Dispelling Myths about Blog Post Frequency

Sorting through all the "post frequency" garbage on the web can be a little confusing, and sometimes discouraging. But knowing how often to post on your blog could give you an edge over your competition, even if you are posting less frequently than they are. While frequent posts and mass content may have helped boost traffic and search engine visibility in the early days of blogging, web-clutter is piling up fast, and making it more difficult to find valuable sources of information on the net.

MYTH: Frequent posting will increase blog traffic and RSS subscriptions.

TRUTH: Regularly appearing posts can make it easier for readers to know how often to check your blog for new content. It also allows search engines to determine how often to crawl your site. But with an increasingly high number of readers turning to RSS feeds, too many posts bombard your subscribers, causing even loyal readers to unsubscribe!

MYTH: Daily posts are what readers want.

TRUTH: Readers want to spend their time reading quality content, juicy tid-bits, useful information, or something that specifically sparks their interest. Most successful bloggers agree that the usefulness or value of the post is much more important than the frequency. Too many new bloggers quit after just a few months, or sooner. All of these brief little posts are accumulating in the blogosphere - creating a veritable blogging landfill within the search engines. Cut down on the clutter that is clogging up the lines of communication. I'm not implying that we lobby for a virtual-green blogging ecosystem - just suggesting we all use a bit of common sense.

MYTH: Short frequent posts are better than long articles posted less frequently.

TRUTH: Unless you can string together a handful of words to brilliantly convey your point, providing your audience with something of value in just a few sentences, you may do well to avoid short frequent posting. Remember what grandma used to say - if you don't have anything nice to say . . ? Well let's put a web 2.0 spin on that old saying:

"If you don't have anything useful or valuable to post - don't post anything at all."

Restrain Yourself!

Frequent posting is (in part) what fuels low-quality posts. As a blogger, you could very well downgrade the quality of your entire blog if you allow the pressure of frequent posting get to you. It is best to take a fair amount of time researching your information and providing useful and valuable information to your readers.

How often you post is of less importance than the quality of your posts. If you have something valuable and useful to say - post it, regardless of how often you post. Articles and posts that are timeless (meaning they will still be valuable next week - or next year) will continue to draw attention long after they have been posted. Posting too frequently could bury some of your more useful posts in your archives, and new visitors may never take the time to find the value in your blog. But when each and every post adds more value to your blog, it invites multiple page views, repeat visits, and loyal readers who eagerly await your next post.