What is the best length for a single bog?

Carolm,

To answer many of your questions it all depends upon the nature of the blog and your personal style and preferences.

I think your idea of writing LONG blog post is actually a good one.

So different blogs follow different patterns >>

Some blogs on BROAD SUBJECT / GENRE have daily updates , guest blog post etc. So they can have varying length of the blog post. But mostly because of the daily nature of the post tend to be shorter. Where as the guest post tend to be longer (as the guest blogger is trying to capture some audience and make an impact)

eg: Blog Tips to Help You Make Money Blogging - ProBlogger

Some blogs have weekly or bi-weekly update schedule. And this is what you should follow else you might risk running dry soon. Mix 1 long Blog post with another shorter version.

You could also be doing some podcasts (but do a little bit of both). Also getting your podcast listed onto iTunes could be a big advantage if you can find an audience. You should do post casts / Video presentation / Video interview with former patients as case study etc. sparingly like 1-2 / month.

This is to ensure that the people keep coming back to your blog for the video and the podcast / video casts (which will be like the prize money) while you keep giving them good information from time to to using blog posts.

If you do this format, I think it will be a hit. It should be a right mix.

google example :

The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

Other good example (but probably not wise to emulate in your case)

ZenHabits.net

Lastly Podcasts / Videocasts / Howto Video and MOST IMP Interviews with family , patients who have gone through the pain and successfully beaten Addiction will draw in the public to your website.

Also the videos could be put onto YouTube with links to your website which give you also you promote yourself and your blog.

Regards,

Team HealthEnclave

Thanks for that really useful info, HEnclave. You've also taught me that putting a ref to your own site in your signature generates traffic - I just went to your site - long posts, I see! Very nice.

I did know doing that, but it must be one of the many new things I've forgotten today.

carolm

Yes, I think your blog entries as planned will be too long. The average attention span is low.

But fear not! You can write your long opus, and then split it into two, three or even four posts at appropriate points. All you need is a title ("Kicking the Habit-Part 2", or "A Closer Look at the Bottle") for each post, and perhaps an intro/outro sentence.

Now the nice thing is that you can release these every couple of days...and you only have to write on one topic, one time, to have a week's worth of posts. No more head-scratching of what subjects to write about. Also, your readers will have a good reason to return...catching what happens next after the latest cliffhanger.

If you do have long posts, make sure to have a clickable table of contents and "back to top" links. This really depends on what you're writing about. For example, if they are following your blog they may get bored quickly. If they are simply seeking information, they'll find it themselves.

Also, make sure that you aren't equating length with fluff. Fluff is never a good thing.

Thank you friends! Lots of good info. I was already thinking along the lines that Kaniganj and billy suggested. I've been trying to sort out how to do those organising features in wordpress that you mention, but so far haven't cracked that particular problem - I really know almost nothing about driving a wp dashboard at the moment. I know I can work it out from online sources, but it might take a few days.

I'm not about to run out of copy - I have 25,000 info packed words already ready to go after some last minute tweaking - and as far as I can tell, no fluff.

And still lots of topics to cover.

Thanks again for making the effort to reply,

carolm