How To Write The First Post On Your Blog

How Often Should I Post On My Blog?

"How Often Should I Post On My Blog?" — It's the question at the forefront of every blogger's mind.

You know that blogging is important.

You also know that in order to have a successful content strategy, you have to blog often.

But do you know how often?

For most people, blogging frequency is hit or miss. They'll write when they're in the mood, and then they'll ghost their own website for weeks or even months at a time. Then, as they look at their website stats, they'll wonder why more people aren't visiting their site.

In order to see results you have to have a plan; that applies double to blogging. Take a few minutes every month, every quarter, or every year, to put together a posting schedule, and your efficiency will dramatically improve.

What are the Goals of Blogging?

Before you decide how much to blog, you first have to decide what your individual goals are. Every website is different, which means the goals for those websites can fluctuate as well.

Goals are important because they let you know if you're on track. Without them, you're just writing blog content for the vast unknown without any end in sight.

How do you know if your blog articles are working? How do you know if your other business objectives are being met?

You don't unless you have goals, such as the ones mentioned below.

Affiliate Sales

Affiliate marketing is a $12 billion business, and every year, more and more entrepreneurs jump into the water.

Some will fail, but the successful ones will craft a strong SEO strategy to help. In fact, nearly 70% of affiliate marketers rate search engine optimization as their number one traffic source to generate revenue.

As a side note, if you're looking to start your own affiliate site, we can help. Niche Pursuits started as a way to help others make money online, primarily through affiliate marketing. Poke around on our site, and you'll find enough information to keep you busy for years.

How often should I post on my blog?

Search engine optimization cannot be done haphazardly. You have to do keyword research, create a content calendar, and write articles in such a way that both humans and Google will appreciate . Otherwise, you'll just fall flat on your face. And even if you do attain some kind of success, you'll have no idea how to sustain it.

In order to generate affiliate revenue, you have to have a combination of various article types: listicles, product reviews, informational content, and more. Each one of those has its own cadence; too much of one can cause your site to crater, so take that into account when determining blogging frequency.

Visibility

Opinions are divided as to whether or not blogging frequency directly impacts search engine optimization, but if you want people to read your blog, it makes sense to update it often. Stale blogs lead to bored readers, which in turn diminishes traffic.

How often you choose to update it depends on the individual blogger. If you prefer to write long-form content (and you should, at least sometimes), you won't be able to write as much blog content. If your blog articles are shorter and take only a few minutes to read, however, you can post every day.

It really depends on your audience and what they expect. News sites, for example, need to be updated more — sometimes several times a day. If you try to do it once a week, they'll go somewhere else.

Listen to your audience and let them decide for you.

Authority Establishment

For informational sites, or brands that want to establish themselves as a market leader, creating a blog is a must. With it, you can cement yourself as a thought leader and drive the industry in whichever direction you want.

That is, if you update it often. Emerging trends are a part of life, and if you're planning on branding yourself as an authority, you have to stay current. The first-mover advantage is real; take advantage of it.

This doesn't necessarily mean that you constantly have to produce new content on current events; instead, spice it up with interviews. Make podcasts or written interviews a part of your repertoire, and you'll position yourself at the center of .

Plus, you'll bring multiple thought leaders under one roof. It's a win-win.

Start a Conversation

Even if you never want to make a dime off your blog, you can still deliver value by driving the conversation forward. There are a number of "hot button" issues in today's world that need skilled commentators, so try to become one of them.

To get the conversation moving though, you'll need a lot of content. To keep it moving, you'll need to update it often.

By its very nature, any blog that is centered around a cause has a ton of content around it. Writing on the widening income gap in America today, for instance, requires statistics, interviews, and historical research. You could blog every day for a year and still not scratch the surface of it.

Just as important, if you want to keep the conversation going, you'll naturally need to provide thought-provoking content. Readers will become engaged, but to stay engaged, you'll need to have a dialogue with them. Fortunately, this can lead to more ideas for content. Thus, the flywheel spins faster and faster.

How often should you blog?

How Often Do Blogs Post?

Now that you have a good idea of your blogging goals, it's smart to see what others are doing. Top-tier blogs work for a reason, so you might as well see why.

Here's a look at some of the hotter blogs on the market today and how often they post:

Hubspot: One of the leading digital marketing software services, Hubspot employs a team of writers. They produce about 23 posts per week, in addition to creating course content and whitepapers.
Huffington Post: The new media juggernaut reached its position by posting around 1000 stories per day. As you would assume, Huffington Post employs an enormous writing staff and accepts guest posts.
Six Sisters Stuff: This popular food blog employs a small staff of writers and generates 14 posts per week. Included topics are recipes, food reviews, and regional culinary dishes.
Autoblog: Geared primarily to auto enthusiasts, Autoblog generates five posts per day. Reviews and photography are essential, but also include up-to-date car news.
DogTipper: Based in Austin, TX, DogTipper has training tips for dogs and top products. With over 100,000 fans on Facebook, it's surprising that they only post twice a week.
A Way to Garden: Given the prestigious "best garden blog" by the NY Times, A Way to Garden shares recipes and gardening inspiration. They maintain a slow but steady drip of content — just one blog article per day.
Science Alert: Boasting nearly nine million Facebook fans, Science Alert shares opinions, entertainment, and news on all things science. They drop around six posts a day, which is above the average for their niche.
Golf News: Based in the UK, Golf News claims to be the area's most widely-read free golf blog. Delivering news, features, and product reviews to their readers, they produce about 17 posts a month.
Health and Alyssa: This couple's blog is all about life on the road, as they share RV'ing and travel tips. They also help people build online businesses and explore options for remote work, but only produce two published blog posts per month.
Guitar World: A magazine that covers everything a guitar-head could want, Guitar World generates about 30 posts a week. The range of topics is diverse, including photos, music videos, album news, and guitar lessons.
Kids Activities Blog: Started by Holly Harner in 2012, Kids Activities has ideas for crafts and kids activities. She also writes for parents, and, along with her team, usually writes around three posts a day.
Remodelaholic: DIY is all the rage these days, and Remodelaholic is one of the bloggers that has been able to capitalize on this trend. Though they have a large social media following, their post frequency is the lowest on this list. On average, Remodelaholic only creates a single blog post per quarter.

*These blog estimates are based on the information available. The actual frequency may vary.

As you can see, the posting frequency can vary dramatically. It's hard to pin down a "best" amount of times for any blog to vary. A lot of it boils down to your audience and your niche.

That, and your capabilities. Most of those publications employ a team of writers whose sole job is to research and write articles all day. Since you're most likely blogging in addition to running a business, it's best to temper your expectations.

The Importance of Evergreen Content

Since creating great content is so important for your readers, it would be such a shame if some of it became irrelevant, wouldn't it?

Enter; Evergreen content.

Just as the name implies, "evergreen content" (just like the tree) is "green" info no matter the year or month. It doesn't matter if you read it in August 2021 or January 2009 — it's just as actionable at either moment in time.

Evergreen blog content

This is the type of content you should shoot for in your writing (within reason, of course). Evergreen content allows you to stockpile info that you can refer readers back to all the time, continuously driving reliable traffic.

It's not always possible, though. Some articles, such as product reviews and news releases, are time-sensitive. When their timeline is over, you can still leave it on your site, but it won't drive nearly the same amount of traffic.

Great ideas for evergreen content include:

How-To's
FAQ's
History
Glossary
Stories
Mission Statements
Branding
Testimonials
Staff Bios
"Hacks"
Checklists
Resources

You don't need to include all of these on your site; in fact, doing so would make your site incredibly stale. But implementing a few of them here and there can go a long way to creating a strong foundation for future content marketing ideas.

If you don't create much evergreen content, you can always go back in and update your old content. That would actually count towards your blogging frequency, since updated content signals to Google that your site is active.

What's More Important: Content or Consistency

Of all the items we could cover in this blog, content vs. consistency is the most important.

In truth, it's not a 1-1 comparison; both of these need to work in harmony for your blog to succeed.

A blog that is updated every day with low-quality content is not very valuable. Neither is a blog that is updated once a year with ten short-but-actionable blogs. Both will struggle to maintain any reliable traffic.

Of the two, most experts would lean towards quality content as being the most important of the two. Some blogs that update only once a month, do so intentionally so as to ensure they provide the most value.

Why? Because their readers know that when they see a new blog, it'll be jam-packed with good information. If you regurgitate the same thing that everyone else is writing, with no extra thoughts of your own, your bounce rate will skyrocket. There's no reason for anyone to read your material.

In short, focus on both, but put the weight towards quality.

How to Determine Your Unique Blogging Frequency

Ok, so it's time to develop a strategy for your blog. You know you need one, you know you need to update it semi-often, but how regularly?

Here are a few questions that might help.

Where Does Blogging Fit In Your Goals?

Read the section about blogging goals again and find which one you're most focused on. Which one is most important to you?

If your goal is to start a conversation, you'll most likely need a huge amount of foundational material, but can probably ease off of the frequency a little. If your blog is affiliate-minded, you can start off with a few a week and see what sticks.

It's always safer to err on the side of more high-quality content than less, since you'll need some of that initial momentum to get your website rolling. If it's a more established site that already has content, set up a routine that works for you.

How Much Content Can You Actually Produce?

Only you know your exact situation and what you're capable of. If you can write an article a day (that's good quality, of course), then go for it. If you're a slower writer and you know it'll take you a few weeks to produce something substantial, there's no shame in that either.

It's worth noting a few key components to a good blog. First, readers are increasingly wanting more visuals in their blogs. Images, gifs, infographics — you name it, they want it.

Second, longer blogs almost always outperform shorter blogs. It's possible for a blog of500 words to rank against a blog that's 2000 words, but everything else remaining equal, it's much less likely. You can cover more ground in more words, and people won't have to bounce around as much to find the answers they're looking for.

Will Your Target Audience Even Read Your Content?

Audience identification is critical. Depending on your niche, you might only have to post a few times a month to get some attention.

If you have any questions about how much your audience expects to read your blog, just ask them. Insert a poll in your blog or send an email to your list. They'll let you know either way.

You can also try adjusting the frequency of your blogs to see how it impacts traffic numbers. Hubspot did this and found that the more they posted, the more leads they generated. Your own experiments may vary, but play around with posting frequency to find the sweet spot.

Consider also the difference between B2B and B2C audiences. More content usually means more traffic for both audiences, but B2C generally consumes more.

Traffic for B2B, on the other hand, usually jumps after a dozen or so articles. Aim to write that much authoritative content, but feel free to let off the gas a little once you do.

How Established Is Your Blog?

Some blogs will always maintain traffic no matter how often they post. Sites like the Huffington Post and Tim Ferris can get away with posting once a month because they have such a devoted fan base.

Established blogs have more blog traffic and internal links to buttress their numbers. When you're starting out, you probably won't, so give yourself some time to get momentum.

How Often Should I Post on My Blog? The Verdict.

When it all comes down to it, there's one simple answer you can give as to how often you should post on your blog.

It depends.

I know that's probably not the most encouraging response, but it's truly an individualistic number. Your goals, your audience, your capabilities — all of that is dependent on you.

Generally speaking though, the recommendation is to post 3-4 times a week, if possible, making sure you prioritize quality over quantity. Do that consistently, and you'll see a noticeable increase.

Regardless of frequency though, don't be afraid to experiment to see what works. Your numbers may be off of the norm, but as long as you've got a successful blog, the rules can go right out the window.