How to Determine Your Posting Frequency
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Posting frequency has been the topic of many sites across the Internet as different marketers and bloggers share their opinion on how frequently, when, and why you should post. As an individual, you have to look at the overall factors and decide which option works the best for you.
Here are a few opinions from both sides:
Post less……
Yan, from Thou Shall Blog, in his 101 Blogging Tips I’ve Learned in 2008 has #17 listed as Posting frequency is overrated. In it he links to Ben Barden’s post 10 Reasons Not to Post Too Frequently. Their reasoning is that you should give your post a chance to breathe and time for your subscribers to read and comment before another post is being thrown in their face. Doing so will gain loyalty in your readers and increase your subscriber rate.
Another argument for posting less frequently is that your content will be higher quality because you will not feel pressured to write every day. You will have more time to focus on creating stronger articles in which your skill and knowledge come across.
Post more…
On the flip side, Shirley from Velvet Blues Website Development, wrote The Larger the Website, the Greater the Traffic. In it she talks about how that while the more content you have the stronger your traffic flow is, you need to be aware of your quality and also take the opportunity to update your older page so you don’t lose size from your older posts dropping off.
Daniel from Daily Blog Tips agrees that posting frequency can increase your traffic and popularity. His opinion can be seen in his post On Posting Frequency. He says that while some polls show that the highest reason for unsubscribing to a blog is too many posts it hasn’t been clarified as to how many is too many.
So what do I think?
There are positives to both views but here’s my opinion. When first getting started in blogging you have to get a feel for it, gain your rhythm, and get comfortable with your writing. In doing so your posting frequency may be less than when you gain full stride. As some point you are going to realize that you are ready to really turn up the volume and create the vision that you had when you started your blog.
For some that may take a few weeks, for some a few months.
At that point is when you begin to have the post ideas pop into your head unheeded and know that you can increase your frequency and still maintain the quality that you have built yourself up to. Now your focus is on gaining traffic, and until you reach your subscriber “comfort zone” you should post as frequently as once a day.
After you have gained the following that you have set for yourself, it is time to slow down and develop the community among your subscribers. Here is where you really flesh out your brand and turn your blog into the tool you need it to be- whether a stepping stone to your business, a knowledge base for your leadership, or just a way to create an extra income for yourself.
No matter what the view on posting frequency there is a united front that quality must supercede the quantity. Don’t post just to post but develop your blog around your niche and yourself and let your passion show through. The ideas will just flow after that.
Not every post you are going to write is going to be top notch but in Entrepreneurs-Journey’s author, Yaro Starak, describes the Pillar Article and how having them is key to your blogs success.
You have to decide what posting frequency is going to work for you and what you are building.
- What are your goals?
- What are you looking to create?
- What are your time constraints?
The bottom line- no one can choose the right path and what will work for your blog. Pay attention to your readers, keep up your quality, get the traffic you are looking for and do it with the posting frequency that strikes the best balance for all of those things.
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Well, Jen. You know my opinion on posting frequency is going to be a biased one. I for one think that unless you could write quality article everyday, go ahead. If you can’t, don’t compensate quality for higher frequency. It’s just not worth the effort. You’ll get burned out pretty quickly and it takes the fun out of blogging.
I do agree that the opposite is true when you just get started blogging. At least for the first 30 days and slow down once you’ve established yourself somehow.
Well, that’s at least what I did at TSB and fact of the matter is the less I write, the more I could devote my time promoting my blog.
Yet another great article from you, Jen.
Yan
Thanks Yan. I did see that you used to post more but I agree with your schedule now- you have a great comment community and have done an incredible jopb building up TSB - I see you everywhere I go. I hope that in a few months I am at that point.
I honestly don’t know how anyone can come up with new ideas every day and I give kudos to those who do.
Thanks for the mention. As for blogging frequency, I agree with Yan that the less you write the more time you have for other activities. Reading and commenting on other blogs, being active in forums and on social networking/bookmarking websites, etc… all takes time.
On the other hand, if you are attempting to get noticed by search engines, the more pages you have and the more often you publish new content, the greater the likelihood that your organic traffic will be increased.
But as Yan has proven, there are so many ways to get traffic for a website, whether or not you focus on search engines… So it really depends on what kind of community you want to build around your blog and how often you want to write.
Nice article.
Shirley’s last blog post..What’s Up With The Wikipedia Plea for Donations?
Thanks. It definitely does all take time- a lot of people think that blogging is just getting on the computer and posting information on your blog and magically the people will come…. but it is so much more than that.
In the short time I have been reading your blog you have shown me that you can post everyday and still have great material. Looking forward to your next post.
Haha, thanks. Now the pressure is really on.
Shirley’s last blog post..What’s Up With The Wikipedia Plea for Donations?
I’m with Yan on this one. I think less is best if more is going to influence the quality of your posts. Although I agree that a solid stream of posts may create more traffic, the traffic you will get, unless the quality is exceptional, are bouncers, who just pop in and out not doing much of anything.
Sire’s last blog post..Commenting 101 Important Rules For 2009
Great point- it all hinges on quality- Thanks for the comment Sire.