@tcdzomba (on Twitter) asked me – “Do u have a post up about how many blog posts to keep on the front page of the blog?”
It’s not a topic that I’ve written about specifically before so let me write on that topic now for you and open it up for some discussion (looking forward to seeing what others think).
I’ve never put a lot of thought into the number of posts on a blog’s front page before and think that it probably varies a little from blog to blog.
There are two main factors that I like to achieve on a blog’s front page:
1. Highlighting a variety of posts – my personal preference is to have more than one or two posts on the front page so that when new readers come to it they are more likely to find something that interests them to read.
While blogs with just one post on the front page are definitely ‘cleaner’ and can be quite visually pleasing I worry a little that they miss out on connecting with readers who come and don’t find that one post to connect with them.
2. Not too much clutter and length – I find this hard to achieve and it’s a balancing act with point #1 – but I don’t like to have my front page as being too long or too overwhelming.
As a result I try to use ‘excerpts’ on my front page – giving readers the title and a taste (a paragraph or two) of each article and the option to click a link to read more.
While I know some bloggers don’t like these excerpts/extended entries (some believe blogger do it to increase page views) I do it simply so I can highlight more posts on the front page and shorten the length of the overall page.
Another option is to use larger segments of your posts in ‘feature posts’ and to show shorter excerpts from other posts (or even just titles).
It’s a Balancing Act
As with many aspects of blogging – it’s something that you need to balance. Some blogs lend themselves more to featuring full posts on front pages, others can get away with excerpts more. Some blogs have 20-30 posts on the front page while others just have one.
I guess it’s partly personal preference and partly working out what works with your topic and readership.
What’s Your Preference?
How many posts do you have on the front page of your blog?
Do you use excerpts or full posts on the front page?
Why have you made the decision as you have?
Well, it definitely depends upon the nature of the blog IMHO. My posts are stories; short humor pieces that wouldn’t go off so well in the “snippet” format. I only put two posts up per page; full length posts with images so the page load time is short. You have to keep in mind those people still on dialup. So while snippets may work well for blogs that offer a variety of topics / help (like this one) so readers can scan for what they are looking for, for one like mine, full posting is best.
I have 15 full articles, another 15 headlines for slightly older content, and 10 headlines for hot topics in the last week.
Having just done a survey of my readers they (mostly) want even more content than the 15-20 posts a day that currently goes up. The downside of this of course is the ability to find it once it falls off the front page.