Some say 400. Others swear up and down that nirvana exists at 750 and under. And still more claim that 500 is the magic number. But, honestly, when it comes to dynamic and interesting blog writing, is there such a thing as the perfect length? As usual, it all depends on who you ask.

According to Ben Austin of SearchEnginePeople, bigger might just be better.

“According to tests carried out by many a blog, rankings improve when the length of the content is increased. Anecdotal evidence seems to support this too, and if you look at the length of most posts on the more successful blogs they tend to be slightly longer and average around 700-800 words,” Austin writes. “It makes sense that Google would reward that bit of extra length too – for one it suggests an article that provides more depth and detail rather than just breezing over the topic, and at the same time it punishes content farms that almost always have a word limit of around 300-500 words (with writers almost always providing the very minimum amount of text). Apart from anything else, more content means more potential to capture the long-tail keyphrase.”

Yet others, like Susan Gunelius, blogging guide for About.com, thinks super-long posts might hurt brands rather than help.

“Most people who read blogs don’t have a lot of time or patience to read thousands of words of content,” she says. “They’re looking for quick access to information or entertainment. Therefore, you should try to write succinctly and use headings to break up long blocks of text. Make sure your blog posts are scannable and consider breaking posts that reach the 1,000 word mark up into a series of posts (which is also a great way to encourage people to come back to your blog again to read more).”

Gunelius believes that under 600 is the magical blogging sweet spot.

Personally, we think the perfect blog post length truly depends on the brand and audience. Some industries (like legal blogs, technical support blogs and medical blogs) do just fine with longer posts, while others excel with shorter, easier-to-read entries. Since we’re in a highly-scannable news industry, we like to stay under 700 words, as do most marketing blogs. Analytics are really helpful in this matter, actually. By watching what blog posts get more hits, become viral or flop miserably, we can gauge which of our blogging practices are working and which ones aren’t — and this includes post length.

But when all is said and done, it isn’t so much about how much we say but how we say it. Well-written, smartly-planned and creative content always wins readers and helps our search engine results, regardless of how big our posts are.

Some of the best examples of blogging for business come from social media sites. Popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn use blogging to say what a million status updates and tweets could never say: more. Blogging is still the fastest and most comprehensive way to express daily the recent happenings and goings-on at your business. For example, Goodreads.com, the booklover’s social media paradise, uses its blog to keep members in the loop of all the nifty booktacular things happening on the site.

Part Facebook, part neighborhood bookstore, Goodreads users are passionate about reading, books and their favorite authors. On the site’s message boards, discussion threads and reviews users get in hot and heavy conversations about what they’re reading. Recently, the site made headlines when it was purchased by Amazon. Naysayers worry that Amazon’s corporate bent will put a damper on Goodreads open and lively discussion. Judging by the company’s blogging efforts however its hard to notice the regime change just yet. Infographics on Shakespeare, famous authors playing along in a short story game, and announcements of video chats with bestselling writers are the kind of posts Goodreads fills its blog with. The blog wisely stays on the topics of books and reading and invites users to weigh in and sound off. Letting Goodreads’ members in on the discussion is brilliant and very on brand as the sites users are famously opinionated.

But you don’t have to run a popular social media site to get folks talking. Opening the door for comments and conversations from your blog’s readers is a terrific idea any of us can do. By composing posts that ask for readers thoughts and ideas you’re not only getting your consumers thoughts but helping your blog post go viral by inviting comments. Provocative questions, opinion polls on new products and interactive trivia games using photos are just a few ways to get the comment love flowing. After all, your company is chatty and interesting in real-life so why can’t your blog be the same?

Some of the most powerful companies in the world use blogging for business to reach out to new customers, communicate with employees and help create powerful web content. And every Monday, we profile one of these bigwigs in hopes of inspiring you to start an amazing blog marketing campaign of your very own. This week, we look at how outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia elevates blogging into something pretty amazing.

The byline at Patagonia’s blog simply reads, “The Cleanest Line: Weblog for the employees, friends and customers of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia.” Yet this company blog is more than a corporate newsletter or boring product pitch disguised as a blog. The Cleanest Line transforms our old ideas about corporate blogs by creating an online magazine that reads more like NPR or GOOD then a commercial for hiking boots. Journalistic in style, the writing at The Cleanest Line is high-quality, interesting stuff. By blogging about the things that are important to them — like mountain climbing, responsible clothing manufacturing practices, independent documentaries and environmental causes — Patagonia tells us more about itself as a brand in a few posts than a billion press releases ever could. While the blog does feature images, clearly the point here is to read and get Patagonia’s message.

In addition, the simple design and layout make it easy to kick back and read several posts. Again, this is surely intentional. The Cleanest Line is company blogging built on a brand’s message and philosophy and, best of all, it’s actually interesting to read and enjoy.

Marketing magazines and SEO blogs have long shouted the praises of The Cleanest Line and Patagonia’s blog creation innovations. We can easily see why. What Patagonia does so brilliantly is use its blog to provide a company narrative. This smart move is something all of us can use blogging for. Try not to think of daily entries as “Ugh! Another blog post!” but as more opportunities to using blogging to spread your ideas and beliefs. Let The Cleanest Line inspire you to take blogging to new heights.

At the risk of providing a Santa Claus/Tooth Fairy moment, we have some news that may shock you. Most of the blogs you read aren’t written by the people whose names appear in the blogs title. Ditto for the majority of celebrity tweets, corporate Facebook page updates and clever Tumblr blog entries allegedly produced by a style icon. The fact is, this here Internet thingamajig is filled with ghostwriting. Ghostwriters are now turned to for everything from blog posts and social media content to digital press releases and beyond from companies of all types and sizes. So if you’ve been thinking it’s time you stopped trying to write everything yourself, let go of your fears and learn to embrace the ghostwriter — well, we couldn’t agree more.

Ghostwriters, first and foremost, help us save time. Complex content marketing strategies require a lot of writing. To really change your company’s digital presence, you need lots of tweets, lots of blog posts and a never-ending output of written material. And creating this mountain of words takes gobs of time — time most business owners do not have. By turning over content creation to someone who does it for a living, you literally save yourself hours of banging your head against the keyboard. Also, great ghostwriters are terrific researchers and they spend hours getting to know your brand’s language. This means every post will sound like it came from your brilliant brain. Another bonus to working with a ghostwriter is that you no longer have to scramble for original ideas. Professional writers get paid to think on their feet and come up with dynamic tales your followers will want to read. Letting a ghostwriter worry about the blog post for the week (or what on Earth to tweet about) leaves you more time to run your business.

Besides, haven’t you heard? The old shame of hiring a ghostwriter is a thing of the past. Top executives, movie stars and local companies alike know the value of hiring a talented ghostwriter to handle all of their content needs. And it’s easy to see why. Dynamic digital content is a must in this day and age; if you can’t create it, why not rely on somebody who can?

Each Monday, we take a look at the blog writing and blog marketing habits of some of the world’s biggest brands. From airlines and luxury jewelers to social networks and toy companies, we’ve seen how brands of all kinds use blogging to connect with a global Internet audience. Even brands thought of as “old-fashioned” are taking to blogging with resounding results. This week one such brand, Bigelow Tea, is using blogging to take the company into the next millennium.

Constant Comment is the tea flavor that put Bigelow on the map, and still is the company’s top-selling product today. To pay tribute to this fact while nodding to the very nature of blogging, Bigelow has cleverly named its company blog “Constant Comments.” The cleanly-designed and image-rich blog has more of a food magazine look and feel than a boring old blog blabbing about tea. As tea is often associated with relaxation, the uncluttered design and short, easy-to-read posts are surely intentional. That isn’t to say the blog posts are uninteresting, though. The company is obviously passionate about tea and it shows in the varied and entertaining posts. Customer contests, recipes, tea-themed party ideas, profiles of Bigelow-sponsored events and behind-the-scenes videos are the kind of dynamic posts featured on Constant Comments. Bigelow has taken a lot of care in curating the kind of posts its audience will like to read.

Every detail is thoughtful and well-executed here, and that’s inspiration any size blog can take away. Thinking about your brand’s image and personality before you start blogging is a wise idea and really helps your blog’s message be clearer. Consider your branding, your logos, your other ad campaigns and images and then integrate those idea into your blog. Using already existing ideas and language also helps alleviate the stress of creating a blog language from scratch. Bigelow’s brand thoughtfulness in regard to its blog pays off in a well-written, great-looking and fun-to-read blog which lines up perfectly with the rest of the company’s image.

Feeling overwhelmed and out of the loop? Take a break and catch up with five fantastic stories from the worlds of online marketing and digital branding! Grab a coffee and enjoy our weekly list of five things you might have missed.

1.) Awareness, Orchestrated: In an effort to raise money, CRIS Against Cancer organized a classical music concert in Madrid. According to I Believe in Advertising, “The idea was that the orchestra played the 9th Symphony of Beethoven according to audience response. But, each bar of the score corresponded to a seat in the National Auditorium, therefore any un-sold tickets would mean an unplayed bar, and silence in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony score.” This incredible video shows what happened.

2.) Bestseller Blogs: If you are an indie author planning on using blog marketing to help sell your latest book, this article from Huffington Post is a must-read. In it, the Writer’s Relief staff outlines three essential blogging tips for any budding writer wanting to grab the attention of readers and publishers alike.

3.) Disappearing Ads: If, even as a marketer, the ads on Facebook Mobile drive you nuts, we have some good news. In a story you might have missed, Facebook mobile now lets users hide annoying and plentiful advertisements that pop up on our smartphones. The innovation comes right on the heels of an article from The Atlantic which griped about the irritating ads.

4.) Skinny Machine: “Never underestimate the power of style” is the moral of this little soda story. Diet Coke’s “Slender Vender” is one of those clever marketing ploys that plays perfectly with the brand’s image while producing a memorable visual. The thin, silver vending machine looks as cool and stylish as Diet Coke’s new bottles and cans. Plus, the song in the video is super catchy, too.

5.) A Mother’s Day Marketing Miracle: Finally, we think there’s no better illustration of how to use social media marketing to put your tiny, homespun business on the map than JumpSacBaby. This incredible article from Mashable is as inspiring as it is inspirational for anyone trying to use social media to grow their business and find ways to give your brand a social media makeover.

As blog writing and content marketing gurus, we are quick to dish out expert advice when folks ask about launching blogging-for-business campaigns. Not to toot our own horn, but having launched corporate blogs for a diverse and large group of clients, we feel qualified to talk about such matters. Nevertheless, it’s always a wise idea to get tips from other blogging and content professionals. With that in mind, here are four of our favorite blogging tips from around the web.

Length Matters: Abidemi Sanusi wrote a terrific column yesterday for The Guardian about business blogging, and the best piece of advice featured in the article was about length. Sanusi recommends keeping posts short and we agree. “As a guide, a blog post should be about 400 words. If your post is longer than this, think about serializing it. People tend to scan web content, so make every word count,” he writes.

Remember Your Audience: Knowing who you’re blogging for is key before you get started. Or, as Elizabeth Saunders told Mashable awhile back, “Your blog content should appeal first and foremost to your customers and potential customers. Think about what they would want to read and form your content around meeting their needs in a unique way. To increase readership, you can include links to these articles in your company email newsletter.”

Get the Picture: Images, photos and videos make for blogging gold, and several posts a week should be rich in these things. “I highly suggest all posts have some kind of graphic,” writes Jacqueline Wolven. Wolven says “go crazy” when it comes to blog images, just play by the rules. “A note about photos and images — PLEASE use your own when possible or give credit when you are using someones and a link to their site.”

Spit it Up and then Clean it Up: Nothing slows down the flow of creativity and great blogging than the endless (and mostly ridiculous) pursuit of perfection. Getting the words and ideas down first is paramount. You can always fix the boo-boos, bad spelling and weird sentences later. “When you try to edit as you are writing the post, it can stifle creativity and take longer to produce. Get everything written and then go back to make the necessary modifications after you are finished,” writes Matthew Brennan for B2C.com.

Those are some of our favorite blog creation tips. Readers, now it’s your turn to tell us some of yours!

Blog creation is a full-time job when your company has lots of products, services, divisions, personalities and general stuff to talk about. Juggling every aspect of your company in one tiny blog can be exhausting — and can make your blog feel schizophrenic. But multiple blogs devoted to every arm of your brand isn’t exactly a walk in the park, either. So what’s a super busy brand to do? If you are network television giant ABC, you blog a lot… but do so selectively.

Television networks, as we can imagine, are busy places with hundreds of programs and campaigns to promote. Therefore, ABC doesn’t even try to blog about every single show, star and entertainment event on the network. Instead, ABC uses blogging to chat about buzz-worthy OMG shows that folks talk about around the water cooler at work. Juicy dramas like Revenge, Scandal and Once Upon a Time are a blogger’s paradise as the episodes feature all sorts of moments fans can talk about. ABC skips blogging about sitcoms and some of its older, more established hits in order to, presumably, blog about newer shows that need promoting.

The conversational nature of blogging also works well for ABC’s News division, which has dozens of blogs on everything from sports and entertainment to global headlines and business news. Blogging the news can still be reputable and trustworthy while inviting conversation from readers.

Another smart blogging idea from ABC is being smart about how and what your business blogs about. Realize that not everything your company does, while important in its own way, makes for great blog reading. Instead, use blogging to talk about the goods and services you love. Because nine times out of 10, the things you are passionate about are the topics that make for great blog posts.

Whether you’re running a network or a cake decorating company out of your garage, blogging is a super way to talk to your client base. Use provocative and interesting blog topics to find out what your followers are thinking (and don’t forget to heavily encourage to them to leave comments).

Can blog writing lead to a book? Is crossdressing on Facebook a sign of good marketing? And which shoe brand made a major Boston blunder? The answers to these and other questions can be found in our weekly list of Five Things You Might Have Missed.

1.) Not Skirting the Issue: Want to draw attention to a hot button national issue and raise awareness? Use Facebook marketing and do it in a dress. Or at least that’s what seems to be working for men in the Kurdish community in Iran who are showing their support of women and gender equality. Photos of Iranian men in traditional women’s clothing started popping up online yesterday on Facebook. The page currently has 10,000 supporters and over 150 photos of guys in women’s clothing. Meanwhile the campaign has made international headlines.

2.) Meat the Burglars: Kent’s Meats and Groceries of Redding, Calif., solved two problems with a new online video. By using real-life footage of a recent the bungled burglary attempt by a portly dude in a bandana, the store turned a headline into a potentially viral video hit and put its brand name on the map. Plus, the stranger-than-fiction comedy features that awesome theme music from Benny Hill.

3.) From Nightmare to Dream Come True: If you’re still wondering about the power of brilliant blog creation, the story of Shane Burcaw should convince you to start blogging. Burcaw is a 20 year old with spinal muscular atrophy and he blogs about his daily life with humor and heart on his Tumblr “Laughing at My Nightmare.” Publishers took notice of the truthful and highly-followed blog and Burcaw just got signed to Roaring Book Press.

4.) Tougher Twitter: Worried about security breaches on Twitter like the disastrous one that happened to the Associated Press this week? So is Twitter. On Wednesday, the social media giant announced plans to make future attacks even more difficult. The company promises it has new ways, including a two-step verification process, to thwart Twitter hackers as outlined in this article from The Consumerist.

5.) Boston Boo Boo: We wrap up this week with an unfortunate t-shirt from Nike which read “Boston Massacre” and was splattered with fake blood. The shirt, which was made long before the tragic events at the Boston Marathon earlier this month, was meant to “reference the Bronx Bombers sweeping the rival Red Sox during a key regular season series in 1978 and in the 2006 MLB Playoffs. The phrase itself was borrowed from the notorious 1770 incident in which British solders opened fire on civilian protestors in Boston, killing five and wounding six,” according to AdAge. Nike quickly pulled the shirt and apologized profusely for the t-shirt.

If you’re struggling with blog writing and blog marketing, maybe our series Blog Like the Big Brands can help. Every Monday, we profile mega-brands who use blogging to engage followers, help SEO and reach out to new customers. Some companies lean heavily on blogging to help give consumers a better idea of what their brand is all about. Blogs can effectively and efficiently do this in a few well-constructed posts that get shared instantly on social media. Other companies, like Chipotle, use blogs as a supplement tool to help push campaigns and new promotions.

Healthy Mexican restaurant Chipotle, which redefined the term “fast casual dining,” isn’t just known worldwide for its burritos but for its incredibly strong brand identity. From the pictures on the wall to the Chipotle Facebook page, the company’s unforgettable logos, message and philosophy are always present. And so it is with the Chipotle Tumblr blog. Strong visuals, strong opinions about how food should be made, memorable videos and even chatter from local Chipotle restaurants are all here. Yet visitors to the blog will immediately notice that Chipotle doesn’t blog every day and that the blog isn’t packed with tons of content. Instead of covering the day-to-day at the world’s hippest burrito joint, the blog is used to promote new products and campaigns. For example, Chipotle is currently pushing its music and awareness festival entitled Cultivate. This unique idea melds Chipotle’s food, music and sustainability awareness and is unlike any other festival on the planet. So a blog is a perfect place to explain Cultivate and post videos to get future attendees excited about it.

Normally, sporadic and specific blogging like Chipotle’s might not seem like a great idea. But for a brand with such an incredible web presence throughout all channels of social media marketing, it totally works. In fact, blogging specific promotions, launches and events as supplemental to your company’s current digital branding plan is a smart move. Maybe you don’t have enough blog posts or content to talk about your company everyday. Blogging can be terrific for special contests, as a video channel or even just a home to store images of new products. The fact that a branding superstar like Chipotle does blog says a lot about the platform.