I’ve been blogging on at least a weekly basis since 2004. During that time, I’ve written hundreds of blog posts… and I’ve read even more.
One thing I’ve noticed is that most bloggers pay little attention to the quality of their writing. To simply publish another blog post is good enough.
It seems to me, in the “daily grind” of blogging, there is more emphasis placed on the quantity and frequency of posting than the quality of the posts themselves. Now, every time somebody has a “brain fart,” it seems they must share it with the world.
Two schools of thought
I’ve observed two different schools of thought when it comes to blogging.
One says to post no less than once per day, and sometimes more often than that. Following this model, you might need to crank out 8-12 blog posts per week.
Certainly, it is possible to blog this often, especially if you derive your entire income from blogging. But I’ve noticed that the quality of posts suffer from such frequent posting. I usually lose interest or pay less attention to blogs like this.
The second school of thought says to post only when you have something of value to say. This means you might post only once or twice or three times per week, but certainly not every single day.
This is much more achievable. Rather than write about every fleeting thought that crosses your mind, you must go deep with the best thoughts, ideas, and personal experiences you wish to share. As a result, you will post quality articles on a less frequent basis.
Are you delivering value
or demanding attention?
The person who posts once or more per day, seven days a week, demands an unreasonable amount of attention from his readers. It is like a person yelling into cyberspace: “See, I have lots of things to say! Look at how important I am!”
The person who posts on a less frequent basis (say 1-4 times per week) is talking in a normal voice. He commands attention based on the quality of his posts and the value of his content.
He does not need to “yell” to keep the attention of his audience. Rather, he attracts readers because he is focused on delivering value instead of demanding attention.
Which model is best?
Personally, I’ve tried both. And I like the second model better. I’m learning that I prefer to write a few quality posts every week rather than a pile of mediocre posts. In my opinion, less is more.
From observing other well-known bloggers, it seems the second model is also what is most effective over the long-term. I can think of a few examples right off the top of my head: Michel Fortin, Christine O’Kelly, Terry Dean, etc.
I personally believe that posting in-depth articles less frequently is better not only for me, but for my readers as well.
Why?
Because interruptions hurt productivity. The more I interrupt you from doing what is required for you to succeed, the less you get done.
Furthermore, too much information
can become counterproductive.
Can you really absorb and apply even 10 blog posts a week? Probably not. If my gut is correct, you’d be doing well to absorb and apply even one blog post a week.
In fact, I believe too-frequent blog posting can transform an ordinary blog reader into a human version of Pavlov’s dog.
Every time he gets a new blog post notification, he starts salivating because that’s what the blog author has trained his reader to do. And so the reader begins to redefine success by how many blog posts he reads instead of taking action to achieve his goals.
Does this mean the “more is better” model of blogging doesn’t work? No. For some bloggers it works just fine. I just personally find it’s not a good fit for me. Which, by the way, is one reason why I haven’t been posting as often lately.
So which blogging model do you prefer? What advantages and disadvantages have you personally observed?
-Ryan M. Healy
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I’m sick of blogging, Ryan. I’m all blogged out. I can’t keep up with RSS feeder. You only really need to read, like, 10 blogs anyway: a marketing blog, copyrighting blog, business blog, blah blah blog, etc, etc. I read your blog and blogs like Church of the Customer and Seth Godin to get ideas for my projects. The expert blogs tend not to be trying to sell you something every minute.
I’m tired of making other bloggers rich. It’s a circle jerk if you ask me. I think I followed the ‘in’ crowd into blogging and I regret that I wasted so much time instead of putting that time into my own projects and ecommerce store. Sally Sensational, who was kicking cans less than a year ago and found fame and riches through blogging!!!, may have the best blog on the net. But I’m tired of giving her 47 dollars everytime she has a 10Things…list. I’m tired of sitting behind my computer posting how great I think her blog is anymore. I wasted three years doing that.
I wish they’d all stop posting for one month starting tomorrow to give the search engines a break.
All Blogged Out – I sense a lot of people feel like you do.
Blogs have almost become like the daily newspaper. Except blogs usually demand more money, attention, etc. from their readers.
Anybody else?
Actually, this is something I’ve been contemplating. I have had one coach tell me 3 times a week, and another tell me once (or more) per day.
The themes of less quality with more quantity, and blog burnout, both resonate with me. But what really gets me: I’ve been encouraged to post every day not because I had something to say, but because the search engines would rank my site better.
No more.
If I get lower traffic or SE rankings because I’m going to post less often, but posts of meaningful content, then so be it. Sure, my blog is about my business, but I’m about being authentic. And my real business is all about relationships.
The money will come when it comes, but when it does, it will have been on my terms. If it was all about the money, I would have continued to sell my soul forever in the corporate world.
Personally I stopped blogging because it didn’t fit with my business model. And rushed posts were not bringing value to my readers. I feel there’s a lot of people blogging only with commercial interests in mind, and it shows.
I have about 40 blogs in my reader. There are only about 10 that I actually read consistently — guys that I KNOW always provide quality content without constantly pitching. (You’re one of them Ryan.)
The others… I’m just scanning to see what they’re up to. More for “staying on top of the competition” than anything else.
One of the only people I’ve seen that pull of the “post every time you have a thought” is Seth Godin. All the other regulars in my reader are infrequent, high-quality posters.
Ryan,
I agree with the second model as well, with the exception that in between the “big article” posts that I write personally, I will include little posts pointing to specific resources (lists, your posts here, resources, etc..).
I have to say that my “big posts” do tend to get the most readership though.
I guess too much salt on your pizza might be a bad thing huh? :)
Joseph Ratliff
Author of The Profitable Business Edge 2
Ryan,
Sounds like you are making excuses to be lazy.
Also sounds like you are taking surveys instead of measuring results.
There is a direct correlation between how much you give and how much you earn.
If blogging less is better, then not blogging at all would be best. That’s ludicrous.
Quantity doesn’t have to impact quality… certainly not with blogging.
If you really only have 5 minutes of information to share per day with people… then that’s all you are. You have no choice.
But most people are able to hold a conversation much longer and still add valuable information.
But if you want to whine that people really don’t want more information… that they are “all blogged out”, then that is probably true for you.
If you say you have more to offer, that’s probably true. If you say you have offered everything you can possibly offer in a 5 minute post each day, then that is probably true too.
You make your own reality.
Regards,
-Diego
I’m making my own reality by putting my time into my projects instead of blogging frequently and commenting on every blog in my feed reader.
I don’t NEED to blog to be useful, to be helpful to others OR to find information. I served in the military and just came home and have probably helped more people than most people in my entire apartment complex, so please quit it with the laziness stuff.
I’m done with blogging. I’ve DONE that. I’ve taken and given advice and now it’s time to concentrate on my own things. Blogging is no longer something that I want to concentrate on at the expense of my personal projects, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Ryan posed a question and I answered it. Obviously your mileage may vary but since you decided to call me out and accuse me of whining, there it is.
For the record, I believe Diego’s comment was directed at me and not “All Blogged Out.” -Ryan
Whatever you guys decide to do…
Google gives fresh text a HUGE priority.
Some people think they know everything and insist there is one and only one right answer and try to shove it down your throat. That’s ludicrous. There is a right answer for YOU. The right answer for someone else might be different. I used to post every day myself and I still could if I wanted to but I decided to cut down to 3 times per week . It just works better for me. I don’t even think I read any blogs that post daily anymore. I think the quality of the posts does suffer and I have better things to do than read blogs all day.
Ryan,
I like the second model myself, not only for my own blogs, but the ones I read.
If you blogged daily, I wouldn’t read it anyway. I have too much to do. If you (meaning any of the blogs I read regularly) blog once or twice a week and it’s good valuable content I’ll read it.
It could just be something stimulating and interesting. Every post doesn’t have to be earth-shattering.
As far as Diego goes, I don’t understand where he’s coming from. To say someone is lazy if they don’t post once or more a day is in his words “ludicrous”.
And to try to make the connection between blogging less is good and not at all is best means he’s probably spent a little too much time smoking something illegal in my opinion. Or at least in another dimension watching too many Star Trek reruns.
He missed the point entirely.
As far as new content for the search engines goes, if your post is less than 250 words you may as well not write it. It’ll likely be completely ignored by the bots anyway.
And that’s why I like the Sage reader Firefox plugin. I can scan the 6 or 7 blogs I read regularly and forums too in 10 minutes. It’s a real time saver.
I think there are two types of blog readers as well as two types of bloggers.
1) Scans a very large number of blogs daily, enjoys finding new tidbits on social networking sites, doesn’t find the 160 character limit of Twitter and SMS the least limiting.
2) Takes the time to read longer, in-depth posts, albeit fewer of them. Probably enjoys reading books.
In selecting your blogging model you are also selecting your audience. If your goal is to maximize your traffic and the size of your RSS subscriber list, then #1 is probably the best.
Personally I also prefer #2. Not because it’s less effort; I spend at least 1-2 hours researching and writing each post on my blog. My primary motivation is to give value to my readers. By becoming a valued and trusted advisor to my readers, I will receive in return from them when they purchase my products and products that I recommend.
I think it is down to the individual blogger and what he wants to achieve with his readership.
I wouldn’t call blogging less….lazy. If it works for your business model and your readers – then blogging 3-4 times a week could work and I am sure has worked for some.
I would love to know what happened to your income or readership since you made that decision. Has there been any noticeable fall off or increase
But, yes, more doesn’t necessarily mean better and quality could suffer (but not always). Writer burn out is real – it happens – in the entertainment world where there are teams of writers – let alone one one some blogs.
Let the customer decide – is he or she as satisfied with 3-4 weekly postings as with many daily ones.
Can you achieve the same or greater results writing less as writing more?
None of my favorite bloggers post every day. They also often go against conventional wisdom, by way of having extra-long blog posts.
Courtney Tuttle is the first example that comes to mind–probably because his posts are often long and information-packed. So he’s one of maybe three blogs I’m subscribed to via RSS.
I’ve gone a month without posting (maybe that’s a little long? Well, I didn’t have much to say) but recently have been doing them every day. But I’m a compulsive writer, so…if I have a nugget of something valuable to share every day, then I’d like to keep it up. Guess I’ll see how it goes.
Maybe one possible advantage of constant blogging, for some people (actually, for the rest of us..): blogging encourages an informal style. It seems to encourage a “talk-like-you-write” style. I wish more high school English classes did.
Having said that…damn that comment I just made seems to read a little stiff…
I totally agree with you on the second ‘less is more’ model.
I have only ever posted 1-3 times per week, and that’s what my readers prefer. I asked and they told me.
So finding out more about your target audience, and their preferences is a MUST.
Furthermore, I think a mixture of short-yet-insightful and longer-indepth posts are crucial. I’ve stopped reading blogs that go on and on and on, regardless of how good or bad they are. The online reader is the ‘attention deficit’ reader, after all. ;-)
I’ve also stopped reading ezines that bang out long posts daily, or even short ones. My time is of the essence. And so is that of your readers.
Ryan, I absolutely agree. I’ve been blogging since 2004, and I usually average 3 or 4 posts in a week. I get good feedback on it, and Google seems to find my posts. Plus it provides a venue to create content that is very important to me, but doesn’t fit with other models like my long-running e-zines.
One of the first blogs I started reading went to the 10-posts-a-day model-and I stopped reading it. I open it up once every few weeks, read a post or two, and then “I’m outa here.”
_____
Shel Horowitz, copywriter and award-winning author of five marketing books Blogging on the intersections of ethics, marketing, media, sustainability, and politics: http://www.principledprofit.com/good-business-blog/
One of my blogs exists only to bring traffic to my school’s course catalog webpage, so it gets a new post every day whether there is any news or not. Sometimes I just recycle PSAs I get from marketing (CE has a blog, and the school doesn’t). I don’t schedule posts on the weekends for that blog unless I have a lot more content than usual.
But on my personal blogs, I post a couple of times a week as I have news, insights or someone else’s site to share.
Blogging, like writing of any kind, has its audience. The content, slant, style and regularity should be geared to the audience of the blog. Some audiences want to graze through the day and others want a full meal now and again. Informal, conversational style works better most places on the web–nobody really likes reading APA-formatted acadmic writing, not even adcademics.
Quesiton is, what works best for you?
I’ve fallen down the drivel-drain with daily posts, but still post seven times a week with short, concise rants.
My blog is satire, and the daily post model fits well (There’s a lot to be satirical about.).
However, if my blog more closely fit my professional writing career, it would require less with more thought.
Ryan – Great Post…
humm… that diego…. well, what can you say, a rose by any other name still… has thorns!
There are different blogging methods based on if you’re out to help people or fleece them. It’s obvious that you’re trying to help people.
Take care,
Fred
Posting twice may be over the legal limit here, but where does anyone get off mind reading? Anyone who knows the first thing about Ryan knows he is not “lazy,” nor have I ever seen him make “excuses.”
Here’s a guy that without a job decided to take massive action to become a freelance copywriter, and was able to support his family before the month was over. You can’t do that sitting on your tail. Read more about it in his report on how to get clients.
Now, the rest of Diego’s post was right inasmuch as we do create our world very much by our belief in ourselves, and how we manifest our beliefs in our actions. Yes, most limitations are self-imposed, and that is very serious stuff.
But they do not apply to the author of this blog insomuch as to what he expressed in his post. If anything, Ryan is an example for us to follow.
Thank you ALL for your comments. I appreciate the time, energy, and thought that has gone into them. I have read all of them more than once; some three times or more.
I’ve waited to comment mostly because I needed time to process all the feedback. It’s clear that there’s a broad spectrum of opinions concerning the frequency of blogging.
What is best? That is really up to the reader to discern. And every individual’s situation will be different depending on their business model and their goals. (Success is not measured in dollars or Alexa rankings only.)
To those who stood up for me (Robert, Perry, Kevin, Fred), thank you. I sincerely appreciate it.
As far as the “we create our own reality” belief, I simply disagree. Certainly our beliefs matter and we ought to examine them to see how they affect our actions. I do not abdicate responsibility for who I am or how I live.
But we are not gods. We are merely vessels in the hands of God. Whatever we do is subservient to God’s ultimate plan. And whatever good may come from us originates with Him. That’s the real “secret.”
All I know is I’m getting a little impatient waiting for your “five on Friday” post. I’ve actually started looking forward to it and need my weekly “fix.”
So get your lazy butt off the couch Ryan, and gimme my five, baby!
Ben
P.S. Of course I’m joking, I know FULL well how hard you work, Ryan. And am frankly in awe at how you get it all done.
Thanks for the kick in the butt, Ben. ;-)
I actually didn’t quite have five posts to share last week, so I postponed issue #4.
But don’t worry… it’s on its way tomorrow!
Ryan
As soon as someone makes a proper plug-in that schedules future posts more intuitively…
Aloha,
Odd that you give a religious reason for writing less.
Does the Bible suffer from quality because it is too long? Should Paul have written less? Most Christians tend to wish he had written more, not less… or that more of his writings and the writings of every other prophet and apostle had been better preserved and not lost.
The last I heard, you were an evangelical Christian who had taken a seeker path that lead to much more biblical beliefs than the average evangelical who listens to the TV and huge church pastors (vs. actually reading the scriptures).
What do you make of these scriptures?
John 10:34
Psalm 82:6
I didn’t read anything in your white paper that sounded like you had given up on the divinity of Christ. If He is divine and he said to his disciples that they would do greater things than he did, then… ???
You’ve been hanging around an ugly crowd picking up a lot of failure mentality lately. You are who you hang around. You can’t change that… god or not.
I wish you the best in trying to pull out of that (if you are ready to even try).
Regards,
-Diego
Diego,
Actually, you make an excellent point. Thanks for pointing out those verses.
Believe it or not, I read John 10:34 yesterday. I then read the verse in Psalms because of the footnote. Honestly, I didn’t understand it completely, and I still don’t.
But because of your comment, I will study this more in-depth. What’s interesting is the NIV and NASB translations give different treatment to the verse.
Anyway, thank you for your comment. I appreciate it.
Ryan
How about the third model?
You only write when you want to say something… I am also blogging from 2004. This is what I prefer. If I write, I write multiple times in a day and sometimes I skip for a week.
Of course the obvious problem with this model is, if you are not much of a talker, you’ll rarely get around to writing.
I believe this kind of writing model is good for people who are a natural teacher like Dr Mani for example.
Well–the majority of the time I would agree with you.
However–I subscribe to one blog that is posted about 6 times a week–and is my favorite. (It’s also a personal blog–not business) She writes these charming stories–taken from her life–in the third person.
It didn’t take long for me to miss it on the days that she doesn’t post!!!
Now me on the other hand–most of my posts are spontaneous–and very erratic. I actually like the spontaneous part–but I need to find a way to make them a little more regular.
take care,
Christine
Christine – Thanks for leaving a comment. My primary thrust is that too-frequent posting often encourages bad writing. This is not to say all blogs that post daily are bad.
I can think of one blog in particular that averages 5-8 posts a week, and it is one of my favorites. This blog has nothing to do with business, Internet marketing, money, etc.
Nobody else writes about the stuff this guy writes about, which is one reason I’m such a loyal reader.
Ryan,
I think the gist of the sensible comments (emphasis on sensible) made here is this: the more you (or anybody) blog, the less valuable is your content, because ordinary people have a finite amount of information they can perceive, process, and communicate to others.
Compounding that, the less valuable your content, the less I’m going to read what you have to say.
Incidentally, the Bible was written by 40 different authors on 3 continents over a period of 1500 years, making it a ludicrous comparison.
I don’t read everything you write in great detail, but I find enormous value in what I do read.
Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.
Thanks.
Lisa
Wow 34 comments. I’m not surprised. When I saw the title on the sidebar I had to read it myself.
I currently have three blogs, and have written maney clients’ blogs also. As a general rule, I’d agree, 3 a week does work well. Not too much or too little.
I think the 7 days a week thing is definitely burn out on both ends (reader and writer). But can work if kept short.
5 times a week for some markets does work well. E.g., when I ran a blog showing naturopathic doctors how to market their clinic many LIVED for my daily email/blog post. They’d print them out! A day without my message was a day not complete. I was part of their daily working life — giving support and tips. It would be like one of their staff not showing up for work.
I think the 5 day a week works well if…
1. You keep them short. Less than 500 words. 700 max. So people know, upfront, it’s only going to take a few minutes.
2. Really focus. Often I see blog posts that could easily be divided up into 2 or 3 posts and be better for it. Personally, I’d rather read three 500 word posts than one 1,500. I personally really hack and save to cut mine down to 500. Though 700 is my limit.
3. Train your readers not to be overloaded with tons of lists. E.g., one short post/day isn’t bad if you only read 3 blogs.
E.g. Seth Godin writes real short posts. Probably too short for me.
But the daily posts sure help build a relationship. Help create a conversation. E.g. short post, read feedback, respond, read feedback, respond. More like a conversation, than a publishing schedule. It’s hard to have a conversation on a daily basis, no less a bi-daily basis.
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