Yesterday, in the course of a chit-chat with Navin, the discussion turned towards blogging and questions like what’s an ideal size of blog posts and how many posts one should write in a day etc surfaced. Since, there were some “insights” in that discussion, I thought I’d summarize them here.

1. Frequency of posts - General principle, the more the better (in terms of visibility). If the same quality of content is written, the blog with higher number of posts gets more visibility and readership. Somehow, the more you produce, the more you get noticed. You are noticed more by the search engines; there are more incidents where your writing can be quoted; there is a higher chance that everybody will find something interesting on your blog. It may also be equated with the more you speak in a meeting, the more ears you get. Of course, there is a limit to everything and you shouldn’t be talking rubbish just to keep high frequency.

2. Length of posts - Short posts are easy to consume but the shelf-life is very short. They are read and forgotten in a very short time span. They cannot go in depth of any subject. Their purpose is more for making people up-to-date or providing some entertainment. However, long posts that go in great depth of a particular subject, last for long. They can be referenced for a long time to come. They are like pieces of art. At the same time, much like great pieces of art, it takes a long time to get recognition for them.

You can also write a series of small to medium size posts on a subject and eventually roll it up in one large, insightful post. Or write a large post on something else altogether. Basically, a healthy mix is important.

3. How much time to spend on writing the title? - For some idealists out there (myself included), manipulating the post title for maximizing attention sounds like dishonesty. But that’s not necessarily the case. Just as a book is judged by it’s cover, a post is judged by the title. It is based on the title that I decide if I want to read a post or not. Title is the essence of a post. So, as long as the title doesn’t promise more than what the post has (check this bait-and-switch ploy by a matrimony site), it’s ok to hand-craft it. In fact, it must be hand-crafted.

What are your insights on effective blogging?