Jul 27th, 2008
BLOG CONTENT: SHOULD YOU BREAK A POST INTO A SERIES?
Is there such a thing as to much content, or in this case, a post that is too long? I would argue that, at times, posts can be to long. Blog content can be fickle and your readers more so.
There are two solutions to a post that is too long. One, break it into two or more pieces and post it as a series, or edit it back to a shorter post. Blog content needs to be bite sized or provide a quick read. These are two options generally suggested to bloggers. There is one further option which can often be the best solution.
People want a quick fix. Occasionally however, a longer article is worthy of its place as a single entity. For a series to work, each unit of the series needs to be able to stand alone. Many articles cannot be written this way. A good example is a “how to” with many complicated steps. It needs to be followed from A to Z and will not break naturally into two posts - let’s face it, who wants to get half through baking a cake then wait until tomorrows post to find out what to do with the batter?
When caught in this situation, the post is probably better off being a static page and not post. Publish the article and then write a post that summarizes the steps and then points to the static page using appropriate anchor text.
The benefits are many. You now have two items to publish for the price of one. You will have created an authority page and future reference point. Blog content does not have to be about regular posts. If you use a software package such as WordPress, then creating a static page is as straightforward as creating a post. Don’t waste a post because it is too long - put it to better use.