How Often Should I Blog?

Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content and has gained 600K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.

“How often should I blog?” The answer to that question used to be “every day.” Blogs were initially web logs – online diaries which writers used share their personal ideas online. And a diary, as you know, records daily activities.

But with the advent of easy-to-use online blogging tools in the late 1990’s, blogging became anyone’s game. Whereas bloggers used to use their online homes to capture their daily thoughts, things have changed. Now, writers and businesses write blogs for all kinds of reasons: to increase web traffic … to establish credibility … to amass content … to make money … to provide a creative outlet …

Let’s assume for the moment that you’ve defined why you’re blogging. And let’s also assume you don’t have 24 hours a day to write new blog posts. Yet you want to build your blog.

Those factors being the case, then how often should you blog?

How often should I blog? FAQs

Q. Is blogging daily a good idea?

Industry leaders Seth Godin, Michael Hyatt, and Neil Patel were on the front end of the blogging phenomenon. At the outset, they published a post every day.

Back then, there were fewer “pro” style blogs around. Acquiring readers and views and comments was easier.

But blogging has exploded. Now, readers have too many reading choices and too much noise. The average office worker receives around 121 emails every workday, say the smart tracking folks at DMR.  As people try to simplify, they opt out of blogging feeds and email newsletters. I know I do. You probably do, too.

For that reason, you may breathe a sigh of relief when I say that “Blogging daily isn’t really necessary.” But blogging daily is a good idea …

• When you have an extended period of time, such as a couple of weeks, to dedicate to writing well-researched, well-optimized posts.
• When you’ve accumulated a stable of content in draft that you can publish on successive days.
• When you’re trying to get traction on your blog. You need at least 30 posts before you monetize your site or Google will give you a big fat thumbs-down. Posting once a day for a month gives your blog a sturdy foundation to begin monetization.

One way to get started is to participate in a 30-Day Blogging Challenge. Participants commit to writing a blog post every day for a month. Fellow participants agree to read and comment on your posts and likewise, you do so for them. In the process, you build your blog. And you acquire traffic … and maybe even some regular readers.

Q. How often should I blog for SEO?

SEO is the process of creating a page for the web to return strong search results. When your page appears high on results pages, you get more traffic. Well-optimized blog posts focus on one or two keywords, use those phrases in tags and in six crucial places on the page, are conversational, and contain helpful, well-organized information.

Which means that it’s a post’s construction, rather than how often you publish, that makes the biggest difference in whether or not your post gains rank.

Having said that, more posts on a site (generally) mean more traffic. Well-established blogs have acquired a foothold online with good reason. They’ve been around a while, have accumulated plenty of posts, and indicate to the reader that the blogger has expertise and longevity. HubSpot’s blog frequency research found that sites with 300 or more posts generate 3.5 times more traffic than those with 50 to 0 posts. Sites with 400 posts receive about twice as much traffic as sites with 300 pages or less. 

Which means … a successful blog takes time to build. By all means, blog frequently if you can write consistently optimized posts with quality information. Do that regularly over time and you’ll accumulate plenty of pages. Your traffic will increase.

Q. What’s the best blogging schedule?

Do you blog only when you feel like it? Or do you blog only to sell your products, so that nearly all of your posts are sales pieces? If you create a blogging schedule merely for your own benefit, then you may see plenty of unsubscribes.

The better blogging schedule benefits your readers. Consider these two points:

• Quality. “As a reader, I much prefer blogs that post once a week or even once every two weeks—but always say something genuinely useful—than blogs that post every day just for the sake of it,” says Ali Luke in Problogger. Ask yourself this: does your content deliver valuable, useful information … or are you posting for the sake of posting? Make sure your answer is the former. Otherwise, switch your blogging schedule.
• Dependability. Do readers know they can count on you to deliver a quality post every other Tuesday (or whatever schedule you choose)? Growing your audience and finding a steady stream of clients is a long game – one rooted in relationships. Do readers know they can trust you? If you repeatedly provide them with quality content at a pace they can rely on, they’ll have confidence in you.

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Use this fillable, reusable Blog Post Worksheet to write your blog post in steps.

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Q. Bottom line: how often should I blog?

Set up a blogging schedule that works for you. Some bloggers post daily. Others let weeks pass in between posts.

A good rule of thumb is a minimum of once a week. At the start, that blogging schedule may be a stretch, but with practice you get faster and better. A weekly post gets you into the habit of producing quality content. Readers hear from you regularly, but not too often that they simply hit “Delete” or “Unsubscribe” when they see your name on the “From” line.

You want a different reaction – a reader that eagerly clicks on “Open.” When you make sure it’s worth your reader’s time to do so, your following will grow.

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