Minimum Words for Online Content?
Online writers should consider readers’ needs when writing a successful internet article.
People choose to read internet content for a number of reasons. Probably the most cited reasons are time and availability. As on-line writers we should consider word count as part of the equation for a successful article.
Reading an article that is too short is disappointing. When a writer gets a title and the description right, a reader is hooked in to find out more. How disappointing to find there are less than 300 words to read. Quite often the basic facts are there, but no supportive material. Quite early in my internet writing life a reader made a comment that he read the article, but didn’t click that he liked it because it was very short. Checking the word count I found it was 298 words.
On the other hand, an article that is too long can become difficult to read. It becomes difficult to weave one’s way through the content, especially if too many points are introduced.
I am a novice when it comes to on-line writing, having only been involved a few months. I am still struggling to get things right. But, as a reader of internet content, I have a little more experience. I know what appeals to me and what doesn’t. Consequently, I’m interested to hear other people’s views about word length for on-line articles.
How short is too short?
There seems to be differing opinions on this. Here, I am considering articles, not short stories or poetry. Looking at a range of sites, accepted word length seems to range from 300 to 1000 words.
Apparently, if writers are hoping to have their work noticed, search engines need words to search for relevant key words. If there are not enough words it can be more difficult to have an article published and noticed.
How long is too long?
Getting it right is difficult. Writers need to equally consider how long is too long. If an article is too long it loses the readers attention. Modern readers apparently want short and sharp for their on-line reading. Get to the point, say it, add a few supporting ideas, then get out of there.
Advice for writers.
New writers can do with all the help they can get. I’ve moved from thinking this was easy to realising I have much, much more to learn. Word count or article length is only one part of the equation for a successful article. Knowing how much to write is as important as what to write.
If anyone has words of wisdom to offer on this subject, I’m sure we’d all love to hear them. And, in case you’re interested, the length of this article is 435 words.
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January 12th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Whoops , yes, I’ve noticed the error in the description and am trying to have it fixed.
January 12th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
everything covered in just the right amount of words – nice one!
January 12th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
I appreciate your efforts but I am not going to respond to anymore posts regarding to writing, adding to views, making money from writing, how to write great articles,, etc. Some articles have value…some are pure spam. I respond to real articles.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
And herein lies the reason I stick to mostly poetry.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
You made a valid point. Although the length should vary depending on the topic
January 12th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Great Post!,,very informative and useful tips here..well done! thanks for sharing
January 12th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
good for you Ken, I concur
January 12th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
A helpful article. I also think that an article that is too dense can put readers off. Layout can make a big difference to the attractiveness of the article.
January 12th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
A helpful article. It is hard sometimes to find just the right mix.
January 12th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
I guess the minimum amount of words in an article should be 400. It’s not too long nor too short but just enough
January 12th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
I try to embed links in my articles where people can go for more information and try to keep it fairly short–and plain English. I aim for about one-page articles (12-point Arial in Word) which usually means I end up cutting a lot.
Don’t know if that helps?
Inna
January 12th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
I think if an article is good, regardless of the length it will be loved by the reader – - interesting article.
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
January 12th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
I think the ideal count is 400 words. Anywhere up to 700 words is just fine.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
I agree with Ken.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
The length depends on the topic and how interesting it is. You always want to leave the writer wanting a little more.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:22 am
Very interesting topic. I agree that 300 – 1000 words is about right. I generally have a problem keeping it short enough. Same with comments, so I will stop here.
January 13th, 2010 at 3:26 am
I think your article is just about the right length. I find that if they are any longer they lose my attention. Good work.
Christine
January 13th, 2010 at 4:13 am
The main reason why I love Triond is because there is no restriction on the topic, and also, the length of the articles.
Hope Triond don’t restrict the minimum number of words written, otherwise I cannot write Haiku poems. Sometime a short one may be the right one, too lengthy readers may not read on… I think still have to depend on the article itself to decide on the length of it.
January 13th, 2010 at 5:12 am
Factual articles are often requested to by 400 words plus by many companies. Poetry is a different matter altogether. Interesting article.
January 13th, 2010 at 7:26 am
My background is flash fiction. Flash fiction is a complete short story of around 1,000 words or less. Many times a flash fiction story may be around 250 words. Many writers are no good at writing flash fiction because their stories are incomplete.
My articles are usually very short but the question that must be asked of flash fiction is the same question that must be asked of any article no matter what its length: is it complete?
Of course, search engines want an article to be a certain length so when I post something on my personal blog I always make sure the post is at least 100 words long and Google does pick it up.
But I think as long as an article is complete the shorter the better. That’s why I don’t write long articles. Experts have said time and time again that the vast majority of readers on the Internet simply don’t have the attention span to read a long article.
And I believe it. I refuse to read long articles. So I’m certainly not going to write them.
January 13th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Good questions but I doubt there are definitive answers it is probably a case of trial and error.
January 13th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Good article and valuable words to learn from, I will include your advice and your wisdom the next time I write an article. thanks for sharing.
January 14th, 2010 at 12:59 am
Great write! enjoyed it.
January 15th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
You are right, it is disappointing when I click on an article and find it extremely short, and just someones rip off of a product description. I would rather have a long interesting article than a short “no guts” article.