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Something I've always wondered...

by Genycis
3 replies
What's goin' on? I had to ask this question because it's been pondering on my mind for awhile, and I've tried to look up information or thoughts but didn't seem to find any.

With blogs (and I'm sure this will also depend on the niche it is on), would it be generally better to make a blog with the excerpts on the main page prompting people to click on and read further? Or is it better to have the entire post on the page?

I ask because I've noticed that several people as of late seem to have their blogs where you see the entire article from top to bottom on the main page of the blog. Even though the blog post itself is accessible by clicking on the title of the blog post, I've noticed that bloggers are putting their entire posts on the main blog page so that there is no need to click on anything to read further.

What are your thoughts? Is it better to excerpt and write a paragraph that will prompt the reader to read on further? Or is it more beneficial to the reader to see everything up front, as well as for possible SEO purposes? I thought excerpts would've been more effective as I assumed it would provoke interest, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm wrong about that way of thinking.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on the matter.
#blogging #excerpt #wondered
  • Profile picture of the author LP Copywriter
    I tend to use excerpts for purely SEO oriented reasons. I'd much rather have 5-10 excerpts, and maximize the original content benefits for the single post.

    I also like to include some content exclusive to the homepage, targeting my primary keywords.

    EDIT: Also, if you're including calls to action within your content, having them all on your homepage will confuse and discourage your visitors from taking action.
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  • Profile picture of the author guit777
    I believe you were correct when you said it depends on the niche as to how you would implement this. For instance if you had a blog of how to improve your golf game you would want different excerpts like "How to improve your golf swing" with a read further button.
    Where as, if you had a site reviewing different golf clubs you would want most of your content or your initial snag on your reviews in a whole post on the first page.
    I hope that wasn't too confusing of an analigy, and I hope it helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by Genycis View Post

    would it be generally better to make a blog with the excerpts on the main page prompting people to click on and read further? Or is it better to have the entire post on the page?
    What is the visitor doing?

    If he's there to decide which of many posts he should read, then he should see an excerpt just long enough for him to decide whether he wants to read that post.

    If he's there to read the latest post and has already read most or all of the others, he should see the entire post.

    There's no hard and fast answer. It depends on what your niche is and who your visitors are and how much content there is.
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