Don’t confuse content length with value

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Avatar for frdchckn
1 year ago
Topics: Confuse, Length, Value, Short, Long
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You know the feeling: you're almost done with a blog post, and you realize that it's way too short. You look around for some way to make the post longer—and then you find a bunch of fluff in the form of buzzwords and phrases.

It might seem like adding more words to your content will make it better, but it will actually make you worse off.

Content length doesn't necessarily correlate with value.

You don't need to write a novel to be valuable. You don't need to fill your content with fluff and filler just because it's long. In fact, it's often the opposite—the best content is the kind that gets right to the point and leaves out all unnecessary words.

It's easy to think that the length of your content is the most important thing—it's the most obvious way to measure its value. But it's not! When you're thinking about how much time someone will spend with your content, you need to take into consideration the value of that time.

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For example, let's say you're writing a blog post about why people should buy your product—a post that takes 2 minutes to read and understand. On the other hand, let's say you're writing a blog post about why people shouldn't buy your product—a post that takes 10 minutes to read and understand. Which one is more valuable? The first one!

The second post may be longer, but it doesn't actually provide any information that could change someone's mind about whether or not they should buy your product. In fact, it might just confuse them more! The first post, on the other hand, is shorter and provides specific information so that readers can make an informed decision about whether or not they should purchase from you.

When you're writing, don't think about length—think about value. How can you add more value to your readers' lives through your writing? If you can't do that, then you need to make sure that your content is worth the time it takes for your readers to read it.

In fact, sometimes shorter articles can pack more punch than longer ones. A blog post that's too long can lead readers to feel lost or confused, while an article that's too short might not give them enough information to make an informed decision. The trick is finding that happy medium between too much information and not enough.

And if you can't make your content interesting or valuable enough for people to want to read it in the first place, they'll stop coming back no matter how short or long your content is. So first and foremost, focus on making sure your content is good enough to keep people coming back for more.

Think of a blog post like an elevator pitch: if you could only say one thing before getting off the elevator, what would it be? That's your goal for every single blog post you write.

Image from Das Pixelsyndikat

In Conclusion

Content length is the number of words in your article; value is how much you've actually said. The two can be related, but they're not the same thing.

So if you want to write a longer article, that's great! But don't confuse longer with better. If you're just adding fluff or repeating yourself, don't expect your readers to appreciate it—or even read it.

It's tempting to assume that longer articles are more valuable than shorter ones, but that's not always the case. You want to make sure that your content is packed with information, insight, and value for your target audience.

Instead of trying to make your content longer, focus on making it more valuable to readers by providing them with information they can use right away.


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Avatar for frdchckn
1 year ago
Topics: Confuse, Length, Value, Short, Long

Comments

thank you for the information sis, your writing is useful, especially I'm still a beginner here, and I still need to learn, learn how our writing can be interesting to read, thank you.

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you're finding my writing useful, and I hope it continues to be helpful to you.

I think it's important to remember that we're all still learning here, so don't worry about being a beginner—you can always get better!

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1 year ago

Yupp. You're really right friend. Keep spirit. Hehe

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1 year ago

Nice read, coherence too is important.

$ 0.01
1 year ago

Thanks you very much for your appretiation mate.

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1 year ago

Yes, you're right! Thank you very much for the additional information.

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1 year ago