How often SHOULD you blog? Really?
It’s challenging to blog 16 times a month. I’ve done it, back in my early days of blogging (2003ish), when a company hired me to write two posts a day for their blog. I practically killed myself doing it.
I’ve experimented with blogging three times a week, twice a week, and once a week. Any less than once a week doesn’t work, as my readership tanks.
While it’s true that publishing more frequently does attract more visitors to your blog, I’d rather publish fresh, high-quality content at a pace that’s realistic and doable for me (currently, that’s once a week).
When life happens…
If I need to skip a week due to illness, travel, or a heavy work load, I give myself permission to do that, guilt-free. Okay. ALMOST guilt-free.
For example, during the next three weeks, I’m going to be doing a lot of traveling. I’m also fine-tuning workshops that I’ll be teaching at a conference, preparing to launch an online course, ghost writing and running Facebook ad campaigns for several clients, launching a client’s website, revamping my own website, and drafting several “mega” blog posts. And I’m recovering from a back injury that forces me to spend big chunks of time resting, stretching, and visiting the massage therapist.
I’m not telling you this to gain sympathy points. It’s just the way my life looks at the moment. I’m betting that your life includes a similar set of demands on your time.
Alternative: Group blogging
Unless you’re part of a blogging team in which you contribute one post a week, it’s really, really difficult to blog 3-5 times a week, every week of the year. Yeah, you can sustain that pace for a while. But after about six months, you’ll notice that the quality of your blog posts decreases and your desire to continue blogging flags.
And honestly, I’m not sure whether readers want to hear from you that often.
I’ve unsubscribed from several blogs that publish lengthy articles six days a week. While I’d love to soak in all their content, there aren’t enough hours in the day or brain cells left in my head to absorb that quantity of information.
Quality vs. quantity
I’ve never had a reader contact me and say, “I wish you would publish a new blog post every day.”
But plenty of readers have told me,
“Thank you so much for your excellent blog posts. I look forward to them, and I always learn something new!”
My goal is to publish fresh content at a pace that gives my readers time to digest my content, and keeps them coming back for more.
I’d love to hear from you on this.
- How many times per week do you publish new articles on your blog?
- Is that a comfortable amount for you and your readers?
- Are you thinking of cutting back or expanding the amount of weekly posts you publish?
More articles in this series
In my next post, we’ll discuss the “perfect” length for a blog post.
In Part 3 of this series, guest columnist, Lisa Michaels, will share five simple, yet effective tactics to promote your new content.
Tweet it
[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]Is blogging 16+ times/month realistic, or even doable for a solopreneur?[/tweet_box]
[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none”]Blogging: The QUALITY vs QUANTITY debate. What’s your take?[/tweet_box]
Statistic Source: Hubspot blog
I’ve also tried to blog 3X a week (on two blogs). So I had to get out a post a day. It killed me. Then I faced three surgeries within 8 months and my blogs went for weeks without new content. I am now back up and running but I’m only aiming at a post a week on my main site, while the other is waiting patiently. Good or bad? I don’t know, but I’m trying to write a series of ebooks and I can only produce so much. Thanks for a thought-provoking post.
Great post, Laura. For the past year I’ve been posting new blog posts once a week, with the exception of illness or vacation. But now that I’m writing a book I decided to go to every other week. I know the industry tells us that’s not often enough, but with a husband and kids I can’t sacrifice sanity and sleep just to do what the industry says I should do. Plus, I have a strong desire to leave people wanting more instead of hoping they’re not sighing, “Ugh. Another one? I haven’t even read last week’s!”
I’m smiling as I read your comment, Carrie, because that’s the exact dilemma I struggle with. I do NOT want people sighing, “Ugh. Another one?”
“The industry” tells us all kinds of things that are partially true, but not realistic, unless you’re one of those “HUSTLE” people who think that working 20 hours a day is going to make you happy, healthy, and whole.
I think you have a viable reason to blog every other week (and I love your posts, by the way). When you finish writing your book and are ready to put the marketing of your book into high gear, you can then return to blogging weekly or more often.
Shirl,
I like your “good or bad” question. I don’t know that there is a good or bad. I think that you should do what’s best for you as this phase of your writing career. If once a week is doable and the other blog needs to be dormant for a while, so be it.
Thanks for your kind words about my blog, Laura. Yes, I’d like to go back to once a week when my book is done, but since getting over the guilt of posting every other week I have to say it’s quite liberating.
And for the record, your posts never make me sigh like that, ever. One because they’re informative and have info I always benefit from, and two because they’re short! When scanning my emails I realize I tend to skip all the long ones with intentions of getting to them when I have more time. But I always open yours within a day or two because I know they’re not going to take me 20 minutes to get through.
Thanks for all your hard work to help bloggers like me!
Carrie,
Your comment makes me very glad I trimmed this post back to its original 500 words. I had the bright idea to expand it and it ended up being 2500 words! But I couldn’t figure out how to make the additional 2000 words work in this context, so I decided to ponder this for a while and save those words for another article. Or a series.
WOW! I’ve heard 3 times a week but never this much. I used to do 1-2 when I first started blogging 6 years ago to build a platform. Last year, I moved my blog to my website, had blog interface issues with the provider for 6 months (where I couldn’t post any new content on my site at all!) and finally moved all of it back to WordPress this past Septemeber. While people still found my past blog posts, I’ve had to rebuild my followers. I blog once a week with a rare extra thrown in if I feel led. I’m picking up momentum with new readers finally, but it seems to take time. Any more than once is too much when I’m trying to produce books. But I have found this year that a few things have helped: 1. I narrowed in on my “brand” or “message” and keep that as the focus (in some way) for everything I write. (I write about taking your life forward into hope, healing and redemption through Jesus). As I focus on taking our lives forward, my posts have become easier to write because I’m not scrambling for something to write about. Even if I have a new book coming, I can talk about it in terms of that. 2. I asked God to give me content. Sounds simple, but he really has given me so much during my time with him. 3. Writing out a schedule and spending about one day per month focused on blog writing keeps me scheduled about 3-4 weeks ahead. That takes the pressure off. 4. I’ve begun looking for other authors I can feature once a month with a similar message. A couple of times I’ve been reading a magazine and an article jumps out as pertinent so I can build a post around that. I finally feel like blogging is working well and not stressing me out.
Laura,
I’m glad to hear your current plan for blogging is working well for you. I am a huge believer in writing topical posts, as blogging about “life” or random topics and hoping that people will find you rarely works. The fact that your blog topics are broad enough to tie in with your book’s theme is great.
I like that you’re devoting a day a month to concentrated blogging. A lot of bloggers “batch” their posts and it’s an effective way to stay productive and stay motivated to blog.
Thanks, Laura! I appreciate all I’ve learned from you about social media both at Mount Hermon and on your blog. I actually really like your “tips” posts!
I too have experimented with frequency and have determined that 3/week puts me over the edge. I need more margin in my life than that allows. 2x is sustainable, but as I’m looking ahead to launching my first book and returning to freelance writing, I’m trying very hard now to make room for these by cutting back to just once a week. I don’t know what that’s going to do to my numbers, but I do know it’s going to make me saner and improve post quality — enough of a win-win to make me happy. And I suspect my readers too.
Katherine,
You will likely see a dip in numbers when you cut back to once a week. This is why I highly recommend that people focus on building their email list of blog subscribers. That way, whether you publish 1 or 3 times a week, your loyal readers will receive your posts in their Inbox.
I know you already to this, as I subscribe to your blog, so this comment is mainly for the benefit of those who haven’t thought about blog subscribers as an excellent means of building your email list.
I’ve blogged two times a week for nine years. The only time I’ve missed posting was when my computer was once, unexpectedly, out for repairs. I share my posts on Facebook, and get nearly all the comments there instead of on the blog itself. I wish more people would go to the actual blog.
[…] I didn’t post often enough to drive […]
[…] Part 2: How often SHOULD you blog? Really? […]
[…] my previous post, we discussed how often you “should” blog. Today, we look at the ever-evolving “perfect” length for a blog […]