This is a topic that has been debated amongst bloggers for as long as I can remember blogging.

It’s my opinion that each writer should assess their traffic to determine what posts are popular, the length of time a person spends on each visit, what the bounce rate is and with that information, they can determine what the optimal post length is for their readers.

It’s also my opinion, that you should consider the following:

• Reader Attention Span – There’s lots of documentation that support the belief that readers will spend under 100 seconds on a blog. As a result many writers keep their content length down to a level that is readable in short grabs.
• Quantity of Posts – Some believe that shorter posts allow you to write more posts and that more posts generate more readership with RSS and in Search Engines. Could this actually be what sites like Engadget do to make up the majority of their content.
• SEO – Seach Engine Optimization experts believe long and short articles are not ranked as highly as pages that are of a medium length. Of course no one truly knows what the ideal length is, however, the general consensus seems to be that 200 to 250 words is a reasonable length. At the same time, many of the experts I’ve communicated with advise keeping articles under 1000 words.
• Topic/Genre – Of course it goes without saying, the topic you write on will determine the true optimal length of article. As an example, when you are writing a product review your article will be longer whereas hot news topics you mention and link to something written by someone else will be shorter. As well, photo blogs require much less coverage.

I believe if you can answer the key “Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?” in under 250 words, that’s all you need. At the end of the day, you need to monitor your stats, communicate with your readers and determine what works best for you and your blog.

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My Comment Commitment: If you leave an approved comment on any of my posts, I will visit your blog and “share it” in some way whether on StumbleUpon, Twitter or Facebook depending on if I can find a nice fit.

Originally posted 2010-01-17 23:58:46.

Sometimes it helps to be short, sweet and straight to the point.

With that in mind, here’s a simple list of blogging tips to keep handy.

1. Write to be helpful – attempt to solve a problem or respond to a need in every post.
2. Be brief – keep your post as short and sweet as possible – remember, your readers will typically have short attention spans.
3. Tell a story – People love to read a story with substance.
4. Connect others – reach out to your readers and connect where possible.
5. Share. Often.
6. Don’t over think it – I try to remember – Think long, think wrong!
7. Be thoughtful – always write with your reader in mind. Remember, you’re writing for your reader, not Google.
8. Publish often enough to build a relationship – inactive is just plain boring.
9. Be yourself – speak through your blog and to your audience as you would your neighbor – they’ll appreciate the personal touch.
10. Listen carefully – your readers will let you know what they like – listen to them.

What else would you say? Think about what you would say if you were telling and old friend you’d just reunited with about blogging?

Do you have blogging tips to share?

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My Comment Commitment: If you leave an approved comment on any of my posts, I will visit your blog and “share it” in some way whether on StumbleUpon, Twitter or Facebook depending on if I can find a nice fit.

Originally posted 2010-01-25 01:13:17.

Since blogging became popular, there have been a number of opportunities arise that offer bloggers pay for posting. It’s a great way to earn a few extra bucks with your blog. Again, I’d like to stress that I will not promote something that I myself have not tried and that I have not earned a nice sum from.

The concept and process is really very simple – You promote one of their clients in a post on your blog and they pay you for the post.

You have the option of creating your own text if you’d like to have the ad work into the regular content of your blog better or you can use one of their pre-written ads that’s as simple as copying the text and pasting it right into the html of your blog.

Poof – the blog is posted and before long you’re getting a notification from paypal that you’ve been paid. It’s that simple! It’s such an easy way to earn a few bucks for all your hard work and effort – we all know how much heart and soul goes into most of our blogs!

Again, I will say this is not a way that you’re going to get rich, but by golly you might just make enough to take yourself out to a movie over the weekend!.

A couple of pay per blog post programs I am familiar with are Pay Per Post, an IZEA company and Blogging Ads.

I’d love to hear some feedback from others who have or will be using this service too!

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My Comment Commitment: If you leave an approved comment on any of my posts, I will visit your blog and “share it” in some way whether on StumbleUpon, Twitter or Facebook depending on if I can find a nice fit.

Originally posted 2010-01-19 13:00:00.