How Often You Should Post to Grow Your Blog to New Levels – An In-Depth Look into Posting Frequency

Whew, I’ve been extremely busy the past couple of weeks which explains my short absence here on the blog. Between SEO client work, some personal soul searching, and buying my first condo in Chicago, I haven’t had much time for anything else – including writing the Internet marketing articles that you enjoy so much here on Winning the Web.

However, my recent busy schedule did get me thinking about optimal posting frequencies on blogs. I’ve pretty much tried everything, from multiple postings per day to weekly posts, and my experiences of each have allowed me to find a happy medium. So what’s the best frequency that will yield your blog with maximum results?

It really depends.

First you have to establish the type of blog you want as well as your goals for it. For example, a news blog selling advertising space will have a much different posting schedule than a personal branding blog or a blog used to generate leads for products or client work.

In this article, I’ll explain the three most common posting frequencies (multiple posts per day, one post per day, and a few posts per week) and the pros, cons, and optimal situations for each. Hopefully the list will provide you with a good starting point to experiment on your own blog and develop a schedule that will maximize the potential of your blogging efforts.

Multiple posts per day

You’ll find a slew of new posts everyday on big blogs like TechCrunch, LifeHacker, and Engadget. But just because the top blogs are pumping out endless streams of content doesn’t mean you should be doing it too. Writing multiple posts in a day is optimal only for multi-author news-type blogs that sell advertising space to sponsors. Since the goal with these blogs is to keep up with the industry and maximize page views for sponsors, this schedule works best. However, for everyday bloggers, multiple posts in a day is usually overkill and will quickly lead to burn out.

Pros:

• People will keep coming back for the latest news and content – maximize content and page views
• Great for SEO keyword opportunities (the more pages, the more ranking opportunities)
• More likely to attract high quality sponsors because of the big potential for exposure

Cons:

• A lot of work that’s difficult to keep up with especially for one blogger
• Content quickly gets lost in the date-based format of most blogs
• Articles lack depth and focus – less likely to get links and exposure to each individual article
• Difficult to spread marketing over multiple articles

Best for:

• Big news blogs that have very large followings and sell adverting space to related sponsors

One post per day

A blog post per day tells your readers to stay. That’s the motto that a lot of bloggers keep and I think that the one-a-day frequency works well in a lot of different situations. It’s manageable for most people and establishes a rhythm for both bloggers and readers to connect on a daily basis. This blogging frequency is probably the most versatile and I’d recommend it to everyone looking to grow their blogs – especially for those just getting started.

Pros:

• Consistent posting pattern encourages readers to check back daily
• Gives bloggers the ability to write in-depth articles about a single topic rather than just report on news
• Good balance between content quality and posting frequency

Cons:

• Some bloggers might still have trouble keeping up – quality suffers
• Requires consistency and strong work ethic – can be very discouraging to miss a day
• Difficult to come up with new post ideas, especially in niche topics

Best for:

• Any type of blog looking to expand readership and grow audience to new levels

A few posts per week

This is the posting schedule that I use here on Winning the Web and I’ve had pretty good success with it. Rather than writing short posts, I take a couple days to write detailed content that goes in-depth into selected topics. This strategy has enabled my individual articles to receive maximum exposure including more traffic, more votes on social media sites, more comments and feedback, and more links from other sites. Less posts mean you can focus on quality and since your articles are featured on your blog’s home page for a longer period of time, they receive more overall exposure.

Pros:

• Do less work and maximize results
• Focus on quality – which will result in more traffic, links, comments, and exposure
• Posts are featured on the home page for a longer period of time

Cons:

• Readers are less likely to check back for new posts because of the lack of rhythm
• Inability for bloggers to keep up with the latest trends and news in the industry
• Less content mean less channels for distribution (SEO, links, social media, etc)

Best for:

• Blogs that already have established readerships and want to focus on quality in-depth articles
• Blogs used to promote products and services by showcasing expertise
• Hobby blogs on specific topics
• Bloggers with limited time – a few posts now and then is better than nothing at all

I really wouldn’t recommend a posting frequency less than a few posts per week. Frequency depends on your style, goals, and type of blog. For me, I started off writing multiple posts per day and got burnt out fast. I switched to a once a day schedule and that worked great to build my readership and establish myself in the industry. Once I accomplished that, I changed to a few posts per week to focus on high quality and to free up my time for new projects.

I’d recommend experimenting with each of the different frequencies and testing out what works best for you and your blogs. How often do you post on your blog now? Leave a comment and share your thoughts here.

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