You may have read a few times that you have to blog frequently. The problem is… how frequently should you blog? And why should you blog frequently? Who should be blogging frequently?
One specific answer for all bloggers does not cut it. There are so many different niche and even more so, different types of blogs, and individuals. Not everyone can attest to being a professional blogger who has quit their day job and have all the time in the world to do what they want, including blogging. Even professional bloggers are not pumping out content in mass amounts all on their lonesome.
Who Should be Blogging Frequently?
You should blog regularly no matter who you are or what you write about on your site. At least once a week is good and keeps the search engines interested in crawling your site.
The problem is that you encounter a couple things: whether you have the time to blog, or keeping up with your competition. If you want to blog and be up to date, you are going to have to make the time to do it. If you can at least blog once a week and only spend a maximum of one hour (depending on the length of your post and how well you can type), you should be fine.
Why Should You Blog Frequently?
There are a couple reasons why you should blog frequently. For one, it does keep the search engines crawling your site for more information. However, the biggest thing- for your audience (your readers and followers, and maybe even your clients.) If you are not sending out any updates, what is going to keep them on your site?
The design can only entertain your readers for a short bit, and if they already read the older posts, what is left? With millions upon millions of blogs alone, other sites that have been updated, might be far more enticing.
The Internet changes, technology changes, just about everything in life changes. If your niche has some pretty important news and you have an opinion about it, that is more reason to be blogging frequently and making sure that your readers are filled in on the most recent news.
How Frequently Should You Blog?
In order to determine how frequently you should blog, there are some factors to think of:
- How fast paced is your niche? (is there a lot of news or not a lot of news)
- How much time do you have to blog, or how much have you set aside to blog?
- How ambitious are you about your site’s success?
Some niche, might be so small and the news for it is not a lot. That might be great for some as it can be manageable.
Some bloggers write on the fly. Some bloggers schedule a time to blog. Find what is a comfortable fit for you and blog. You might even want to jot down some prompts and notes for each before sitting to write a post. It might make the process faster. However, if you want to blog and be up to date, you cannot make excuses. Like the Nike saying- “Just Do It!”
In the case you are aiming high for the success of your blog, you might adopt a far more frequent routine like once a day, three times a week or five times. If you do more than once a day, great… especially if you are the primary author.
However, do not overdo it. Pace yourself and schedule posts to publish based on the pattern in times your visitors come by to comment on your website. Yep! You have heard it! If you look through your comments for your site, and notice the time, you can market your articles more efficiently. Your regular readers can be a big clue on why they may miss commenting at one post versus another… and this is without looking at third party stat programs!
If you have a strong following that leaves comments, try to keep them in mind when it comes to blogging. If they cannot read your work every day, and you are publishing too frequently, you might have articles that do not get the attention they need.
Also, you can put out a survey or poll for your visitors to fill out so you know:
- How often they visit your site
- What brings them back to your site
- What topics they are interested in
- What topics that have not been covered that they would like to see in particular
- How easy is it to use the site (poor usability can be a deterrent)
- When do they like to visit the site
- If the site improved more, would they visit more often
- Any suggestions for better site usability?
Does Being a Frequent Blogger Lead to Success?
So, I had to ask this question…. does blogging frequently lead to success? The answer: Not all the time.
There are so many factors into what it takes to have a successful blog and much of it rests on how you market your site. You can publish as much content, slap as much handy dandy search optimization tricks, and have traffic from the search engines, but the people who stick around the longest are the ones you connected with out on the social networks or in person.
You ultimately have the keys to drive your blog towards success, stay in park, or crash and burn. Some successful bloggers only blog once a week. Others a couple times a day.
How often do you blog? Do you make a schedule to blog or write on the fly?
“blog more” is a goal for the New Year. I’m going to go with one posting a week in addition to my novel “Happiness: How to Find it”, which I’ll be serializing with a chapter or two a week.
I blog very frequently, but I also have a very competitive niche and I have no excuse – I do this for a living. I definitely love to see other bloggers take up the challenge of blogging more.
Now, with your novel, that is pretty cool that you will be putting it up on your site. I read the intro page and I am interested in reading. I did not see a newsletter on your site to sign up for updates… might want to put one together. 🙂
Another thing to consider is how many other platforms you are using to talk to your readers! For example, do your blog readers also follow you on Twitter or Facebook? Are you communicating with them via other medium or is your blog the only connection between you and your readers?
Thanks for the info, Nile!
Nice post.I read the post and I am interested in reading.But plz also post news letter for my convience
I like to write one well researched post in 2-3 days. I think quality is better than quantity, on the long term.
2-3 articles a week is enough for me as i m also battling with my studies…. meanwhile the article is awesome
I think what you dont address is establishing yourself. From the blogs i have run, i have found it important to blog very frequently at the start to establish yourself, maybe several times a day.
I do this to build content and to rank for new keywords in google + build up a content base that would interest my visitors.
However, after you have built a massive user base you should just focus on putting out the best quality stuff as possible and updating when is natural. I suggest updating a couple of times a week at least. I visit a lot of websites once or twice a week and i imagine other people do the same. So its always nice to see new content when you go back.
That is my take on it, hope you agree. Oh yeah, and happy new year!
Hi Nile,
As much as possible I blog everyday sometimes 2 articles or at least 1 article minimum per day. What I do most is get more backlinks since most of my articles are not timebound.
hello
yup fully agree with u as per to write articles …i concentrate more on to make backlinks to get the good page rank thnx for the info
Enjoyed your article Niles, and I agree there’s a bit of experimentation involved to find the right balance. For my blog I find 3 new posts a week works well – though I do not stick to a strict schedule as far as the day I post because I like to mix it up just a little to encourage readers to subscribe so they won’t miss anything.
hi Nile,
I post regularly twise per week and what takes time is the use of key words that have little competition and the topics that most interest my market, do you have an idea on how to leverage time on these 2 actions? Thanks for your precious advise, great post as always!
Hi
Interesting article. I launched my blog – http://www.theSarayiahpost.com which is my views on life, love, relationships etc at the end of August 2011. Initially I was going to post everyday, but that went by the wayside very quickly. Now I post when I have inspiration, but so far in just over 4 months my site has jumped more than 26m places in the world-wide rankings according to Alexa to being in the top 800,000 which is amazing! My traffic for December was up 30% on Nov, which in itself was a record month since I launched.
I am trying to help people change their way of thinking and problem solving so they can challenge the status quo and “be FREE be ALIVE be Truly HAPPY.” Please check out my site and leave comments – http://www.theSarayiahpost.com – my latest article is about New Year’s.
Happy New Year and have a wonderful day.
Love
Isaac Sarayiah
Great Post! I truly believe that a blog can be the place where you develop your persona! At least once a week, for me, it has to be more frequent, generally because I am full-time once a day. Why? because it gives me a reason to share with my readers often, They love getting the e-mail that there is something new to read and I often use video also which makes it easier at least for me.
Nile, I try to write twice a week in my blog. I avoid facebook because it eats too much of my time. Whenever I write I pour my soul to make my posts more richer. Blogging also serves as an outlet so that I can be stress free, it is like a therapy for me.
Great post and great suggestions thanks for sharing really you have revealed the golden coin cheers
Great pist and thanks for suggestions!!
Thank You Niles
Great advice, I will take all your suggestions , My new goal for 2012 is two posts a week, I will stick to a strict schedule.
Thank You
Sharon
Thanks for sharing this article. I am trying to learn as much about blogging as I could possibly know now because I want to start my own blog this year. Thanks!
I publish about 2 new blog posts every week, but i’m finding myself writing about the same thing over and over again. I definitely need to be more creative and maybe cut it down to once a week. The main reason i do it is for fresh content.
Nile, This is a great article full of helpful thought provoking information to help us determine what is our blogging strategy. For me, I barely get the required 1 post a week, as I have other stuff going on in my life. Being in TSA, that is required of us. And I can see why, especially if you are the “TSA winners” for the week, there has to be something current to comment on when one is in the limelight often.
I am sure your article will help many determine why, when and what they should blog about.
Thanks!
Lynn
Awesome write-up here. Coming up with a great speed at which to release content is definitely important. I usually try to keep a time-frame as well (ex. every 3 days, every 5 days, etc.) so readers also know when to return to check out what’s new.
I run a Hip Hop blog, and you basically need to update as soon as a song drops, so I update multiple times a day usually.
Hi Nile,
Great post and at a very good time. With the start of the new year, it is important for bloggers to assess and evaluate their plan for the new year and you have given some excellent tips.
For myself, being a part-time Networker and working full-time, it is difficult to post more than once per week. But, it is important to post at least once per week.
For my success and the success of my blog, it is important to be consistent and continue to do what my readers expect. So, I discipline myself to generate at least one post per week.
Like you stated, if you want your readers to keep coming back, you need to keep it fresh and interesting.
Since, I do research before I post and add other elements which takes time, right now that is my schedule.
To your continued blogging success,
Marc
I’ve got more than one blog and I love focusing on my websites in my spare time.
Unfortunately I don’t have all the time I want, because my main job is music composing and production and it’s not an easy activity.
Anyway, I love blogs, blogging and bloggers! I wish you all a wonderful 2012!
I have several blogs and quite a few social media portals so goal is set for one main blog post per week and a series of micro blog thoughts on facebook pages and profile.
I can’t imagine a niche being so small that you would run out of things to blog about with all the information we have and how fast things change – If someone told me that, I’d be suspicious that they weren’t keeping current reading articles and watching for trends.
Ya, actually the type of blog is a very important factor in deciding how frequently you should blog. That is a funny fact most of us miss out!
I was think the frequency must as I assume , is once a day …
Is it right to do it once a day…
Plz reply
Great post, Nile! You raise several important points!
The key is knowing your readers and keeping up with their expectations if possible! I find that creating a “Series” of articles, has helped ensure that I keep blogging regularly.
I’m about to finish a 10-part series on Building You, Inc. I’ve got 3 series that will follow, one after another.
Another thing that helps is setting aside a specific time and focusing just on creating content. Then, don’t CHANGE that time! This will keep you “honest’ with yourself, which is key!
I started my personal blog a year ago, and I must admit that I didn’t devote much time to it because of my work. And now, I really want to make it successful. I guess I just have to do it! And what I do now is that if I have a lot of spare time, I see to it that I write as many posts as I can and just schedule to post them everyday or every other day. But I will take your advice and place a survey on my side bar 🙂 It’ll be a great help, thanks!
I believe this is an issue that should be fairly easily to solve as a webmaster. First I look at the amount of traffic the blog is getting, if it’s a decent daily amount I usually aim for 3-4 posts a week.
Now for a blog that isn’t popular just yet, I use a different tactic. As there aren’t many visitors just yet, instead of posting 3-4 posts a week, I simply focus on 1 a week. That particular 1 however is of high standard and usually takes the same amount of time to create 3-4 blogs at once. I believe by posting high standard posts does make a blog more popular.
This is a very timely post for me, Nile. I’m toying with the idea of posting every day for the next three months, but spending no more than an hour each day on creating new posts. After that I’d like to cut back to about 2/3 posts a week. Regardless, I agree with you: it’s good to keep your blog humming.
Hi Nile,
first, i think your post really interesting, because i`m a NewBlogger 🙂
My Blog starts in July on blogspot for learning more about online marketing. I write my posts with quality, it’s better for the future and it`s better for the people who read my posts.
I need an idea… radio, tv, web or my best girlfriend. i write about dating and flirts and all the thing. The ideas are in my life, every day and i hope, it never stops.
i cant`t write everyday, because, my son and my family and friends, they also need time.!!!!
So, i find your site really great and interesting. Thanks for sharing. i wish you much success with your project and fun with your son.
with loving greetings from Germany, Sandy 🙂
Your article helped me understand how frequent I should blog according to my niche and why. This is a great start for 2012, thanks for your blog, very powerful and informative.
I’d like to blog more, right now I’m doing a post every two weeks. Having a fulltime job and a family with young kids just don’t give me enough time to do it. I write articles when I have the time, then just schedules them to post every two weeks. I can probably do the posting more frequently. But I was hoping to get more comments per post. Does the number of comments have an effect on your SEO ranking?
I do my best to blog once per week, but I am not always successful.
Lately I have been spending more time on content creation and have help spreading the content around. It has been a lot less stressful for me. Now I believe I will be able to blog twice per week.
Wish me luck! 🙂
hi Nile, great article with a lot of practical tips. We hear so much about the standard ‘you should blog every day if you are really serious’ that it was refreshing to read your expert point of view.
One other thing I would like to add is the frequency of your blog posts also depends on the purpose you set for your blog.
When I initially started blogging, my primary purpose was to build credibility for my offline audience. I set myself a goal of two blog posts a week because I like to write stuff that really delivers some value, plus I incorporate a lot of video and it doesn’t always roll off the tip of my tongue!
For me, that is a formula that has worked pretty well.
I also love your tip: “If you look through your comments for your site, and notice the time, you can market your articles more efficiently.” – I never thought of doing that …
…Just off to check my comments …. 🙂
Nile,
Once again, great blog article on a current topic that everyone wonders about whether they are new to blogging or even if they’ve been at it for a while. I just added this to my FB Fan Page cause this is stuff people need to know about. I like the fact that even once a week for some blogs can be fine depending on the characteristics of the readers and the character or the blog. For instance, a blog that talks about tech trends would probably want to post more than once a week since the field changes so rapidly. A blog by a Mom about how to raise kids can probably be update only once a week cause Mom’s are really busy and the “industry” isn’t changing that rapdidly.
Thanks again for great stuff!!!!
— Jupiter Jim
Nile,
this is a great point you make. With life having so much things we find ourselves doing on a daily baises. You will find that once is enought with real usable content.
This will never take the resposibility of each person responding and sharing the love with everyone who leaves a comment. That takes a huge amount of energy to do. This will take more hours than you may think.
Take in fact to visit each person’s blog and create supportive comments for there readers to have more clarity on what ever the subject matter is.
So, we must create a article that has usable content and supports our passion being shared with our readers. Then respond to every reader’s comments. Then visit their sites and leave supportive comments for them. This is a huge responsibility to keep the momentum going on all ends.
This is how I work it. Write and article when there is something to be shared on my blog. Read and respond to all comments left,. Start a list of the people who left comments and visit their blogs. If I have supportive feedback, then I will leave a comment. If I just learned and have nothing to say, nothing is left. Yet, I will get around to visiting their blog again.
This is keeping it real. Share the love with positive passionate supportive content. Everything else will keep up with the awesome momentum being created.
Nile, I love your commitment to provide thinkable content. Yours amazing and one of our great mentors in this industry. I really enjoy stopping by today and will return soon.
Hi Nile,
This is great advice. I think everyone is different as regards number of posts. If you are in a small niche and blog daily with repetitive information, you might scare everyone away.
In the end quality content is king and that is what keeps people coming back. Just as it is the content you produce that keeps me coming back here!
Hey Nile
I need to get my act together and at least post one blog post a week.
Thanks for giving me the push 🙂
Peter
Hi Nile,
very informative information!
The ‘crawling’ of the search engines makes sense.
Providing valuable information for our readers and possible customers would probably the top of the list for me.
Since the beginning of this year I have committed myself to work everyday on creating a new post. I’d be happy to publish one once a week and ecstatic if more.
Thanks for sharing this.
I like to blog once a day at least six times a week. However, that has varied over the past two years a little. I started out just blogging during the week and extended it to the weekend as well.
Since I am in Social Media it is a little more crowded and the regular schedule gives me a boost.
Andy
Hi Nile, Excellent topic. This is a question raised by many. I feel like it is up to the individual and their time factor. I blog at least once a week. I feel like if I am consistent with it, whatever crawlers out there would be satisfied. I don’t know why, but it has worked for me. It is all about commitment. I know I cannot commit more that that because of other things I do. But I speak for myself. I am very serious about blogging and don’t want to “give up” because I commit more than I could handle.
Thanks Nile, I enjoyed this post.
Donna
Not only the search engines but the readers and visitors of the site more importantly will get bored when your blog remains same and inundated.
Nile,
Thanks for the great info!
Not being the primary author of the site I am working on a post a week. I am working on creating a daily rhythm to be working on writing a post, editing, and publishing. I am not in the rhythm yet, but hope to be by April.
I like your ideas. I am also planning to be a consistent blogger and see whether there will much difference in 2012
Hello Nile, I believe that being a successful blogger depends on more than the regularity of the posting. I’ve seen some very successful bloggers, who sometimes only blog once a month. I guess it depends on how you “judge” success also. If the blog gets a lot of traffic and gets a lot of comments, it could be considered successful.
And, I think success can only be determined by the reasons for the blog being created. And, there are a number of different reasons for having a blog. Some people don’t care about the number of comments – they judge success on the number of people who “opt in” to their list, or the number of people who purchase products from the advertising on their blog.
So, that’s only my opinion:-) Regards from Julieanne
Hey I believe the frequency at which you post articles on your blog depend on what kind of articles you post, a well researched article would require less frequency.
I worked very hard for 6 weeks to build a base of articles and then wrote one a day for 4 months, but this isn’t sustainable for me. Now I have decided to reduce the number to 2/3 articles a week and spend more time on social media and networking.
Thanks for the great post.
There are many ways to publish articles regularly in your blog, even if you don’t have the time to write them by yourself if your blog it’s not new and have some page rank and low Alexa rankings you will find a lot of people who will want to publish their guest posts on your site.
Of course it might be a little difficult in the beginning where you should put a lot of effort in writing blog posts in order to establish your blog, but when this happens you will attract a lot of guest bloggers…
Hello nile, Yeah frequency off course matters when your blog’s success is considered. It depends on the niche you’re in, if its more competitive and needs to be updated daily, you ought to blog more frequently, which is the same in my case, or forget being listed in search results.
I blog more frequently, but also the quality must be kept in mind, so you don’t disappoint your readers.
Tips are really encouraging …i really need to improve a lot in my writing …i hope your tips will be of great use to me ..Thanks for sharing
I visit a lot of websites once or twice a week and i imagine other people do the same.I feel like it is up to the individual and their time factor. I blog at least once a week…..
http://www.findghar.com
WOW! What a simple, highly useful tutorial! Thanks for this great help!