How frequently should you post?
- This question is asked over and over
- A Google search brought up 1.2 billion results – billion!
- Just yesterday – at the webinar 9 Companies Doing Blogging Right and What You Need to Know — it was asked again
The question creates a great post frequency debate.
The Debate Team
In the U.S., we have always been a nation that loves our consultants.
Consultants became the new lawyer jokes.
“If you consult enough experts, you can confirm any opinion.”
So, let’s consult the experts.
- At the 9 Companies webinar – Rick Calvert and Dave Cynkin, co-founders of Blog World & New Media Expo agreed daily posting was not necessary
- Mike Stelzner of Social Media Examiner – when asked the same question, responded that his blog posts six days a week
- Denise Wakeman of The Blog Squad – advocates in her Online Visibility Secrets course that you blog at least three times a week
- Seth Godin – wrote on his blog, “you don’t publish it unless it’s good. You don’t write more blog posts than you can support.“
So, who wins the debate?
A Personal Point of View
It is unlikely you will ever see the term Social Media Expert after my name.
Although I do use the term Consultant. The trick is, I don’t tell you Consultant of what – but, I digress.
This is my non-expert experience.
- When you are a small fish in the ocean, you search for a school of friends
- Increasing your post frequency helps you get noticed
- When you become a really big fish, readers will find you whenever you post
One More Time
- It boggles the mind that this question is asked over a billion times
- And that there are so many strong feelings on the right answer
Let’s make it one billion and one —
How frequently should you post?
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I think they’re all right to some degree. Here’s what it comes down to:
1. You have to know your audience. If they’re active all week, posting every day might be fine. But that’s not often the case. If your audience isn’t reading over the weekend for example, there’s no need to feed them new posts during that time.
2. It depends what you’re looking for. If you’re mainly interested in comments per post, posting more rarely gives each one more time to be featured prominently on the site. If you want to increase traffic and revenue, more frequent posting seems to be the way to go (at least based on the several niches I’ve blogged in — going from sporadic to a minimum of 5 posts per week helped increase traffic a whopping 80% on the main blog for example).
3. And they’re right about quality. Wanting to post frequently doesn’t give you a license to post garbage. You might get away with it, but that rarely lasts for long. So if you want the benefits of more frequent posting, you have to be responsible about it and take it seriously enough to invest the time in creating more great content.
From a reader perspective I find that I spend more time with bloggers posting several times per week, but that 3+ posts every single day is too overwhelming, so I go elsewhere. There’s an author I adore who only posts around once per month. He does get more comments per post that way, but honestly I forget about the blog in between the posts. Even with an rss reader there are too many other things out there each day for it to jump out at me anymore. But how the blog is used and prioritized in his business is very different than mine. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
As with just about everything else in business (and yes, blogging is often a business even if people don’t think of it that way), it all comes down to who you want to reach and what you want out of the effort.
Hi Jenn: Thanks for sharing your experience. I do think you have to post more frequently in the beginning until you get that audience.
Mike Stelzner said something interesting in the webinar yesterday that their reports show their posts have a shelf life of about 72 hours, meaning the bulk of the visitors click on the post in the 1st 72 hours.
I increased to 5 times a week after doing a 30-day challenge, but am probably going to scale back. I’m still trying to find that balance between building more of a following and maintaining good quality posts. Since I started posting 5 times a week, my following and page views have greatly increased, but still have much room for improvement.
I appreciate your experienced perspective.
That might be the case for Mike, but it’s definitely not the case with my audience. My top posts are some from 2-3 years ago mixed in with the current month’s posts. There’s a lot of diversity in what people are clicking, sharing, etc. Really that comes down to how you promote your content and frankly what’s worth sharing. Some would fit the 72 hour mark and then fade. Others get almost no attention right away, and then a week or two later I’ll see a boom of traffic on them.
So I’d be really careful about basing anything on what one blogger says about stats. Unless you’re targeting exactly the same audience, writing the same kind of content, and marketing those posts in the same ways, your experiences probably won’t directly echo theirs.
Good point, Jenn. I definitely agree it depends on how you market your posts and your audience. But, I wonder if it has any tie into the fact that they produce them 6 times a week.
And, you are totally right-very different audience. I have been toying with how to best recycle some older posts-you know those moments of brilliance when no one knew you existed? 😀
I know there is some plug-in that RTs some older posts, but I’m not crazy about that approach.
Jenn pretty much said most of what I was thinking. To me, the frequency means squat if you’re posting mostly crud. Quality or fun posts are what will bring me back as a reader. I quit following several blogs simply for that reason. Seven posts a week and one or none are any good? Not for me.
Hi Wendy-couldn’t agree more. On the other side of the coin, I have some blogs on my RSS feed that have no regular posting schedule-which is supposed to be a major no, but the quality of their posts are so good, I visit whenever they get around to posting.
Thanks for stopping by, Wendy.
I enjoyed your post, and the comments exchanges, as well. I’m intrigued by how big this topic is and how every side makes good points. My concern is what Wendy commented on: frequent, bad posts are not a good thing. I want to increase my posting frequency but only as I get better at generating quality content, faster. It’s all great, useful food for thought!
Hi Shari-thanks for the compliment. It is amazing how huge a topic it is and how many people have such firm opinions.
I have always held to the belief that each person and their situation is unique – it’s a middle child of 7 syndrome. 🙂 On that, I am in total agreement with Jenn.
There is definitely a problem when we let the “what we should do” make us feel compelled to just getting a post out there instead of focusing on the content. I admit at times I have felt that pressure. It’s self-induced and I am the one who can stop it.
I appreciate you stopping by, Shari, and sharing your view. Have a great weekend!
Cathy, I had no idea so many people were concerned about how often to post… amazing. I’m mostly a 5 day a week plus jobs at aboutfreelancewriting.com, and twice a week at oldfatbroadsloseweight.com and whengrandmotherspeaks.com – mostly. Why that amount? Because I can get it done reasonably well.
Hi Anne-then I would say it’s perfect, if it works for you. 🙂 I’m impressed with you maintaining all that.
Thanks for dropping by, Anne.
I post three times per week, which in my blogging “circle” is pretty much the norm. But just the other day I came across a guy telling new bloggers they have to post several times a DAY. Yikes! Talk about discouraging.
Really, I think the key is to find what works for you, and what you can reasonably maintain. I also think it’s important to aim for consistency. Seth Godin might get away with posting when the mood strikes, but most of us aren’t Seth Godin, and our readers aren’t likely to hang around waiting on us.
Hi Cindy-I was posting three times a week. After doing a 30-day challenge I increased to five times a week.
I want to do some other things with my personal blog so I am thinking of posting on this business blog less frequently-probably back to the three times a week.
I simply cannot imagine multiple postings a day. It reminds me of someone who tweets constantly-not for me.
I agree, only the bigs can get away with mood posting…hmmm…we’ve invented a new term 🙂
In any event, I appreciate you stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Have a great weekend.