Ideal posting frequency for a Blog

In our current reader poll I’m asking readers to tell us how many posts they made on their main blog over the last month.

It’s only been 12 hours since I posted the poll so it’s early days - however so far category with the most responses so far is 1-10 posts (currently with 30% of the responses).

A number of readers have asked me about ideal posting frequency  so I thought I’d put together a few ‘random’ thoughts :

1. The ideal post frequency will vary considerably from blog to blog :

Some blogs need a lot more posts than others in order to satisfy their readership. This depends upon a number of factors including:

* The topic you’re covering - for example a blog with a wide niche with lots of breaking news each day will need a lot more posts to cover it all.

* The style of writing - short sharp posts mean you can get away with posting more in a day than if your blog is one that is all about producing longer and more in depth ones.

* Demographics of Readers - the type of reader that you have can impact posting frequency. For example I interact with one blogger who has a very young audience who just love lots of short posts. The same blogger has a blog targeting a much older demographic and he finds that if he posts more than once a day with them that they feedback that it’s too much. I don’t think that it is always as simple as this - but it can be a factor.

* Blogger Numbers - if you have multiple bloggers you will obviously be able to increase the output that they can produce.

2. Increasing Posting Frequency can help grow your blog :

More many blogs there is a relationship between posting levels and readership levels. This happens on a number of levels:

* posting more creates more pages for Search Engines to index - every new post is a new doorway into your blog when it comes to search engines.

* posting more increases the frequency that your blog appears in front of subscribers - this increases the chances that they’ll read something you write.

* infrequent posting can cause readers to become frustrated - it can also hurt the momentum on a blog and give readers a sense of you becoming disengaged.

It isn’t as simple as saying the more posts you write the more readers you’ll have - but increasing your post frequency can definitely add life to a blog that is struggling.

3. Posting too much can hurt your blog’s growth :

On the flip side of point #2 is the fact that sometimes if you post too much you can frustrate readers and cause them to stop following your blog.

I surveyed readers last year on the reasons that they unsubscribed from blogs and two of the top reasons were ‘posting too much’ and ‘not posting enough’. Obviously there’s a balance that needs to be struck here - but do keep in mind that your readership will have a certain level of tolerance for consuming content - exceed it and they’ll begin to disengage and either unsubscribe or stop ‘reading’ everything you write.

4. Sometimes Less is More :

One trend that I’ve noticed in talking to bloggers who have been around for a while (after their blogs become established) is that they find that ‘less can be more’. I’ve lost count of the number of bloggers who tell me that scaling back their posting frequency a little brings a new life to their blog.

In almost every case that I am thinking about the blogger is a more established blogger who has worked hard to build up an audience. They say that scaling back a little means that they are able to develop better quality posts, that they get more comments per post (the posts remain on the front page of the blog longer) and readers say that they appreciate it.

Perhaps this is part of the life-cycle of a blog when it reaches a stage of ‘maturity’.

5. Regularity and Rhythm Is Important :

More important in my mind than actual numbers is that a blogger find a rhythm and stick to it. This is important as it helps their readers to know what to expect and to align themselves with your rhythm.

If you decide to post once a day then that’s great - stick to that wherever possible. If your rhythm is one post per week, then that can work too, but don’t suddenly put in days where you do 10 in a day (unless there’s some special reason). If your posting frequency is 5 posts a day, then keep to that rhythm.

There will always be days that you break your rhythm - that’s ok, but try to keep the majority of your days at a similar level.

A Suggestion If You are Starting Out as a New Blogger  : I am aware that many Blogger readers are just starting out with blogging and that the question of ‘how much should I post’ is one that many grapple with.

Here’s what I usually suggest to a new blogger : start out posting slightly less than you think you’ll end up posting. I suggest this because it helps you ease into posting and can help you not to burn out in your first few weeks.

For example - if your goal is 7 posts a week I generally would say to a new blogger to post around 3 quality posts in their first weeks, aim for 4-5 in the weeks after and then to ramp it up to 6-7 after a month or so.

In this way you’re giving yourself room to get used to having to come up with an idea every day and you also give yourself a little more time to do other things that are important in the early days of a blog (networking, getting your design right, learning how to use your tools.