Daniel Decker

To blog or not to blog (and how often).

That is the question.

Well, gather round the crystal blogging ball as the answer is revealed…

“You should blog __ times per week.”

Not the answer you want, right? But it’s the answer we seek… someone to tell us specifically what that blank “__” should be. That magic formula for blogging success.

Well, there is an answer but it’s not quite that simple.

It’s different for each of us.

Why? Because we are different, what we’re trying to say is different, our audiences are different and our goals are different as well.

What might work for you might not work for me.

There is, however, a way to find the winning frequency that is a custom fit for you.

I’ve been doing a lot of research into the frequency of blogging and how it impacts traffic. Tests of my own and looking at the posting patterns of some of the most successful bloggers (as ranked by their traffic and RSS subscriber counts).

One thing is clear. Almost all top ranked blogs have a high rate of frequency. Meaning, they post multiple times per week, some even multiple times per day but it varies.

In an internal test on my own blog, I saw a significant uptick in traffic when I posted daily versus posting 2 times per week (and I’ve talked to many others who have experienced results much the same).

It might sound odd to some new bloggers out there (because you might assume people are already bombarded with too much info) but the trends and the stats don’t lie.

Now let me add something here… what you can’t ignore in any attempt to dissect successful blogging is content. Content, above all, drives traffic so without good content the frequency of the posts has little residual impact.

While posting frequency shows to have a direct correlation with traffic, you must find the right balance that works for you. You can’t undercut quality in an attempt to focus on quantity but you also can’t let the myth of perfection slow you down.

So what should you do? How do you determine the posting frequency that works best for you? Here’s my suggestions:

1. Assess your goals. Why do you blog? What do you want to accomplish? Do you have blogging goals written down? If not, then start there. If you do, revisit them and keep them visible. Knowing where you want to go helps you figure out how to get there.

2. Test. Take a week and post 2-3 times. Then the next week post every day. Then the week after post 2-3 times. Then the week after that post every day. Try this cycle for a few weeks and then look back at your stats. See any patterns in traffic? It’s important to test it more than just one week so that you can give it an accurate shake just in case you had a hot post one week that took off and skewed results.

3. Find your groove. Once you test and know the answer then you can work to find a balance that fits how frequently you can write and how frequently you WANT to post. If you saw that posting 5x per week increased your traffic but you can only successfully crank out 2 posts then you have to work towards posting more or just be okay with what you can do. (Hint: A path to success could be creating draft articles when you have time so that you build up a bank of articles to post even when you don’t have time… that’s what the big boys and girls do).

It’s not an exact science but with a little time and effort you can find the sweet spot that will help your blog succeed.

Question: How has the frequency of your posting impacted your blog?

While we’re on the topic of blogs… have you subscribed to mine? It’s free. Get new posts emailed to you or subscribe via RSS.

Looking for better blogging tips? I suggest reading www.TentBlogger.com

Related posts:

1. The Frequency of Blogging and How It Impacts Traffic
2. 3 Benefits of Writing Blog Posts in Advance (and Resources to Schedule Your Posts)
3. 5 Resources to Build a Better Blog