©iStock.com/alexskopje
One of the questions clients often ask me is how often they should post to their blogs.
In the past, I’ve tried to answer this question according to the client’s goals. That’s the right way to answer the question, but unfortunately clients don’t hear my whole answer. All they hear is a number.
So I’m changing my answer. The new answer is…as often as possible. (But make sure that everything you post is of high quality.) At least, that’s the short answer.
Let me explain.
Unfortunately, what many clients really want is “permission” to post as little as possible. I get that. I do. Blogging takes time. If you’re hiring someone to do the blogging for you, it costs money.
But high quality blogging still works to drive traffic to a website. It can still improve your website’s ranking in the search engines (although there are no guarantees, of course).
You don’t have to take my word for it. Take a look at these posts:
- From Brent Carnduff, writing on SteamFeed, The Impact of Blogging on Website Traffic and Leads
- From Corey Eridon, writing on HubSpot, The Benefits of Blogging: Why Businesses Do It, and You Should Too
I could cite many more articles and posts, but I think you get the picture.
So, let’s take another look at a goal-centered approach to deciding how often to blog.
A Goal-Centered Approach to Posting
Your goal for your blog does make a difference in how often you post. There are basically three goals for blogs:
- Blogs created for a profit. The goal for this blog is to generate income for the owner, usually through advertisements. High traffic is critical for this type of blog and the blogger needs to get it as soon as possible.
- Blogs created to support a business. The goal for this blog is to attract qualified leads to a business website. Attracting viable prospects who are truly interested in what the business has to offer is top priority for this type of blog.
- Hobby blogs. The owner of this blog is passionate about a topic or cause. So, they create a blog to discuss that topic or cause with other like-minded individuals. What this blogger is looking for is not traffic, but a chance to be heard.
How often do I recommend that a blog post new content? The answer is different for each type of blog. Let’s look at each type.
How Your Goal Affects Blog Post Frequency
The mistake that most blog owners make is that they want to post infrequently and still see results. The trouble with that is that, when it comes to blogging, more really is better. Especially when you’re starting out.
Instead of trying to get by on a minimum number of posts, all blog owners should try to find ways to post high quality content as often as they can.
Here are my recommendations for blog post frequency based on the goal of your blog:
- Blog created for profit. This blog needs to post high quality content as often as possible to attract regular readers. For this type of blog, I recommend publishing a new high quality post at least five times a week. To achieve this frequency, the blog owner will almost certainly need to hire a writer or writers. Once the blog is established (usually after several years), the blog owner may be able to reduce the frequency of posting to several times a week.
- Blog created to support a business. To attract qualified prospects, any content you publish must be monitored to meet the needs of your target audience. But quantity is still important. Ideally, most businesses should publish a new post at least once a week. Very small businesses (like freelancers) may be able to get by with publishing once a month, but by doing so they limit their reach. Again, most business owners will need professional writing help to meet this goal.
- Hobby blogs. The goal of this blog is completely different. Some hobby bloggers don’t care about traffic at all as long as they are able to discuss their interests with a few interested people. For this group, frequency isn’t all that important. Other hobby bloggers want to get the word out about their cause to as many people as possible. This second group should treat their hobby blog like a blog created to support a business. That means posting at least once a week.
The Bottom Line
For the most impact, don’t try to get by with posting as little as possible. If you want to attract traffic to your blog (and most blog owners do), post often.
Do you own a blog or do you write for a blog? How often do you publish a new post? Why did you pick that particular posting frequency?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
