post.
Developing a blogging strategy like this will help you to provide value to a larger group of people.
Blog Length Best Practices
The best way to find out what will work best for your unique audience is to try different strategies and discover what resonates the best with your following.
Learn from people like Garrett and Marieke van de Rakt and take their knowledge into consideration when you are developing a strategy.
Check your analytics on a monthly basis to see what is working best for your art blog.
Over time you will discover what works best for your art business.
The last thing I would like to touch on is the importance of writing catchy titles for articles.
It does not matter how good your post is, if no one clicks on the post it will not be read.
For tips on writing creative blog titles people will click on visit How To Write Great Titles that Generate Blog Traffic.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase by clicking on an affiliate link, Nevue Fine Art Marketing may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, Skimlinks, SareASale and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy
Conclusion:
The best length for building your art blog following is enough content that will accurately describe the topic you are covering.
Longer posts will be required for PR and shorter posts are needed for an audience on the run.
What I have found that works best for me is a mixture of longer and shorter posts.
What length works best for your PR and audience?
- Share with me in the comment section below.
- The best length for building your art blog following overview:
- Best blog length for higher Google PR
- Best blog length for mobile users
- Best blog length
- Blog length best practices
You might also be interested in:
- How to Write Pillar Content and Why it is Important for Artists
- How to Optimize Headings for SEO
- How to Create an Artist Blog That Generates Passive Income
- How to Optimize Art Blog Posts with Great Content
- WordPress Categories and Tags – SEO Basics
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