One of the first things I get asked from new business bloggers is how often they should post. Here are a couple principles to consider when determining your post frequency.
1. Consistency matters.
The most profitable blog audience is filled with many repeat visitors. Repeat visitors are more likely to be your loyal customers since they are exposed over and over to your brand. If the vast majority of your audience is one-time visitors, it can be hard to generate a consistent stream of revenue from your blog.
One effective way to attract repeat visitors to post consistently. This means having a regular publishing schedule like a magazine. It would be bad if a magazine published four issues one month, one issue the next month, and then eight issues the third month. In the same way, it’s not a good idea to publish six posts one week, one post the next week, two posts on the third week, and then five posts the fourth week.
Your readers want to know what to expect. Once you get a regular posting schedule going, you’ll find that many readers will start checking your blog for new content on the days you regularly publish.
2. Your word count per post affects your posting schedule.
The longer your posts are, the less posts per week you can afford to write.
What’s the bare minimum posting schedule? Here are my rough guidelines.
If you write less than 250 words per post, you should be posting at least 3-4 times a week. If your posts are in the 250 to 500 word range, you should post at least twice a week. If you write longer posts (500 or more words), you should post at least once a week.
3. Don’t set the bar too high.
New business bloggers often set unrealistic expectations. They’ll start with a high post frequency that is unsustainable in the long run. When they can’t keep up the posting schedule, they get frustrated and disappointed with themselves.
If you’re new to blogging, it can be easy to underestimate the time and effort it takes to write consistently. Therefore, don’t set your expectations too high.
4. Write posts ahead of time.
Emergencies will happen on posting days and you won’t be able to write your scheduled post. That’s why it’s important to write posts ahead of time.
You should have one or two days a week where you write a post but don’t publish it. Those days should be on your publishing schedule. By writing these “backup posts”, you’ll have something to publish on the days when you’re supposed to be writing but you get too busy or an emergency comes up. (By the way, I like using WordPress as my blogging software, because it allows you to publish posts on a later date.)
This principle works really well if you haven’t launched your blog. You can write a couple posts before your blog goes live. This backlog of “backup posts” ensures that you will be publishing regularly at the start of your blog.
5. It’s okay to take (infrequent) breaks.
Vacations are good for the soul. Just make sure to tell your audience that you will be gone. Tell them when you’ll be back so they know when to start reading again.
Feedback
How do you deal with posting frequency on your blog?
