Almost every time I do a Q&A at a conference I’m asked this question – How many posts should I post?
The frequency of blog posts is something that gets talked about a lot and there is no perfect answer for all blogs – but here are a few thoughts on the topic.
The Pros of Daily Posting
I’ve heard many people answer the ‘how many posts’ question with the suggestion that you should aim for a daily post.
While I will name some reasons why this may not be ideal below there are certainly some benefits of posting on a daily level including:
Daily Posts Can Help You Get into the Groove
I’ve had a variety of approaches to blogging frequency over the years and I have to say that getting into a daily blogging frequency has helped ME, as a blogger, make writing part of my daily workflow.
I find that if I post less often than ‘daily’, writing begins to slip off my radar as I fill my day with other tasks – and once I stop, I find it hard to get going again.
The more you practice as a writer the better you get (hopefully)!
Daily Posts Help with Reader Expectations and Engagement
It is amazing how readers will adapt to your posting frequency and will even look for your content to be published at certain times. I find that the less you post – the less engaged your readers will become.
Of course this also depends on how and where else you’re engaging with your readers. For example if you’re tweeting every day, answering comments every day and answering emails every day then this will certainly increase engagement.
I guess more regular content builds your brand also (if the content is good content).
More Posts mean More Doorways into Your Blog
I’ve spoken about this over the years many times on ProBlogger. The more posts you publish over time, the more doorways you present readers with to enter your blog.
1 post a week means you’ve got 52 doorways at the end of the year – daily posts means 365 doorways at the end of the year. This means people are more likely to see your content in RSS readers, in search engines, on social media etc. Over time this adds up. For example, here on ProBlogger today I’m publishing our 7001st post! That’s a lot of doorways!
The Negatives of Daily Posting
There are definitely some positives with daily (or at least a higher frequency of) posting. However there are also some costs including:
Blogger Burnout
Perhaps the biggest danger with setting your posting frequency levels too high is that you run the risk of burning out as a blogger.
Posting something new, engaging, compelling and helpful every day over several years can, over time, begin to feel like a chore – particularly if you have competing pressures of life (family, work, social life etc).
Reader Burnout
There is a fine line between giving your readers too little content to be engaged and overwhelming them with too much content to be able to digest it all.
I subscribed to a blog recently that I thought would be great to follow but they posted so many posts per week that it was too much and so I ended up reading none of it.
Some topics and styles of blog will sustain a higher frequency of posts than others. For example, some technology blogs have been posting 10-20 posts a day for several years – but their posts are usually short, sharp and easy to consume (and they are read by content hungry, tech savvy readers).
Decreases Reader Engagement
Related to this, I’ve noticed when I slow my posting frequency down that comment numbers often go up.
Fewer posts means that your most recent post sits on the front page of your blog longer which increases the chance of people seeing, engaging with and even sharing it.
Traffic might be lower overall to your blog – but hopefully each post will be read more!
Advice on Posting Frequency
Ultimately you need to decide what is right for you as a blogger. Your blog posting frequency should come out of a variety of factors including:
- How much time and energy do you have for blogging? Remembering that there are other tasks that need to be done on top of writing
- How much time do your readers have to read content? How thirsty are they for content?
- How big is your topic/niche – how much is there actually to write about on that topic?
- How long are the posts you write and how much time do they take to complete?
- How old is your blog? (sometimes in the early days it can be good to have archives that are a little fuller so there’s more for new readers to explore)
- How much do you have to say right now? Most bloggers go through bursts where they just naturally have more to write.
- Is the quality of your posting suffering because you’re posting too often?
Keep in mind that over time your posting frequency may change. For example, here on ProBlogger I have been as high as 18 posts a week but these days we’ve slowed to 5-6 (with a change in the length and focus of the posts). Slowing our blogging frequency down has led to a higher engagement, higher quality of posts (at least that’s our intent) and steady (if not slightly higher) traffic.
Also remember that YOU as a blogger are probably a lot more worried about your posting frequency than your reader. We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves as bloggers. Slowing down to increase quality of your posts and to look after yourself won’t be the end fo the world!
The last piece of advice I offer is to aim for regularity rather than daily. Readers will adapt to your posting rhythm and they will begin to expect that what you do one week is not too far different from what you do the next. So be consistent.
Here on ProBlogger we never switched from 18 posts in a week one week to 5 the next – it’s ebbed and flowed very gradually over time.
How often Do You Post?
I’m interested to hear how many posts you do per week on your blog?
Is that the same amount of posts each week or does it change?
Has that frequency changed over time?
What factors come into play for you in deciding how many posts per week is right for you?
Great read. I also think it is very important to have daily post, it keeps your readers coming back for more, bookmarking your site, telling offers, etc. Think of it like a job If you work for a magazine or newspaper you would have to write everyday, so why not for your self.
I went throughout all phases–random, few times a week to what works best for me now–twice a week and the rest of the time I spend interacting with readers and promoting existing content. Having a set schedule is giving me a peace of mind since blogging is not the only thing I tend to–raising a baby and running a household is more than a fulltime job:).
I think ideally you should write everyday, and then only publish what you deem to be high quality work. Perhaps your top 3-4 posts each week. This keeps your writing skills sharp as well as taking away the pressure of writer’s block.
2-4 news on a daily basis, but 1-3 reviews on a weekly basis. Its not an easy job to be consistent, especially with relevant content and maintaining quality.
Very interesting post, thank you.
For me the whole frequency vs. quality battle has always been a dilemma. We are publishing exactly 3 post per week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Sometimes, when we just HAVE to cover interesting news between the scheduled posts – we do.
But sometimes I ask myself a question: what will happen if I start posting more often than usual, but won’t be able to stay consistent (simply because of a lack of time)? Neil Patel from quicksprout.com has talked about the importance of staying consistent in one of his recent posts. He found out that frequency doesn’t really matter from an SEO point of view as long as you stay consistent. But the moment you stop – the traffic drops. Have you guys experienced something like this before?
How about a single post that has been extremely well researched and answers a question that no one in the google search results has an answer for? This post alone can produce a great load of traffic. If it has great images, great reference articles?
A creative video, a presentation of some sort, or something humorous can elicit quite a buzz – and THEN you can go into doing daily posts that offer short, snappy content that online readers can digest at leisure.
But the thing is, it takes a bit of time, a lot of thinking, and a lot more patience to come upon that buzz worthy post!
I’m not really sure how to generate traffic to my blog. I have a facebook page which I reguallry post on but what else can I do to generate traffic /subscribers to my blog? I am also concerned about overloading people with too many posts week.
Great post! I have been wondering about frequency, sometimes I think if I can’t post four times a week I shouldn’t blog at all. On my new blog, I am aiming for two posts a week. I would loooove to post more, but this is the amount I can handle now with my schedule, I am using this time to explore my new layout, content, style. My plan is to slowly incresase, in June I’ll up it to three times a week, July four times.
Thanks for the information. I was blogging once in a month from past one year. You have made me realize why I should write more often. Thank you.
On my ‘play websites’ ie: the ones I don’t expect to make much money on, I blog 3-5 times a week.
On the ones where I am making money, and in some cases a lot of money, it has always worked better for me to blog 3-5 times a day. It’s actually not too difficult to do once you get into a routine and, if you know your subject well, there’s always something to write about. Especially if you have an opinion about everything, like I do :)
I don’t have a strict rule about how many post I should made each week, but when the feeling right I can make 2-3 posts. That was the perfect frequency I think. Because I blog on my spare time and I have more than one blog, our blog topic is also become a factor about how often we write.
The most important rule is stay fresh, don’t stress yourself too hard if you can make more content.
Darren–Thank you for sharing your growth as a blogger. Many people think that they can quit their day job and the money will start automatically. Custom Printed Software Boxes
Is the quality of your posting suffering because you’re posting too often?
This is what happens to most people and that’s why its advisable to limit the amount of post updates and focus on the quality. (not everybodx, tho)
Since I have a full time job and two kids at home, my blog is a part time job. At first I tried to keep up with daily posting but I hit full blown burnout in about four months. Now I aim to post 3 times a week (one food/recipe post, one fitness post and one general post or product review). This seems to work for me and my readers know that I am cosistent with my postings so my views have increased. It also gives me more time to interact with other bloggers and correspond with my readers.
Like Stephanie, I have a full time job and three kids in three schools and a freelance writing company, so I find I have time for about 3 posts a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. As far as blogs I subscribe to, I get a bit overwhelmed with daily posts. Most people read more than one blog, so daily, or multiple times daily, can be a lot. If your posts are unrelated I suppose that’s okay, but most readers don’t want to miss out on the running jokes or themes, and you’re not the only thing they have going on.
I used to post twice a week, now I post only once a week. I found that no matter how many articles you write, the only thing that matters is quality. It can take me 2 weeks to write an epic post (including keyword research and link building), but when I do that article alone can give me 50-100 visits a day.
Being a Tech blogger I publish just one article in a day or two. The day I publish more then 2 articles in a day, I start seeing my traffic going down by a percent and also comments. An article a day keeps the reader coming everyday.
I will try post everyday to my blog…even just sharing pictures
Great post. I have been blogging since three months (created blog recently). I just keep thinking what to write and to not and also how to increase traffic to my blog. Still i got only 10-20 readers. I am totally new at this and pretty much don’t know what to do. Really need some guidance.
You have some really good topics about blogging on your site. Thanks for this post.
I posst once a week, at arounnd 8 am on Saturday. I tweet and FB links. And, unlike you, I always respond to comments!
Funny you should ask. A few weeks ago, I looked at how often I was posting and asked myself it was really necessary to do so with the same frequency. A small adjustment (cutting back on the frequency of posting on one lightly trafficked site) made a big difference in the burnout I was feeling, and decreased the sense that the only writing I was ever doing was blogging. I consistently post on my blog on Mondays and Wednesdays (or thereabout), every other Friday on the WITF site (where I’m not the only blogger), and once month on two other sites where I’m a contributor. Much better :-)
Hello,
I am actually new to Blogging, I’m just so confused about the whole thing, although i really love it. My blog is barely a month old and at least i Thank God for Where i am now. I’ve started out making a post per day, because i just so much want to grow the blog overnight, but i later realised i cannot keep up with that frequency so i had to slice it down to 2 posts per week, I’m using this comment to ask a question if this is Healthy for my blog. I hope i also get to 7000 posts someday.
I believe that your frequency has to meet somewhere in the middle of “What are you comfortable with?” and “What does your target audience desire?” While you may have a number of audiences, then you may adjust your frequency to satisfy all fronts.
quality matters more than quantity. I think posting about rare topics that it’s hard to find in google, but have a high demand increase your traffic, for instance if the latest trend is halloween, then you can write blog articles about how to create new dresses, new tips tricks, and cheap ways to buy stuff.