Quote:
Originally Posted by John Wesley  A question for Steve. Do you set any length requirement for your articles when you write? Do long articles help SEO? They are all quite long, and to be honest I found myself skimming parts of this past one after I got the gist of the point. |
Ironically, in skimming through only parts of the post rather then reading through the entire
article, you seemed to have missed exactly what you needed to answer your question:
Quote:
5. Allocate a committed block of time.
[...] When I begin an article, I don’t know how many words it will be or how long it will take to finish. Sometimes I’m done after 90 minutes; other times I’m still going after 5 hours. When I’ve written articles to target lengths (like 1000 words) or to target times (like 2 hours), I usually churn out the kind of vapid drivel you’ll find in fluffy print magazines. With a tight deadline I can still finish something, but it won’t be anywhere near what I create with an open-ended schedule. [...]
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Wesley Not to say length is a bad thing, I hung on every word of the massive "How to Make Money From Your Blog" post. I just though[t] this past one could have gotten the same accomplished with fewer words. Just my 2 cents. |
Personally, I'd rather Steve goes into as much detail as he feels is needed to get the job done (even if that ends up requiring excessive amounts of detail and an overly high word count). When reading something I really want to read, I have no interest in how long it is or how long it will take me to read it. Instead, I focus my attention on the task at and make my best effort to subconscious/consciously absorb as much as possible, so long as the writing is coherent and does not interrupt the "flow" of the article itself by being overly wordy (which usually isn’t a problem with Steve’s writing; he’s pretty damn good, although he’s had
a lot of practice
).
Sure, there are still
some things I’ll skim/speed read (ie. things I don’t
really want to read and just want to scan through briefly), although as I said before, if I
really want to read something, I become intensely curious and thirsty for knowledge and ideas and end up soaking up as practically everything that’s given to me, much like putting a sponge in water. Although I’m one big sponge, my only limit being my not-so-good memory... but that's cool, a few notes in a notepad file makes up for that. If one tool is blunt (your memory) and you don't care to sharpen it, make up for it by using another tool (external storage, such as a computer harddrive).
I find reverting to a sponge-like state is best for reading Steve's articles, since it allows you to get fully imersed on the journey he takes you on (yes, I believe reading through good writing is akin to a journey, although it's more of an internal one more then anything). Allow the words to flow through you, and be open to the experiences, thoughts, and emotions they trigger. It usually makes for a much more enjoyable (and often growth filled) experience.