Blogging, one of the oldest and most popular content marketing strategies, is changing. Blog posts are becoming longer and more comprehensive. A small, elite group of bloggers is publishing posts over 1,500 or even 2,000 words in order to win higher search engine rankings and rise above the content-saturated Internet, according an Orbit Media Studios survey.
Some top bloggers say the trend highlights the death of the listicle and click-bait post. Because of the proliferation of blog and social media posts, people no longer have time to read every post. Creating substantive blog posts, they say, is today’s best strategy for content marketing success.
The “album era” when people consumed all your content is over, Jay Baer of Convince and Convert told Orbit Media. We have entered the singles era where only the best posts gain attention. “The consequence is that each post needs to be bigger, better, more comprehensive to give it a chance to become a ‘hit.’ That takes time,” Baer said.
The Orbit Media Studios survey of over 1000 bloggers and a comparison to last year’s survey reveals the key changes in blogging.
Seeking High Search Engine Ranking
If your goal is high search engine ranking, 1500 words is the sweet spot, according to Orbit Media Studios. Research by serpIQ analysis of high-ranking pages found that more text correlates with higher rankings. Also, a MOZ analysis of 3,800 of their own blog posts found that longer posts obtain more backlinks, supporting higher rankings.
Although the most popular range remains 500 to 1000 words, blog posts are generally becoming longer. Overall, bloggers are writing fewer posts with fewer than 500 words and more with over 1000 words, and even over 1500 words. About twice as many respondents are writing 2000+ word posts, although the group remains small. Naturally, longer blog posts take more time to research and write.
Source: Orbit Media Studios
Bloggers are spending more time on each post. Bloggers spending two hours or less on each post dropped from 54% to 48%; those dedicating more than six hours on a post increased from 13% to 16%. A small minority of bloggers invests much more time in their content. The top 6% of bloggers invest twice as much time as the bottom 70%.
Substance, not length, however, is the key criteria for success. Blogs that attract the most viewership and comments contain well-developed ideas or perspectives (supported by facts) that offer real value to the reader. Length works only if it’s a by-product of substance. Without real intellectual or educational value, greater length only frustrates and irritates readers. Length without substance won’t fool search engines either.
Posting Frequency
While most bloggers (53%) are publishing at least weekly, the percentage of bloggers posting daily or more increased slightly from 4.7% to 6.2%. Bloggers who publish daily or more spend much less time writing. Daily bloggers spend about an hour and a half on a post on average, an hour less than the typical blogger. None spend more than six hours on a post.
The survey shows that the best marketers seek to produce enough content to influence customer behavior rather than creating more content, more frequently, wrote Jodi Harris, director of editorial content & curation at the Content Marketing Institute.
“Marketers may believe they need to create more content, more often, to be more successful,” she stated. “But, in fact, the opposite often seems to be the case.” More substantive content attracts more attention than more frequent, but less substantive content.
Source: Orbit Media Studios
The Decline of the Hobbyist Blogger
The survey also underscores some long-term trends. Blogging is slowly becoming more of a profession and less of hobby. More bloggers are writing for clients rather than for themselves, indicating a slow decline in personal blogs.
Bloggers still write at all times, but fewer are working at night and on weekends and more during standard business hours. That could be partly a move to better life-work balance. It’s more likely part of the trend to blogging as an occupation.
More bloggers are getting at least some editorial help. The survey found a 16% increase in bloggers who are getting a second set of eyes on their work before publishing. Blogs were not traditionally known for high quality or close proofreading. Over half the bloggers lack an editor; just 16 % have a formal editing process.
Bottom Line: Blogging continues to evolve. Previously popular strategies built around posting frequency no longer work as well. Some top bloggers even say blogging has entered a new era. Blog posts are generally becoming longer and more comprehensive. A few leading bloggers are leading the trend in order gain better rankings in search engines and rise above the blogging masses.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
I like it William. My thinking; if you post, make sure the post is valuable and benefits your readers. Or else, simply avoid posting until you have something of immense value to share.