Apr
24
One of things that I struggle with is how often I should publish on this blog. At any one time, I may have several posts that I am working on and could publish multiple times a day if I wanted but I prefer to publish about 5 or 6 times a week.
Yesterday I ran across a post at 901am by Sharon Sarmiento that addresses this issue:
Really, take a moment to think about it–do you ever get the feeling in your blogging life that you’re running hard simply to stay in place?
One thing that springs to my mind is the standard for having lots of posts on a blog. The more content the better, it seems.
You may have started out with the personal expectation of posting 3 times a week, then increased the expectation to 5 times a week, then all the sudden it’s the norm for folks to publish multiple times a day every day of the week, and you’re wondering, “Should I be posting more?”.
I have to admit, I see blogs that have 4 or 5 posts a day and I wonder if I should be doing the same. It has become a race to see who can put up the most content in the shortest amount of time. For a blog with multiple authors, having several posts a day is no problem but what about those of us who own single author blogs? Can we expect to match their quantity and still maintain the quality of our posts?
In the article mentioned above, Sharon mentions surveys that were taken by Darren Rowse and Guy Kawasaki that seem to indicate that too many posts will cause readers to unsubscribe from your blog and it’s better to post when you feel like it rather than try to follow some set schedule.
I can certainly see how too many posts could make readers unsubscribe from your feed. With the number of feeds that I subscribe to, it is very difficult to keep up and I find myself doing more skimming than reading these days.
So, what do you think… how often should a blogger publish?
Popularity: 23% [?]
David,
This is a great question to ask the blogging community … and I have asked myself the same question several times. Actually it’s funny that you should ask this question today … since John Chow wrote 1 or 2 days ago about using the timestamp feature. I have several posts already written and I decided to schedule them using the timestamp feature in Word Press. Honestly I think 2 posts a day is more than enough … 1 in the AM … 1 in the PM …
I personally wake up … go to work … check all my daily blogs in the AM … go to lunch … work the rest of the day … and before I go home … check all my daily blogs again … then go home … at home if I have time … I’ll check email then check daily blogs again 1 last time … to see if there was any breaking news I should know about!
So honestly I think 2 times a day is enough for any blogger to keep readers interested!
Just my 2 cents!
Thanks
Darin
I suggest publishing at least twice weekly, but no more than once a day. That’s my goal. I also have a lot of subscriptions and I like the idea that I may someday catch up on reading all those articles. That won’t happen if everyone posts daily, or more than once a day. I believe one well-crafted article is worth more than four smaller spur-of-the-moment creations.
I’m just starting up my blog (tech news) and I am trying to post at least 3 or so times a day. Quality over quantity is the idea.
I currently am trying to keep up a pace of once a day. I may post a second if I should say come across a video I like and it would not take much time at all to add it on, but very typically I keep my pace to once a day.
This way I can stockpile new ideas all the time. I think most blogs with just 1 author posting multiple times a day may burn out sooner.
I think if you post less than once a day, you really should at least post a few times a week. If there is too long of a period of no post, you may lose the readers you have tried so hard to get.
I agree with above except that quality posts is the trump card.
Seriously, you will keep a large portion of your readers if you simply have quality posts. I read a blog from a taxi driver in Vegas who is an excellent writer with great stories… but he only posts once every 2-3 weeks. Every time he posts though he gets tons of readers.
I personally try to aim at 1 post per day for my current blog. My blogs that are new I try for 2-3 posts a week just to make good quality content to attract readers. Then I can amp up my content later. That way I can avoid burn-out and keep my interest.
personally, i think posting more than once a day on an informational blog site is too much. first of all, as a reader, it’s difficult having to scroll through 6 or 8 posts in one blog if i miss a few days (esp if they’re quality posts). and on the flip side, my posts get more comments when they’re left up for a full day. i need to give my readers a chance to digest what i’ve said. i know i have ADD, but i can’t assume my readers do too!
and lastly, i think the types of blogs that need to be updated more than once a day are ones that people might expect to check more than once a day. for instance, bensbargains.net comes to mind. a site like that which is continually posting deals needs to be constantly updated. sorry for rambling…
oh um…i guess i didn’t really answer your main question: “how often do you blog?”
i try to shoot for once a day. seems like the best number so far for my type of blog.
I say it depends on the site if you have a news blog no telling becuase news happens 24/7 but for the avg blog I say once a day maxing out at three 1 for the am 1 for the mid day and 1 for the pm. I myself shoot for one a day for the practice.
as long as you keep the quality of your posts high i would say the more posts the better. simple as that.
if i like the writing style of someone and enjoy their posts then i wouldnt be pissed off if they posted more often – quite the opposite.
I have different posting frequencies for my 3 blogs, and I think the ideal depends on the type of blog.
If you write long, wordy posts, then once a day is fine.
One liner, humour and image blogs can do loads and it doesn’t matter.
The key thing is to establish a frequency you’re happy with and then stick to it-if your readers expect 3 times a day, and you disappear for 3 weeks say goodbye to most of you readers….
[...] David Culpepper – trying to figure out the norm with the following post: How Often Do You Blog? [...]
I post when I have something to say, but it’s pretty much time limited rather than idea limited. If I don’t post for a few days traffic wanes a little, but it probably means I’m working on something big(ish) which will often have a FAR bigger positive impact. I know the ‘i didn’t blog yesterday, I HAVE to get something out today’ feeling though.
I like Steve’s answer best. Post when you have something to say. Good one, Steve!!
Lots of great answers. Thanks to everyone who who took the time to comment… I really appreciate it!
[...] In the last few days ive been reading a lot of posts regarding posting frequency. David Culpepper came across a post called ‘Red Queen Effect: How many blog posts are too many?‘ and wrote about it in his post ‘How Often Do You Blog?‘. [...]
The trick is to find a niche where you don’t have to write 500 word posts. I update everyday but all I have to do is write short descriptions.
Hi David,
5-7 days a week (usually 7) I post a daily motivational post geared towards weight loss. Then, M-F I post one post that is substantial. These tend to be in-depth posts, but my daily motivational posts are much shorter.
I cannot post more than that because for many of my 5 substantial posts I do a lot of research. I also don’t think it would be good to post more than that because of the length of those posts.
Sometimes though, I do end up with 3 posts a day, but the third is quite short (usually a site related post). 3 posts a day is not at all my goal, but more so a special circumstance.
JoLynn
I post about every other day. I mostly spend my time looking at other peoples blogs rather than writing on mine. I usually do research on a few things and then blog about it the next day. I have to admit that I have unsubscribed to a lot of blogs due to this. Thanks for bringing this up.
[...] How Often Do You Blog? – There is some good discussion about this, maybe someone will link back to my post – John Chow dot com posts dissected – Part 2:Frequency of Post [...]
[...] got me thinking. One thing I give a lot of thought to was brought up in one of David’s posts: How Often Do You Blog. It’s a very interesting concept to think about. How often can we post while maintaining the [...]
I blog when I want too. I don’t follow any pattern. I sometimes blog 2-3 times a day though.
just remember the golden rule … Quality Content!
Darin