Thread: Writing content with smaller paragraphs

When developing content, how many sentences should be in a paragraph? On some sites, I'm seeing 2 sentences at the most. The site owners are well educated so I'd expect that the switch from the school standard of 3-4 sentences to 1-2 sentences is a proven strategy for online marketing. Am I correct?

Your observation is good.

Online readers are characterized by a short attention span. So you need to write for their attention span and write concise sentences and paragraphs if you want to be read.

Essentially, paragraphs are not determined by the number of sentences. They are determined by the completion of a thought. Because online writing needs to be quick and to the point, shorter paragraphs parallel more concise thoughts.

All of this is a chicken and egg thing; it doesn't really matter much what came first. However, if you write well for the web you will have shorter sentences and paragraphs.

As someone who could fill a page with one sentence, given the chance, I find it a real challenge.

I think 3-4 is still a good rule of thumb, as long as they're not 3 or 4 very long sentences. The reading attention span is shorter online. It's even more important than usual to be concise.

I often use shorter paragraphs, as opposed to longer ones. I guess I just got used to writing that way.

Newspapers also use shorter paragraphs, sometimes each sentence is its own paragraph.

Originally Posted by James

As someone who could fill a page with one sentence, given the chance, I find it a real challenge.

I tend to be very wordy as well so I'm glad I asked early on.

Thanks everyone!

I'm about the same way. I could fill a paragraph with a half dozen sentences...I do similar to James however, and finish my thought. Even with that, I will go back and read it over. If I think it is to long, I will cut it in half.

Others are probably right, in cutting sentences short and to the point, but I find it not to my liking.

I actually ran an experiment for a month on another forum where I wasn't allowed to make any posts over 150 words. I realized that I was still able to get my point across and use less words. It was a good exercise!

Imagine if you could create an entire page using Twitter posts?

If you can get your point across in 140 characters or less then you're good.

Just remember to use good grammar and punctuation.

Otherwise you'll lose credibility.

See? It can be done.

God help us if a Twitter post, turns into a paragraph, lol

Less than 5 would be ideal. More important is the quality of the content - whether it lures the reader into reading the entire article. Also, small and crisp sentences are the key to a great paragraph!

I've seen articles with 2 to 4 sentences. At times it makes for easier reading. Other times it is better to have a paragraph to keep professionalism.

Wow! Just wrote a post on my site following the above suggestions... it's so much easier to read.

I just realized how much I hate having to read a heavy block of text, especially online. Cutting the content into smaller paragraphs makes a lot more sense.

Along with shorter paragraphs, use subheaders and bullet lists instead of comma lists (this, this, that, and whatever).

The reason for this is that the eye looks for something on which to alight. On a page which is just text (no images, bold, paragraph subheaders and long paragraphs), see how long it takes for you to get off that page. It has more to do with eye strain than short attention span.

I'm the exact same way -- being wordy. However, the only things that stuck with me from my journalism classes in college (before I switched my major back to music) was:

1) do not express your own opinion
I agree with that -- as it is, a local channel anchor bashed Arizona recently, saying she didn't like it. I don't watch that channel anymore because I don't watch the news or read the paper to hear people's personal comments. I just want the news.

2) do not write more than one or two sentences in a paragraph.
That I almost, almost agree with. While I've heard the same 3-4 sentence paragraph rule in English classes, there is one teacher who did say never ever ever write more than 3 sentences in a paragraph.

Just keep in mind that's just what I learned in journalism. If it's too wordy, people are going to be turned off and click "back" or go back to google to search for another less-wordy site.

Everyone touched on a lot of vital points. I'd like to add that if the paragraph happens to be long you can bold words or add bullets. That way as readers look at your page they will focus on those items that you want them to focus on and read around them.