Why ideal blog post frequency doesn’t matter

ideal blog post frequency

In social media, the idea of ideal blog post frequency is perpetuated no matter which medium you use. Whether it is Instagram, YouTube, or blogging, content creators are always told to post daily, regardless of the quality.

This article will put this myth to rest, and help you figure out how to make your blog more established without working yourself into the ground. Your blog frequency depends on what’s best for your business.

What is the difference between frequency and volume?

To differentiate between frequency and volume, you should remember that frequency is how much time is between your posts, so if you post every other day, your frequency of posting is one post every two days.

The volume of posts is not really dependent on the time; rather, it is dependent on how much you are posting. Are you posting five times a week? Or is it daily?

The relationship is a bit confusing, but the thing we’ll be talking about in this article is the frequency of posting and how it doesn’t matter as much as volume.

From where did the “Ideal Blog Post Frequency” myth come?

If you have ever Googled “Ideal blog post length” or “Ideal blog post frequency”, you may have come across articles that were chock full of statistics and information. These posts would have maintained that a blog’s ideal length is somewhere around 2300-2400 words and that you should be posting daily.

Such statistics break down the art of blogging into an exact science, claiming that once you reach these magic numbers, your blog will automatically see a rise in engagement and readership. While this may have been true when blogging was a fairly new medium, and fewer people were sharing the market, but now, the game has changed significantly.

These statistics may have been useful at one point, but they can now be considered obsolete, as they don’t take into account the human factor.

 So, if there is no such thing as an ideal blog post frequency, how can you ensure your blog’s success?

#1. Quality cannot replace quantity:

If you get caught up in the rat race and try to push out blogs daily, or even smaller blog posts multiple times a day, then you are ignoring the most important factor: quality. Ultimately, the quality of your blog posts is what will keep your readers hooked, not how frequently you are updating your blog.

If somehow, you only have ten blog posts, and your readership is already amazing, then that’s great! Good for you. But if you begin to compromise on the content you put out, then over time, your engagement can take a huge dip, and you may not be able to hit the magic formula for repeated success.

#2. Correlation does not equal Causation:

While it may be true that your blog’s readership may rise when you’re publishing more, this effect can only last to a certain extent.

Consider this, you post one article per month, making it 12 articles per year. On the other hand, someone else posts two articles per week, so they average around 104 articles per year. Given that both blogs have the same quality content, in a year’s time, who do you think will have greater site traffic?

The person with a greater Volume of blog posts will, of course, be the one getting a larger number of views. However, the amount of publishing frequency plays no part in making your article more Search Engine Optimized.

#3. Volume Matters:

If you’re just starting up your blog, and it is currently void of any content, what matters most is the amount of content you have. So, your first priority should be to build up the content on your site, ideally up to 200 complete posts.

It doesn’t matter how often you post in a week. What matters is that you reach 200 posts as quickly as possible, even if you’re dumping 20 articles in a day.

Once you have managed to build up the content on your blog, you can then start work on improving them, making them more detailed, and even merging them if the need arises.

This, by no means, implies that you can start posting garbage content, not at all. Rather it means that you just keep posting till you reach that magic number, even if you’re writing just once a week.

#4. Know your niche:

It goes without saying that you can post as often as you like, as long as the quality of your content is not being compromised. How often you post also depends on what your audience has come to expect from you.

Do your readers expect short, pithy posts multiple times a day? Or are they more accustomed to lengthy, well-researched blog articles once every week?

For example, blogs like 411 posters post more frequently than most and can update their blog several times a day. This is because their content revolves around publishing posters made by artists, which means that their audience has come to expect the frequency of their posts.

If, however, you are posting more in a bid to gain more Search engine hits, then your efforts may be misguided, as a larger posting frequency does not mean better search engine optimization.

#5. Cover more ground:

If you have managed to gain a good following with as little as 20 posts, then that’s quite the accomplishment. But, in the long run, creating a content plan for such a small number of articles isn’t feasible at all.

Instead, it would be more conducive to your blog’s growth if you focused on creating a content plan for a wider range of topics. This would mean that you were “covering more ground” in terms of keywords and information covered.

So instead of say, 20 articles that are driving your growth and are targeting only 20 search words, imagine the ground you could cover with 200 such articles. So instead of just 20 big keywords that are pushing your blog, you instead have 200 keywords that drive your blog’s traffic.

#6. Scope out the competition:

Is your blog covering topics that have a very specific audience? Do you have a lot of tough competition?

The best way to find out the ideal blog post frequency is to find out what your competition is doing. Do successful bloggers in the same niche as you post four times a week?

How do they keep their engagement up? By focusing on popular blogs that are succeeding in creating targeted content, you can find out how they are planning out their blog, and learn from their body of work.

By observing the content your competition put out, you can further hone your blog into creating better content. There is no shame in being inspired by others, as long as you don’t stray too far and lose your originality.

#7. Don’t be afraid to ask:

If finding the ideal blog posting frequency is something that you are unable to figure out on your own, then just ask your audience. You can make use of email lists as well as other social media sites to survey your readers.

By simply asking them for their opinion, you can find out how much content they expect to read on a weekly basis. If the readers are engaged with the content you are posting, they would be more than happy to inform you about what fulfills their needs best.

You can also ask them about the kind of content they require, and if you can improve the engagement of your blog. By being straightforward with your audience, you can easily find out the posting frequency that suits your readers the most.

#8. Start small:

If you’ve just published your first blog and are new to the world of blogging, it may be wise not to overwhelm yourself immediately. You’ll need to start small, and work your way into creating more content, especially if you’re a one-man show.

By figuring out a pace that suits you without becoming too overwhelming, you can create and manage a content plan that is the perfect fit for you.

Initially, your main goal should be to build a rapport with your audience, and lay the groundwork for increased readership. Once you’ve figured out what you can accomplish and align those findings with your reader’s needs, you can reach the blog posting frequency that your audience wishes to see.

So, how should you drive traffic, if it’s not via an ideal blog post frequency? Here are some recommendations that can be followed to optimize your blog:

#1. SEO is your friend:

When you’re trying to determine your blog’s niche, you should carefully consider the SEO strategy that fits your needs. If you want a greater readership, then posting a larger volume of articles that cover more keywords can pull in more people from the search engine.

 If, for example, your blog is about SEO, then you should only post when you have relevant information to share. But, if, for instance, your blog is about tech-related stuff, then posting every day may be necessary to keep your readers updated.

You can learn some more about optimizing your content in this quick guide.

#2. Look back often:

Once you’ve managed to create a sizeable backlog of articles, look back into your work, and analyze your content. Which of your articles brought in the most readers?

Could an article’s popularity be attributed to an ongoing trend? Or was your article popular due to the intonation of your writing?

You can also focus on certain aspects of your article, such as the comments. Were the comments inquiring about more in-depth analysis? How positive or negative was your feedback?

Google Analytics can be used to really measure how your audience is responding to your content and figure out the keywords that are enabling you to get the most traffic.

By assessing your blog in such a way, you can figure out the areas you are lacking in as well as those you are excelling in, and create even more targeted content.

You can also learn how to create the best social media marketing content by following certain strategies outlined here.

#3. It can only go uphill from here:

Blogging is all about perseverance. Depending on your luck, it can generally take you quite some time to establish a core audience.

In order to get there, it is vital not to give up and keep working towards your goals. We’ve already covered how important looking back on your work is, and refining your work by improving your shortcomings can really help you out in the long run.

You can even ask some impartial peers to rate your work in their free time and use their feedback if you are not receiving any from your audience. Don’t be afraid to hear about your mistakes, as they can ultimately be a learning opportunity for you.

How often should you post, then?

How often you post depends on a number of factors. This includes how much money and free time you have.

You should also ask yourself if you’re planning on making your blog your major source of income. By assessing your situation, you can find the “optimal number” that fits your needs.

For a new blog, it can take some time before you find an ideal blog post frequency. Some people find three blog posts a week to be both doable and optimal.

For three posts a week, the content’s quality can be maintained, and you can take your time with each one. You can also build up your blog’s backlog and focus on other aspects to improve upon.

Depending on how much time and effort goes into each blog, posting more than three times a week can be difficult and draining, especially for writers who are new to the game. If you are aiming for posting more than three times each week, then you may need to look into expanding your team of writers.

If your budget does allow you to expand your writing team, then you can definitely aim for a higher weekly number to target. Just know that focusing on quality content will get you much further than quantity alone.

What’s the best blog frequency for posting to my website?

There’s no universal rule for the best blog posting frequency; that depends on the kind of content you’re posting and how relevant timeliness is to your customers. For some sites, more evergreen, longer-lasting content posted less often is OK, but some businesses require constant updates.

How often should my posting blog frequency be?

While there are no hard and fast rules for blog frequency, you can test how often you should be posting by trying out different posting rates and seeing how it affects site traffic and page engagement.

Does blog frequency matter for SEO?

Yes and no. Search engines tend to rank websites higher which post or update content more frequently, but sometimes the volume (word count) or quality of a page is more important, depending on the nature of your business or industry.

What is an ideal blog frequency when posting for SEO?

You can discover the best posting frequency for your blog by using data mining tools like Google Analytics to track the performance of your site or specific pages, creating more or less posts with higher or lower word counts depending on how well those pages do in organic search traffic.

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