10 reasons not to post too frequently
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Some bloggers suggest writing a new post every single day. Some bloggers write even more than that. I think it's better to write every couple of days. Here are 10 reasons why posting too frequently is not a good idea for most blogs.
1. It lessens the impact of your best posts.
If you've just spent ages perfecting a really great post, keeping it at the top of your front page will draw attention to it.
But if you write another post too soon after the last, the impact of that really good post may decrease. Subscribers may read everything, but new readers will usually see the latest post first.
Don't be trigger-happy with your next post if you just put up something great. Leave it up for a bit.
2. Readers may feel overwhelmed.
Some blogs just post too much, too often. Even if the content is always really good, you may overwhelm your readers if you post too often.
If you specialise in shorter posts, or you have a lot of readers, you may be able to get away with this. Just don't start with a lot of posts. Take your time.
3. Posts take time to gather comments.
I've experimented with a few different posting frequencies. When writing a new post every single day, I found the posts received fewer comments.
Writing every couple of days gives readers the opportunity to read the post and comment on it before the next post goes up. Of course, not everyone reads the posts immediately, but you've got to give them some breathing room.
4. A greater risk of blogger burnout.
If you're not used to blogging and you start out by posting far too often, you may burn out before you even get to the end of your first month.
Whether it's due to a lack of writing energy, a lack of ideas or a bit of both, racing ahead with your posts is a great risk to your blog if you're not used to writing.
5. Quantity may become the most important thing.
If you've been writing 2 posts every day for a few months, you may feel that you owe it to your blog to keep that rhythm going. Well, maybe you do... but what if you try to write on days when you don't really want to? The quality will suffer.
Establish a posting rhythm that you can sustain, not one that other people recommend and that simply doesn't work for you. If you're having problems, try a different schedule.
6. Sometimes it's better to keep a stock of posts.
Bulk writing is a handy way to "stock up" on posts at times when you're keen to write. You can then publish them over a few days or weeks, perhaps saving some for days when you "need" a post but you don't particularly want to write on that day.
Saving up posts can save you in the future. If you write lots of posts in quick succession, resist the urge to publish them too quickly - even if they're really good! (Which, of course, they should be.)
7. Proof-reading can suffer.
If you're working to a tight schedule with lots of posts being published each week, you may find yourself skipping the task of proof-reading your posts. Here's a tip: slow down, check your posts make sense and you've corrected any errors, and publish them gradually.
8. Sleep on it, and you may get new ideas.
On Monday you wrote a good post. You're buzzing and want to publish another post on Tuesday. Instead of racing ahead, give the Monday post another day to gather comments, then spend some time planning your next post.
Spending that extra time could lead you to a great follow-up post, or a spin-off post based on what you last wrote. Don't be impatient!
9. Last-minute posts stand a chance.
If you're posting too frequently, you may find there isn't much room to slot additional posts into your schedule. Sometimes you'll want to write a post quickly and get it online as soon as possible - that's going to be difficult if you overbook yourself.
Try to leave a little room between your posts if you can!
10. You may end up talking to yourself.
OK, so if you insist on posting too frequently, you may have less comments and less subscribers. Slowly but surely you'll feel like you're talking to yourself, thereby harming your motivation and potentially making you question if you should continue blogging.
Don't do this! Save yourself! Slow down, pace yourself, and you may find that things start to fall into place.
What do you think? How often do you publish new posts? Do you think you post too quickly?
Comments on 10 reasons not to post too frequently
2
Hey Ben
How's it going? Firstly, nice blog design. Simple yet elegant. I'm always fond of black and white anyway.
You know what? I don't write article every single day for the same reason #3 you mentioned above. I practice 80/20 rule where I spend 80% of my time blog commenting and networking with fellow bloggers while the other 20% brainstorming and writing my article.
You are darn right that it's all about quality vs quantity. Not to mention, what we call 'blogger burnout'. At any rate, great stuffs, Ben. Good to see you again.
Yan
3
Good stuff. As said in the comment above it's nice to hear it's "okay" not to feel made to post everyday. The way my frontpage works, I have at least 7 images links to the last 7 articles. So I'm not that worried about bumping topics down. But when I want to make a post that doesn't impact the frontpage, I just publish it silently and let the plugin I mentioned keep it from the front. Nice way to give other articles a longer spotlight when I feel the need to post but don't want to disturb the latest material.
I like to write everyday, but often keep stuff in drafts. When I release them just depends on when they're ready for public viewing. Sometimes it comes in a rush, sometimes it's spread out a bit.
#10 - I'm always talking to myself anyway. So I'm not worried 'bout this one. :P
4
You know, I was just pondering this. I usually write a new post each weekday, but I was wondering if 3x a week would be better. I guess I thought at first that Entrecard droppers maybe would be more enticed to stop and read if I had fresh content nearly every day. But now as I'm thinking more long-term, figuring out how to "transition" out of Entrecard traffic dependency at some point, I believe that readers in the "outside world" likely don't visit my blog every day - probably just a couple of times a week. So maybe less would be more? Still thinking this over, but thanks for a great post with a lot of good thoughts.
5
I find that on my blog the readers have become used to my posting routine. I try and post every second day, sometime in the morning. Just recently I had to skip a posting day because of other commitments. That evening I received two mails from regulars asking me if I was OK. This is something that we have to keep in mind, we should try to stick to our routine, immaterial of what that routine might be.
I changed from an every day posting routine and this was a great decision. The pressure is off and I enjoy the blogging much more. Just by the way, my subscribers have increased since I started posting less. This might have been a coincidence, but I doubt it.
Great article.
6
I agree, great article and very timely for me as I've just started my blog again this week. I've decided on a schedule I think will work for me: blog post on Fridays, with room to drop one or two in the week. Tutorials the first Monday of the month. I'm on schedule so far, lol
7
I don't know if posting too frequently is bad...if your niche can be talked about forever. That's probably every niche bloggers biggest problem...finding something new.
But yes if you have a really good post...wait...don't bury it....or Feature it.
Maybe that's a new trend too...magazine style blogs...then we can feature the best posts for quite a long time.
8
This is great advice.
Having just started a blog, I was wondering if a post per day would be too much for people to absorb. You have certainly answered that question for me.
Thanks!!!
9
I am really enjoying your new blog Ben. You are already doing the right thing by doing guest posts on other blogs. I myself typically will post two or three times a week now. I used to post every day but it was just too much.
10
This is a really great post. I've seen a few places suggest posting often, and while I never could bring myself to do just that, I always felt a little guilty that perhaps I'm missing out on a great opportunity on building content and readers.
Also, great blog! I'm definitely adding it to my reader. I've had countless online journals since my early teenage years, but I've been interested in breaking into the blog-verse of things. (Even if I don't gain a large readership or internet fame statues, I want to learn some focus.) Your tips seem like they'll be great help or, at the very least, an interesting read.
11
Thanks for all the great comments. :D
Ginkgo - I agree, quality can suffer if bloggers feel they have to write daily. Some blogs do it well, but some do not.
Yan - glad you like the new blog! I've subscribed to your blog, I'll check it out again soon.
Carole - unless you have a lot of traffic (and I mean a LOT, which most of us do not have), not blogging daily seems like the best way.
Lyndi - I did the same at benbarden.com and my subscribers went up, too. Keeping to a schedule is a good move, too.
Blog Expert, hope you liked the guest post too (assuming you came from ProBlogger).
MoJo, thanks for subscribing!
12
Great information. I blog every few days since I know that I can't read blogs every day, so I understand how nice it is to get to one that I've already read and can go on to the next.
13
Once again Ben - you nailed it.
P.S. - Congrats on the guest post at ProBlogger.com!
14
Great points you made up there. Posts need time to breathe. If you immediately post while a previous post is gathering steam, you may kill the buzz. Ping-o-matic, RSS, twitter feeds, email subscriptions, these all activate at different times and can delay getting word of your new post out there for almost 24 hours. On the other hand, if you normally get 50 comments a day and suddenly get 2 comments, change the post. On my main blog I like to post 3 times a week. Just after midnight on Monday morning, Wednesday night, and then a Friday night post. This schedule seems to get me the most comments while keeping the content fresh. Usually Monday is the strongest post and Friday my weakest post, but never plan it ahead. Just works out that way.
15
I completely agree with everything so I'm really only reiterating all that's been said. I have very definitely noticed an increase in comments with less frequent posting. I've also noticed an increase in subscribers, which I had put down to Blogger followers, but they're continuing to increase. Supplying images has led me to a whole new world of photography so I'm delighted with that. The one thing I struggle with is a routine. Obviously I need to do a bit more Zen Working to overcome that block.
16
Wow! What a difference from the advice I see in many forums since I've been actively "pushing" my site via social networks. Most of them go for the "post every day" advice touting that it has more impact with the search engines.
I guess you need to ask yourself if it's readers or search engines you're courting the most.
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17
Thanks for the tip!! I was already getting burned out thinking that I had to post at least twice a day.
How about if you post, then maybe go back and add a comment to that post. Is that a good idea, rather than following it up with another post?
18
I try to have new posts Monday--Friday but this is often more wish than fact. I do try to give posts with potential a bit more time on top. And I do take seriously building quantity, since sometimes it is Older posts that get stumbled and bring in a whole bunch of visitors. great tips as usual Ben
19
Good advices :)
20
Good post! And I like the format of your posts. I find it easy to digest and memorable.
Your points are good about post frequency. I think that if blogging becomes something you HAVE to do every day, it becomes mundane. Now if you WANT to, you have the time and the content, go for it! Just be careful to keep great posts at the top (maybe a sticky post or something?).
21
Good tips! Makes sense.
I'm really liking this new Top Ten blog, Ben. Nicely done.
22
In the beginning, you need to post often to get some content on your blog. (There's nothing worse that coming to a blog with only 10 posts!) However, at some point, you need to focus on quality rather than quantity.
Another big plus is sometimes, it's take people TIME to get to your site. You put up a great post and it takes time for people to tweet about it - to link to it - to tell others about it.
23
As a professional journalist, I can confirm that blogger (or generally: author) burnout is key. Once you do it with your newspaper, your boss will make you overcome it, but nobody will do that favor for you in connection with your own blog. So you'll just have to avoid it, and when you see it coming - take a break.
Another thing: people, who post too often, most of the time do so, because they are bored. And that will make posts (and blogs) boring, too. It's not something you want, is it.
24
Hi Ben. I just wanted to comment and say that I've been enjoying your blog here. I recently started my own blog and am still learning the ins and outs and your tips are very helpful. Your top 10s are very informative, useful, and entertaining.
25
I feel kind of relieved reading this post. I agree with the focus on quality first. It was not obvious for me to post on a daily basis on my blog since I've started blogging a little while ago. Thanks.
26
Can't post too frequent. Not enough time, ideas, or even motivation to keep up with that rhythm. In the mean time, the best I can do is 2-3 posts per week. That's it. Can't do more than that.
27
I think quantity fools most bloggers, it somehow over powers quality in some bloggers eyes!
28
Thanks for the comments everyone. :)
Turnip - I agree, a post needs time to gather comments but some posts really do fall flat. Sticking to a consistent schedule means you'll know pretty quickly if a post didn't go down too well. Maybe that's a good point for a future post.
A - I know, a routine is hard to stick to, but it REALLY helps. I'm already planning my post for writing on a schedule... (since writing my reply to Turnip, I went off and planned half of that post!)
Millard - it could work. The drawback is that even if you allow people to subscribe to comments by email (as I do here), most people don't seem to check back and add further comments to a post.
timmy - thanks, glad you like the posts. I'm not keen on sticky posts on a blog, I believe they are only worth using on a forum. That's just my opinion though. Keeping a great post at the top means not bumping a post down the page too quickly, and making sure your next post is at least as good as the last. I guess you could run out of ways to better your previous post, but by trying different types of post or a range of subjects within your niche (as I do here), you'll keep things fresh and appealing.
Zsolt - posting for the sake of it is definitely a bad idea.
29
A_M_E_N!
I used to work from home so I had all the time in the world (and reasons, haha) to stop working and post things, etc. But now that I'm back in corporate America, my time is so limited I barely have time to blog myself, much less keep up with friends that post every day.
But I do keep them in my reader and when a rainy day with no obligations comes by, after a few hours of Kingdom of Keflings, I come here to read and comment.
30
Texas - thanks for revisiting this post. Glad you agree. :)
31
hey Ben! great site :D great tips as well - for me, I'm currently posting one post/day because my personal development blog is just starting out and I want to beef up the content. In the long-run though, I will probably slow down the frequency to 2-3 times/week instead - especially since the visitors will have an archive of posts to refer too. (ps: voted for your post at reddit! :))
32
[...] Posting frequency is over-rated [...]
33
Thanks Celes. :) I used to write one post per day, but couldn't maintain it for more than a few months. It is tough to do.
34
We are all busy and can't read EVERYTHING. A blog post such as this one is not only informative, but open to debate...and THAT is worth reading. Even a once weekly posting of this kind beats daily blurbs hands-down. Thanks for the info here.
35
[...] in 2008has #17 listed as Posting frequency is overrated. In it he links to Ben Barden’s post 10 Reasons Not to Post Too Frequently. Their reasoning is that you should give your post a chance to breathe and time for your [...]
36
Very very good tips. #1 and #10 are key. On the other hand, I can think of 10 reasons why people should post frequently...
37
Thanks for commenting Shirley. Thinking about it, I wouldn't recommend having irregular or infrequent updates either. Too much posting isn't good, not enough posting isn't good either. Maybe time for a follow-up post? :)
38
I totally agree. There are times when I feel pressured to post everyday, it just burn me out. And it feels like your post won't be that good, rather taking sometime to compose it in a more relaxed manner.
Now, I'm posting every after 2-3 days. And it's working quite well.
Thanks!
39
Thanks for commenting JeD. :) I'm much happier with writing three posts a week than I was when I tried to write daily.
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Thank you for this post! It's nice to feel like I have "permission" -- better yet, encouragement -- not to kill myself to post every day. I've seen blogs that try to post every day and they end up with some pretty thin material -- maybe a couple of lines and a link to a news story. Why would I subscribe to that? I'd rather have reliably meaty content every so often.