How many ways are there to do something? Let’s count them, shall we?

Did you know there are Eleven Tips For Optimizing PDFs For Search Engines? Did you realise there were 41 Reasons Why Your Blog Probably Sucks? Want to create a new blogging network? Do you understand though that there are 46 Things To Do Before Launching a Blog Network?

At the moment it seems the blogosphere is dripping with all manner of “how to” articles, and between them just about every gap in our knowledge of a particular subject must be covered somehow, somewhere.

Don’t believe me? I bet you didn’t know there were 7 White Hat SEO Strategies Every Blogger Should Know, or 80+ AJAX-Solutions For Professional Coding, or that there are 23 Ideas for Finding New Readers for Your Blog, or of the 7 Top Ways To Lose 70% Of Your RSS Readers did you?

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with “how to”, or “list articles”, as I call them. I even write a couple myself. I’m always interested in how to achieve something in 7, 11, 23, 41, 46, or even 80 plus, steps or ways, but lately I have started to wonder how many is too many.

A flyer for a new magazine, Australian Women’s Health, caught my eye at a newsagent’s shop the other day, not solely on account of the model gracing the cover, but also an article teaser at the foot of the poster.

“2,142 all new health, fitness, nutrition, & sex tips”

2,142?

“All new”? Really?

Isn’t 2,142 tips just a tad over the top though? Who would have time to read all of them? Who would remember 2,142 tips? I imagine some people would only be interested in certain of the tips, but even then, there’d still be a lot to digest.

It’s certainly one way to create interest in the magazine, and so long as it generates sales, the publisher will be happy. But would it work for bloggers, or in an online environment?

I doubt it.

Personally I think 30 to 40 ideas, or suggestions, is probably the maximum number of points to make in any one “how to” article before information overload starts to kick in.

If I had more points to make I’d consider covering them in a series of articles, so that the information could be absorbed over a period of time.

Hopefully it would also entice readers to return to my blog to read the next installment. Australian Women’s Health magazine should spread out their wisdom over a couple of editions. Play on the anticipation as it were. After all, fitness sells doesn’t it?

Or am I thinking of nutrition…