According to a snippet I found at Boston Digital, our attention spans are shrinking, with some important implications:
“In fact, a study by Microsoft concluded that the human attention span has dropped to eight seconds – shrinking nearly 25% in just a few years. This means we are all being fundamentally reprogrammed, regardless of age, to expect an answer fast and easy. What’s more, our diminished attention spans demand instant results.”
Got that? Eight short seconds. With that in mind, consider the advice given to bloggers who want their work to be ranked highly and made findable in search engines (SEO optimized).
Big, meaty, in-depth posts of 3,000 words or more attract the most page view over the long haul.
The popular (easier?) listicle posts (e.g., 15 Ways to ___________), come next.
Shorter, problem-solver posts of 1,500 – 2,000 posts come next.
If well-written blog posts appeared out of thin air, you could apply this as a formula and just write big-ass posts. But those posts can take a long time to craft—I’ve heard experienced teachers estimate eight hours.
If you’re starting your blog as a side hustle while still working full-time, taking care of family members, and (hopefully) attending to self-care, there could be many weeks when those eight hours just won’t be available. At least, not in one optimal block of time when you can focus, get into flow, and and produce helpful content.
What to do?
For one thing, consider SEO to be just one facet of your traffic strategy. Write for SEO when you can. But don’t think you have to do that all the time. If you have a helpful bit of content and the choice is a pithy, quick post you can write after dinner, or a lengthy (perhaps padded) analysis of the topics history, current status, future prospects, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da post that you may never have time for—write the pithy post.
Second, remember that not all of your audience is coming from search engines, and they don’t all give a hoot about finding encyclopedic content on your site. Remember the shrinking attention spans? Many in your audience have a lot on their plates, and getting solid information quickly will be a blessing to them.
Third, engage in win-win curation. Above, I made reference to Boston Digital’s observation about a Microsoft study on the human attention span. They made the point nicely, you saw it expressed concisely, and I’m happy to share kudos with other writers for their helpful contributions.
Finally, consider embeding video or other media instead. You and I might think we need to craft our posts carefully and making our writing professors proud. But if you can make a quick video and add a few bullet points that shares your info efficiently, by all means, do so.
Make your point. Make it quickly. I’ll read it, watch it, or listen to it. Especially if you let me know about it during the few moments I have to check in on your Facebook page or your Instagram profile or your tweets. And I’ll appreciate your respect for my time.
